China’s “blatant copy” of Secret vanishes from iOS App Store

The Android version of Mimi, the China-made app that looks a lot like Secret.

Back in April we looked at two pixel-perfect Chinese clones of Whisper and Secret, the popular and gossipy confessional apps. Since that time, the Secret imitator, called Mimi (which is Chinese for ‘secret’), came out with an iOS app that launched in the App Store.

But the Secret doppelganger is no longer in the iOS App Store. The Chinese-language Tencent Tech site noticed today that the Mimi app disappeared from the App Store on May 8 and it hasn’t yet reappeared. The app’s listing on App Annie proves that it has vanished from the store, but all its performance data – such as app ranking – has vanished as well.

Mimi’s homepage says that the iPhone version of its app – which it claims was proving popular on the App Store – has “encountered a small problem.” The message claims it’ll be back in Apple’s store soon.

See: This is China’s answer to the Oculus Rift, and it’s now on Kickstarter

It’s possible that Mimi’s removal is related to a copyright claim. Shortly after we first reported on Mimi in early April, Secret CEO David Byttow told the DailyDot that “Mimi is a blatant copy” of his firm’s app and service. We’ve reached out to Byttow to hear if the US startup complained to Apple about the Chinese app.

Mimi’s Android app, which is published via dozens of third-party Chinese Android stores, is unaffected.

Secret’s app is only available in English and doesn’t support connecting to any Chinese social media.