Many people in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) have said they are unable to find AirVisual, an air quality measurement application in Google Play and App Stores since October 6, local media reported.Users in Vietnam are no longer able to download AirVisual to their smartphones. When proceeding to download, they will be notified with the message "This application is not currently available in your country". However, the ones already installed are still functioning.
AirVisual announces not available in Vietnam. Photo: Anh Kiet
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In addition, the AirVisual fanpage is also blocking access from Vietnam. Accessing the fanpage for Vietnamese is impossible unless they use a virtual private network (VPN).
Hanoi and HCMC also disappeared from AirVisual's rankings for a few hours, then reappeared on October 6 night and Hanoi's air quality parameters were only provided by the Hanoi Environment Monitoring Portal. Previously, the application said it partnered with 14 air control stations, including ten government-run stations and four run by non-governmental organizations to collect data.
Before "disappearing" from App Store and Play Store stores in Vietnam, AirVisual was the most downloaded air quality app in the country last week.
AirVisual, one of the top quality statistics, has been highly appreciated by many users because it can be used on a variety of platforms (iOS, Android, Web) and it is free, designed with Vietnamese interface and constantly updated data from many sources.
Currently, users who have already installed AirVisual are still able to see the parameters. The information on AirVisual on the official website airvisual.com is also complete, along with instructions for downloading the app for both iOS and Android users.
Why did AirVisual disappear from the app store?
AirVisual confirmed that many Vietnamese people rating the app as negative made them to withdraw from Play Store, App Store and Facebook in Vietnam, according to an AirVisual representative.
In an email, the representative said that most of the negative reviews and low ratings of AirVisual App Store and Google Play as well as on Facebook come from Vietnam.
"This information is unbelievable, I am standing outside a forest, but, air quality index is higher than that in the city. Are you going to 'dump' Vietnam?", said a comment on Play Store.
Moreover, many Vietnamese users’ comments express disbelief in AirVisual, saying it is deceptive and unreliable.
