India’s first developed homegrown social media application ‘Elyments’ launched by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, claims to be the country’s first official social media super app. The app offers all features that are available on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
The homegrown app was developed by more than 1000 IT professionals under Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The app is seen as a big boost to ‘Make in India’ amid India’s boycott on Chinese imports.
During the launch of the homegrown app, the Vice President said that this is a step toward’s Prime Minister Modi’s ambition ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ and said that the youth must work hard to come up with Indian alternatives for foreign apps.
“Indian is an IT powerhouse with some of the best-known names in the field. With such a huge pool of talented professionals, I feel there should be many more innovations coming out in the future,” said VP Naidu during the launch.
Before the launch, the app was tested among the crowd sample size of 1000 people. The app is available in eight languages and crossed over half a million downloads in 24 hours of the launch.
Elyments is a social media app that offers multiple features under one single app. The app has features like an instant messaging app, option of voice and video calls, group chats option and news feeds. The vision of the app is to club features available on multiple social apps into a single app. The app has a camera feature with built-in filters and augmented reality.
Social media features such as friends, followers, and contacts are included in the app. The app aspires to launch features such as secured digital payments, regional voice command, and a new platform on the app to promote Indian brands.
As privacy concerns are raised by the users due to the exploitation of data. Elyments app is said to have a design that keeps privacy as a primary concern. The app was designed under the supervision of the country’s top privacy professionals.
Chinese apps that were banned earlier this month were blamed for the wrong handling of user data. With features such as end-to-end encryption ensuring the privacy of users, Elyments focusses on security concerns. The app makers ensured that all its servers will be hosted in India to secure data and provide fast experience.
When users download the app, they need to follow a sign-up procedure for verifying their mobile number by entering an OTP sent to them.
However, even after several attempts to receive an OTP to login to the app, users are not receiving any OTP. When The Wonk tried to sign up by entering a valid mobile number we faced the same issue.
Several app downloaders took to Twitter and talked about the OTP problem. People have sent queries to the official spokesperson. However, when The Wonk published the concern, the app didn’t solve the issue.
In the wake of recent Sino-Indian border clashes at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the government released a notification banning 59 popular Chinese apps and growing anti-Chinese sentiments across the country triggered huge homegrown Indian app downloads on play stores.
Alternative apps such as Chingari and Mitron saw huge downloads on the play store in the last few days. Many new alternatives are also emerging on the market after the government’s push for Indian apps.