Zapya is a peer-to-peer file sharing application that allows users to transfer files of any size and of any format without the need of an Internet connection. Dewmobile, Inc. initially conceived Kuai Ya in Silicon Valley, California, USA to target the Chinese market in 2012. However, the demand for the application spread to neighboring countries such as Myanmar and Pakistan. When the international user base grew to a reasonable size, Dewmobile created a separate app known as Zapya to publish on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Awhile Kuai Ya and Zapya are similar to each other, they include different APK and features in order to comply with Google Play Policies. Zapya gained popularity in countries with low Internet penetration and poor Internet architecture because it allows users to share files without relying on an Internet or cellular data connection. The app is available on multiple platforms, including lower end phone models so that it is accessible to everyone. Users can transfer files of any kind and any size for free using a transfer method similar to Bluetooth and AirDrop. Some cellphone stores use Zapya's "Phone Replicate" feature to transfer the data from their customer's old phones to their new ones.
Impact
Zapya has become ingrained into the Cuban Youth culture due to the limited Wi-Fi access in Cuba. The Miami Herald reported on 11 July 2015 on how Cuban tech start-ups use Zapya to overcome the lack of internet penetration and poor Internet architecture in Cuba. They also found that the youth of Cuba use Zapya as a free platform to talk with their friends and share funny videos and photos with each other. The popularity of Zapya in Cuba has only grown stronger over the years to the point that Cubans have coined the verb "zapyar" as a slang term to refer to sharing files. Cachivache Media deemed Zapya as "the network for the disconnected" in 2016. Travelers and students planning to study abroad in Cuba are recommended download Zapya before going.
For a week in October 2019, Zapya was removed from the Google Play Store and labeled as "harming other applications". It was determined that a third party softwaredevelopment kit had been deemed harmful by the Google Play Policy team and any applications that had this SDK were deemed harmful. A new version of Zapya was listed on the Google Play Store that did not contain the harmful SDK. Dewmobile released a formal apology to users on 5 October 2019 and urged users to update their applications to the new version that complied with the Google Play Policies.
Provisional Ban in China
Even though Kuai Ya complies with Chinese censorship restrictions, it along with Zapya are banned in the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang. In November 2019, the leaked China Cables revealed that the Chinese government's mass surveillance and predictive-policing program Integrated Joint Operation Platform flagged 1.8 million users with Zapya and Kuai Ya on their phones for investigation as part of the crackdown on Uyghur Muslims. Zapya and Kuai Ya do not support Uyghur and Kazakh languages. It is unknown when the ban came about but recently travelers and residents found with either application downloaded on their phone are forced to uninstall the application. Along with Zapya and Kuai Ya, applications such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram are banned in Xinjiang.
