Same same. SMEX is based in Lebanon — (S)WANA is an obnoxious term that’s going around for MENA.
We don't know what any of these acronyms mean!
MENA - Middle East & North Africa
WANA - West Asia & North Africa
SMEX - "a non-profit that advocates for and advances human rights in digital spaces across West Asia and North Africa." (from their website)
What is the difference between WANA and MENA. Sounds like the same territory
Yes, but, no. It's one of these things where multiple terms mean the same thing but then again come from different times/areas and, upon closer inspection, mean different things. But they're the same. But not really. [1]
A.k.a. I tried to be as politically correct and cite the term used by the respective reporting. The main point I was trying to bring across was that apparently there are two apps involved, not only a single one.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_and_North_Africa
I used to manage an enterprise fleet of mobile devices.
This AppCloud crap has also been pushed to devices in the Europe Open Market.
I also know that this shouldn't have been installed on enterprise devices (either Android Enterprise managed by MDM or E-FOTA managed - don't remember exactly). We had an akward conversation with some Samsung representatives..
It appears to be a similar case across the MENA region. While the SMEX post primarily focuses on WANA, it is possible to find other reports (e.g. [1]) from the MENA region that describe similar practices by Samsung. There, however, the stories talk about "Aura", rather than "AppCloud".
[1] https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2025/06/212144/samsung-embe...