A free app to keep locally updated
Public - Indian Local Videos is a free mobile app that distributes Indian news and magazines. Developed by Inshorts, it’s a locally-based social network that regularly records, updates, and uploads events of interest. Unlike similar social media apps like TikTok, Public strives for a more factual experience, maintaining public awareness in select areas.
The biggest strength of Public is that it’s specifically catered to Indian users. The app has an impressive handle on the diverse vernacular of the region, and it’s support over such a widely disparate country is its foremost benefit. The Public app is available in many Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, and many more.
Public is your city’s own local app
Public is a local app that brings users a medium to upload, view, like, and comment on a wide array of videos. Similar to YouTube or TikTok, anyone can add to the database. What separates the Public app from its alternatives is that Public aims to provide users with more official content. Rather than funny or creative videos, short videos on the Public app are meant to inform.
Public shares all the latest updates in the city through short videos. These updates can be public events ranging from a local robbery, travel delay, weather; even religious events. With over 1 billion people living in India, this app is an efficient way to keep connected with your specific area.
The majority of the app’s catalog is real-time news updates on your city. It even sends alerts regarding festivals and melas taking place at the famous mandirs and temples of your city. Additionally, the app informs you about celebrity sightings, traffic collisions, sports matches, environmental hazards, and outages, or areas currently under construction. For this reason, Public is an especially necessary app for daily commuters or Uber drivers in India.
Besides being a news and magazines app, Public is also a useful place to promote personal requests and lookup small-scale local information. This can be job listings, store sales, events scheduled to take place, or residential vacancies for visitors and travelers. Despite its huge number of available languages, Public’s reliance on short videos instead of walls of text makes it more immediately digestible.
How does the app work?
The first time you sign in to use Public, you can sync the app to your Facebook or Google account. Since it’s based on your location, the app works best when your GPS is enabled so that it can ping you relevant localized events or news. Public’s intuitive interface is easy to navigate and simple to use, making the most of a variety of filters to distribute the content you care most about.
Public vs. TikTok
While TikTok holds more mainstream popularity, Public is more angled towards an informative direction. It’s easy to see TikTok and its 1 billion users as a clear sign of its superiority, but this isn’t really the case. TikTok has a much broader appeal since it’s a medium designed for creating and sharing entertainment. The strongest comparison between the two is that both platforms are for video and media sharing, but that’s where the similarities between the two end.
Public’s presentation belies its true function. On the surface, it does look like a TikTok knockoff as it has a similar overlay and conveys its content in the same way. In truth, Public is a wholly different app. Besides being catered specifically to individual cities in India, the kind of videos it distributes are of a different type. TikTok is for amusement and passing time, while Public is to keep people in the know about local goings-on.
Stay in the loop 24/7
Public is a simple app that fulfills a complex niche. More than just another social media app, it symbolizes a way to keep connected with the local Indian community. The app is more lightweight, reliable, and efficient than the local news station on TV, and in addition to this, Public offers a huge selection of videos in customizable categories. You'll essentially never be out of touch with the news and events of your area. Between news, short videos, numerous languages, and pop culture, Public is a must-have for any modern Indian.
