Didi’s apps reappear on Chinese app stores

After an 18-month ban on new user registrations, Chinese tech giant Didi Global’s main apps have now returned to the country’s biggest Android and iOS app stores as Beijing eases crackdown on tech companies, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

The news comes days after Didi announced that it has received an approval from the Cybersecurity Review Office to relaunch its main ride hailing app. According to the report, ‘’Didi Chuxing’’ app is now available on the Chinese App Store, and Android platforms like Huawei’s AppGallery and Xiaomi’s GetApps.

Days after Didi raised over $4.4B in an upsized US IPO in late June 2021, its mobile apps were removed from Chinese app stores due to ‘’illegally collecting user data’’. Over national security concerns, regulators also opened a probe into Didi’s business back then, and the company lost $22 billion in market cap before long, because of the legal challenges. 

At that time, sources close to the company said that Didi was considering going private in order to appease regulators, and it eventually announced in November 2021 that it would delist from the NYSE. 

Meanwhile, it received a fine of $1.28 billion in July 2022 for data breaches, and paying it could enable bringing its apps back to Chinese app stores, sources said at the time. Didi paid the fine last year, and its apps are now reappearing on the app stores.

But in order to list in Hong Kong, Didi must first meet its requirements and introduce a shareholder who’s trusted by the government, according to Bloomberg’s report.