VidMate has been displaying hidden ads, secretly subscribing people to paid services, and draining users’ mobile data, according to findings from security researchers at a London-based mobile technology firm. This functionality made VidMate, which has ties to Chinese tech giant Alibaba, hugely popular in countries such as India where streaming mobile video can be expensive or at times unreliable.īut it appears that convenience still comes at a high cost for users. More than half a billion people have installed VidMate, an Android app that enables them to download videos from YouTube, WhatsApp, and other platforms.
