Now this - Paytm vanishes from the Apple App Store

After widespread speculation that Paytm may have bitten off more than they can chew, the latest instance of cracking under pressure has come in the form of a mysterious disappearance from the Apple App Store. Paytm clarified through a blog post that they delisted their iPhone and iPad apps on Apple’s App Store voluntarily after users encountered various bugs and technical issues on the current version of their app.

Just when the company was reeling from a lawsuit set in motion by American major PayPal, which is accusing Paytm of plagiarising its logo, this massive recall is perhaps a reaction to a major outage it suffered after experiencing a threefold spike in its volume of daily transactions following demonetisation. The company, whose app now has 170 million users and is facilitating seven million transactions a day, says it has submitted an update and is waiting for Apple to sign off on it and make it live.

 In a blog post titled "We are updating our iOS app", Paytm clarified to its users, "We understand that since yesterday, some of the Paytm users are facing inconvenience in accessing our services intermittently. Today, we found a bug in our iOS App where certain app users were not able to pay, thereby hanging their app. Soon, the system logged them out, preventing them from further accessing their account. We are sending an app update to Apple immediately and requesting them to approve the same as soon as possible. Once live, we request our users to update their iOS app."

The company writes that they decided to take the app off the air in order to prevent more new users from downloading the faulty version, and is assuring users that they will be back as soon as "Apple approves (their) new build". Existing users who have the app downloaded can still access it on their phones, but seem to be having a buggy experience.

It is but natural that panic breaks out as people are rendered helpless without physical or digital cash, what with Paytm being the most widely used and accepted mode of payment by users and vendors alike in its space, compared to competitors like Mobikwik and Citrus. So, Paytm also felt the need to clarify to paranoid users that their money is still in safe hands. "We have also been receiving queries from our users on our 24X7 customer care channels. Please note that your data and money are absolutely safe and secure. This is a minor issue that we are fixing," they wrote, to that effect.

In conclusion, the company sought the support of its loyal users while they build a more seamless experience in order to make India's transition to cashless smoother. "We have been on a journey to build an ecosystem that can facilitate a cashless India. We have painstakingly built our product on strong foundations of technology, and are extremely thankful to our users who have supported us. We request and appreciate continued support from them," they signed off.