by PhonePe (Indus Appstore Pvt. Ltd.)
Indus Appstore Home Page | Indus Appstore
Indus Appstore is an Android app marketplace built by PhonePe (a Walmart-backed fintech company) out of Chennai, India. Launched in February 2024, it has grown to over 10 crore (100 million) device installations. It advertises 5 lakh (500,000) apps and games, though its own sitemap lists about 306,000 app pages — roughly 61% of the headline claim. The store comes pre-installed on Xiaomi and Lava smartphones sold in India, reaching Motorola devices via a December 2025 partnership. An August 2025 Alcatel deal says Indus "will come pre-installed as an app store on all Alcatel smartphones in India", though Alcatel itself only re-entered India in May 2025, so the base behind it is small. Between them these give it wide reach giving it wide reach without requiring sideloading. A Nokia/HMD preinstall was announced alongside Lava in September 2023 but never shipped. No preinstall deal has been announced with Samsung, vivo, OPPO or realme — between them the largest sellers in the country. The standout feature is deep Indian language support — users can browse, search, and discover apps in 12 Indian languages beyond English (Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Malayalam, Odia, Punjabi, Assamese, and Urdu). Nearly 40% of users browse in their native language. Voice search works in 10 Indian languages. App discovery uses a short-form video format similar to Instagram Reels, making it intuitive for Tier 2/3 users unfamiliar with traditional app store navigation. For developers, it charges zero commission on in-app payments — a massive contrast to Google's 15% and Apple's 30% cut. Indus Appstore is completely free for users. Developers pay zero listing fees and zero commission on in-app purchases — both confirmed on Indus's own developer platform, which states that registration and app publishing are completely free and that developers keep 100% of in-app purchase revenue. The launch-era waiver was originally announced as free only until 1 April 2025, but that deadline passed without Indus ever charging or announcing an extension. One caveat worth knowing: the developer terms reserve the right to levy fees later after prior notification, so this is free today rather than free by commitment. The zero commission is structural rather than generous — Indus operates no billing system of its own, so developers bring their own payment gateway and there is nothing for Indus to take a cut of. This zero-commission model has attracted major publishers including Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta. Best suited for Indian Android users — especially those in Tier 2/3 cities and towns who prefer browsing in regional languages. Over 70% of users come from Tier 3 regions, and the core demographic is 28-44 year old males. Users looking for a curated, Google-free Android experience will find value here. However, the app catalog is still smaller than Google Play's 3.5 million apps, and some niche international apps may be missing.
Information updated 1 years ago
Indus Appstore Private Limited
Indus Appstore comes pre-installed on Xiaomi and Lava smartphones sold in India, is announced for Alcatel, and reaches Motorola devices via a system update. On any other Android phone, download the free APK directly from indusappstore.com and install it — it is not available on the Google Play Store itself. There is no iOS version, so it works on Android only.
Yes — the APK is published by PhonePe, a Walmart-backed Indian fintech company, and is the official build from indusappstore.com. Because it is not on Google Play, Android will ask you to allow installation from your browser or file manager the first time (this is normal sideloading). Only download the APK from the official indusappstore.com site to stay safe.
No. Google does not allow rival app stores inside Google Play, so Indus Appstore is not listed there. Get it pre-installed on Xiaomi and Lava devices (announced for Alcatel, available on Motorola), or download the APK from indusappstore.com. It advertises 5 lakh apps — its own sitemap listed about 306,000 app pages when we counted it on 17 September 2026 — including major names like Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta.
Indus pushes updates automatically in the background — its terms state it installs updates as they become available without manual intervention, and you can change this in the profile section's settings. You can also update manually from the updates or 'My apps' section. The practical catch is not the mechanism but the catalogue: an app only updates on Indus once its developer publishes the newer build there, and many developers do not keep their Indus listing current. Keeping both stores installed lets you update from whichever has the latest build.
Indus runs every app through OPSWAT MetaDefender Core, which scans against seven antivirus engines including Bitdefender, McAfee and CrowdStrike. Indus documents this itself on its consumer blog. That is a genuinely stronger published screening pipeline than most alternative Android stores disclose, though it is worth remembering that multi-engine scanning catches known malware signatures and cannot guarantee a novel threat is caught.
Two different numbers circulate and they measure different things. Indus's own homepage currently claims over 80 million users. Separately, PhonePe announced a 10 crore — 100 million — milestone in September 2025, which counts device installations, largely driven by preinstallation deals with handset makers such as the Motorola partnership announced in December 2025. A device that shipped with the store preinstalled is not the same as an active user, so the 80 million figure is the more meaningful one for gauging real usage.
Indus states on its own homepage that it hosts over 5 lakh — 500,000 — Android apps. That is the company's own figure and it is worth treating as an upper bound: crawls of the store's public sitemap have surfaced substantially fewer distinct app listings. Either way the catalogue is large enough that mainstream Indian apps are generally present, while long-tail and international apps are noticeably patchier than on Google Play.
Hand-picked videos to help you get started — tutorials, demos, and reviews.
How To Use Indus App Store | PhonePe Indus App Store Kaise Use Kare
How to Use Indus Appstore in Redmi | Indus Services | Gets App Kaise Kaam Karta Hai
How to Publish Your App on Indus Appstore | Step-by-Step Developer Guide
How to delete Indus app permanently❤️🔥💯 #phonepe #phonk #shorts #playstore #appstore #reels #indus
Indus Appstore is a powerful Indian alternative to these international apps:
Yes, Indus Appstore by PhonePe (Indus Appstore Pvt. Ltd.) is an Indian alternative to Google Play Store. It offers similar functionality while being developed and maintained in India.Explore other Indian alternatives to Google Play Store →
Yes, Indus Appstore by PhonePe (Indus Appstore Pvt. Ltd.) is an Indian alternative to Apple App Store. It offers similar functionality while being developed and maintained in India.Explore other Indian alternatives to Apple App Store →
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