Antutu is one of the most popular benchmarking applications for Android, giving phone and tablet owners an easy way to compare their performance across devices. However, all three Antutu benchmarks have been removed from the Play Store, possibly as part of the larger crackdown on apps from infamous developer Cheetah Mobile.
The three affected applications include Antutu 3DBench, Antutu Benchmark, and AItutu Benchmark. According to analytics service AppBrain, the latest update for the AI benchmark app was on February 13th, and the regular app was updated on February 7th. It’s not clear when exactly the removals took place, though the regular Antutu application was available as recently as February 22nd.
Antutu appears to be owned by Cheetah Mobile.
We’ve reached out to Antutu to ask why its apps were removed, but we might already know why — the privacy policy link on the latest available archive of the app listing points to Cheetah Mobile’s website, indicating Antutu is likely owned by CM. Google pulled all of Cheetah Mobile’s apps from the Play Store last month after years of repeated policy violations, and if Antutu was owned by Cheetah Mobile, that would explain why the Antutu benchmarks are gone. Antutu’s website makes no reference to Cheetah Mobile (there’s even a completely separate privacy policy), but the Tianyancha business database lists Fu Sheng as the chairman/manager of Beijing Antutu Technology Co. — the same person who serves as the CEO of Cheetah Mobile.
AnTuTu does seem to have taken notice of the removal, as some of the Play Store download links on its website have been replaced with simple APK links. We’ll update this post if we get a response from the company.
