{"id":8853,"date":"2026-10-16T20:13:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T20:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8853"},"modified":"2026-10-16T20:13:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T20:13:56","slug":"google-play-store-fake-whatsapp-android","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8853","title":{"rendered":"A fake WhatsApp clone is showing up before the real version on the Play Store"},"content":{"rendered":"


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After a Chrome clone<\/a> was spotted on the Play Store earlier this week, a user on Reddit<\/a> says they\u2019re seeing a fake version of WhatsApp in a \u201csponsored\u201d slot above the real version<\/a>. As reported earlier by Android Authority<\/em><\/a>, the WhatsApp dupe has racked up over 500,000 downloads and, at the time of writing, its Play Store listing is still live<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The WhatsApp clone is from a developer going by \u201cAgment Assets sallu\u201d who doesn\u2019t currently have anything else listed on the Play Store. Their listing for the WhatsApp impostor has the same icon, screenshots, and text as the real version, but the real WhatsApp has over 10 billion downloads, an \u201ceditor\u2019s choice\u201d badge, and over 246 million reviews. Android Authority<\/em> points out that the WhatsApp clone may be using Google Play\u2019s Early Access program to disable public user reviews, which could have helped users warn people against downloading the app.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a Chrome clone was spotted on the Play Store earlier this week, a user on Reddit says they\u2019re seeing a fake version of WhatsApp in a \u201csponsored\u201d slot above the real version. As reported earlier by Android Authority, the WhatsApp dupe has racked up over 500,000 downloads and, at the time of writing, its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[77,86,32,46,34],"class_list":["post-8853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-android","tag-apps","tag-google","tag-news","tag-tech"],"yoast_head":"\nA fake WhatsApp clone is showing up before the real version on the Play Store - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Users spotted a fake Android app disguised as WhatsApp on the Play Store appearing as a sponsored result above the real version.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8853\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A fake WhatsApp clone is showing up before the real version on the Play Store - 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