Bilibili International (bilibili.tv)

Is the Bilibili international app safe?

The international Bilibili app is safer than its Chinese sibling, but it is still a tracking-heavy video app. It stores data in Singapore and no regulator has fined or ordered it, which is a much cleaner record than the Chinese platform's. The catch is in the details of its policy: group companies in China may access the data, it told Californians it "sold" device, browsing and purchase data to advertisers, and its 13+ store rating ignores the 18+ minimum its own policy sets in several countries. We score it 51/100, above the Chinese Bilibili app (42) and below Crunchyroll (56).

This page scores "bilibili - Anime · Video HD", the app sold outside China by Bilibili Singapore Pte. Ltd., with more than 100 million installs on Google Play. Its privacy policy, last updated in March 2025, names a different Singapore company, Balaboom Pte. Ltd., as the operator.

What the app collects and who gets it

Apple's label says identifiers and diagnostics may be used to track you across other companies' apps. Linked to your identity are contact details, search history, browsing history, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics. Google Play's data safety section is narrower: it lists email and phone number as shared for app functionality and analytics, and user IDs collected partly for advertising.

The policy goes further than either label. It collects device identifiers including the MAC address and advertising ID, infers your rough location from your IP address, and keeps text and voice messages from voice chat rooms to enforce its rules. Most importantly, its California section says that in the past 12 months it "sold" and "shared" device information, browsing and usage data and purchase history with advertising and analytics partners, who may use it for their own ads. Under our rules the broader of label and policy counts, so privacy (35) is scored on the policy.

Storage is in Singapore. But the policy adds that for "security maintenance and business intelligence" and other purposes, affiliates of the Bilibili group or partners in other countries, "e.g., China", may access that data. Bilibili Inc. is a Chinese company, so that sentence matters more than the server location.

Age limits and what teens see

The app is rated 13+ on the App Store, with age assurance and in-app controls, and Teen on Google Play. The policy is stricter. It bars under-13s everywhere and sets the minimum at 16 in Vietnam, 18 in Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Japan, 20 in Thailand and 21 in Indonesia. In those countries a 14-year-old can pass the store's age gate and still be breaking the app's own rules.

What they find is mostly anime, games and fan videos, with "bullet comment" overlays, comment threads and creator uploads. The listing mentions infrequent horror themes and references to alcohol, tobacco or drugs. The riskier parts are social: voice chat rooms, live streams and paid gifts. Streamers can be tipped with "batteries", sold in packs from US$0.99 to US$59.99. For livestreaming or a verified account, the policy may ask for proof of identity or age.

Security and record

We found no data breach naming the international app. The 2019 leak of Bilibili's back-end code on GitHub concerned the Chinese platform; Bilibili said the code was an old version. The policy describes encryption in transit and encrypted storage of sensitive data, but no end-to-end encryptionEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary for messages or voice chat; the policy says Bilibili keeps voice-room text and voice messages to enforce its rules.

Regulators have been busy with Bilibili, but in China. Shanghai authorities opened six penalty cases against the Chinese platform in 2020, and national regulators have summoned it over content shown to minors. Those orders named the Chinese service, not this app, so we count them only as context. We found no fine or order against the international app from a regulator in Southeast Asia, Europe or the US, nor any sign that a major privacy regulator has examined it. We start from the band for unexamined apps and take a little off for the parent company's Chinese record, which gives a regulatory record of 84.

How to use it more safely

1. Deny tracking when iOS asks, and reset or limit your phone's advertising identifier on Android.
2. Use the app's ad settings to cut third-party ads, which the policy says you can turn off, and in California use the opt-out of data sales.
3. Do not log in with Facebook or Google unless you need to; an email account keeps those profiles apart.
4. For teenagers, check your country's minimum age in the policy before you allow an account, and switch off voice chat and gifting.
5. Treat voice rooms and direct messages as readable by Bilibili; do not share personal details there.

How we scored it

Regulatory record (84) is the strongest factor: no fine or order names this app. Privacy (35) is the weakest, because the policy admits selling ad data and allows access from China. Scams and harmful content (52) reflects live gifting, voice rooms and a store rating below the policy's own age limits. Security (55) has no known breach but no end-to-end encryptionEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary. For licensed anime with a stronger privacy record, compare Crunchyroll.