Free Fire, the Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) rival app, has been removed from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. The app is unavailable for download since February 12.
Not everything is going well for one of the most popular battle royale games, Free Fire. As per the latest update, the Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) rival app has been removed from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. The app is unavailable for download since February 12.
Garena hasn’t revealed any specific reason for the removal of the app from the Google Play Store and Apple App store yet. We expect the game developer to issue an official statement soon.
Although the Free Fire app is unavailable for download in India currently, players who have the game installed on their device can access it. The game is working fine for such players.
Currently, only Free Fire Max is available for download on the Google Play store. While none of the games including Free Fire and Free Fire Max are listed on the Apple App store for an unspecified reason. Neither Garena nor Google nor Apple have revealed the reason behind the removal of the Free Fire apps.
Is it a ban?
Soon after the news spread, players have been worried if Free Fire has been silently banned in India. Some reports suggest that this is more of a technical glitch after the latest update.
To recall, in 2020, the Indian government banned hundreds of Chinese apps including the very popular PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite.
Since the ban, Krafton has been facing tough times operating in India. The game developer recently launched the Indian version of PUBG Mobile dubbed Battlegrounds Mobile India. BGMI is free to download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
Free Fire gained wide popularity in India mostly after the PUBG Mobile game was banned under Section 69A of the IT Act. We will update the story with an official statement from Garena, Google, and Apple on the removal of the app very soon.