GUWAHATI: Three students from Jorhat Engineering College in Assam have developed a video-sharing social networking mobile application as an alternative to TikTok, which had been banned along with many other Chinese apps by the Indian government.
The app — Tip Teapi — has been developed by Saswati Kotoky of Dergaon, Amarjyoti Gautam of Jorhat and Himanga Madhukalya of Dibrugarh.
Kotoky, who is in charge of sales and marketing, said, “The idea was conceived during the lockdown to fill the vacuum by developing such an alternative to the Chinese app TikTok. The app – Tip Teapi will work similar to TikTok.”
She is optimistic that the app would be a befitting reply to China if everything goes well. “Self-reliant and digital India are the two things that Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept on repeating and urging the people of the nation. I think we have adopted both by developing the app.”
Kotoky further said that the team has now been focusing on the legal aspects of the app and making it more user-friendly so that people enjoy its operation. She added that the app has privacy protection unlike the Chinese apps.
Kotoky further said that they introduced the application with an objective to providing people with a platform where they could showcase their talents and skills in numerous categories like music, art, drama, cooking, science and education among others. There are 12 categories in total.
Regarding any objectionable material getting uploaded, Kotoky said that if any such incidents occurred and a complaint was received from any user or viewer, they would look into it and block the video, if required.
Gautam, who is the chief product engineer, said that the app was the result of good utilization of the Covid-induced lockdown. “The pandemic paralysed normal life and economic activities. We thought to do something on our own during the lockdown in a good way rather being frustrated thinking about future and jobs.”