"Lao Da Niu": how an Indonesian developer got Mobile Legends players "free skins" with one template shipped as four apps
What it is An unofficial Android tool for Southeast Asian Mobile Legends players. It edits game files on your phone so you can use paid skins for free (only you can see them). It's free and earns from ads.
Why it took off Demand for skins without paying has always existed. The developer took a flagship that had already reached 1.57M installs, renamed it, and shipped it again, feeding off his existing users, ready-made promo videos on TikTok, and store keyword search.
CHow you could follow Don't build another Mobile Legends app. Over a dozen have already flooded this lane. Instead, take the same template to a new mobile game where skins are expensive, players are plentiful and nobody has moved in yet. Ship two or three apps at once, and run a few of your own TikTok accounts demoing the skin swap.
- Data (updated daily) · first launch 2026-10-02 · 11-07 installs 171,239
Android · Total installs worldwide Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.Android · Ratings count (cumulative) Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations)
An individual developer in Kalimantan, Indonesia, released a "skin injection" tool for players of *Mobile Legends: Bang Bang* at the end of July. It reached 1.57M installs in two and a half months. In early October he renamed the same description and the same features, used the popular in-game hero "Yin" as the banner, and shipped another app that got 170k installs in a month. Below: what exactly it sells, where users come from, why one person in this space ships four apps, and whether you should follow.
A string of five-star reviews on the morning of Oct 31
On the morning of Oct 31, the developer PutMax Dev's flagship "ML Tools GFX - ML Injector" received one five-star review after another on Google Play, almost all identical: "keren ketua," in Indonesian, roughly "the boss is awesome." In under 17 hours, from the previous evening to that morning, the app got 150 new reviews, 54 of which were this phrase or misspelled versions ("keren kerua," "karen ketua"). Some of the ones in between were more direct: "HE GIVE ME FREE SKIN THANK YOU."
Reviews this uniform were most likely written by someone prompted to leave them, possibly a video creator promoting the app or an in-app prompt (inferred, not verified). That itself shows how this business works: the developer is in Indonesia, users are in the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar and Malaysia, and everyone wants the same thing, which is to use skins that cost tens of dollars in Mobile Legends without paying.
Yin Tools: Config Skin ML is the second app this developer shipped after the flagship worked.
What it is
An Android tool app that turns each Mobile Legends hero's paid skins, skill effects, recall animations, maps and loading screens into "scripts." Users pick one and tap replace. It then edits the game's local resource files on your phone, so the hero you see in-game is re-skinned. Only you can see it; other players still see the original skin. The community calls this kind of thing an injector, skin script or config.
The store page is much more polite: "a creative companion app for MOBA fans," "browse, preview and manage visual and audio assets," "for informational, creative and personal use only." The closing disclaimer states it is unaffiliated with the game's developer Moonton. The feature list reveals the truth: "the most complete Skin Script collection of 2026 years," "all skin tiers included (Epic, Legend, Collector)." It also includes hero info and skill combo guides.
A review on the flagship shows it really does modify game files: "The trail effect has a bug. I tapped restore, it said replacement succeeded, but in-game it didn't go back to the original." (Google Play, 10-31)
Free, ad-supported, no in-app purchases. The developer's support email is literally putraadmob.
Metric
| Yin Tools | Same developer's flagship ML Tools GFX | |
|---|---|---|
| Launched | 2026-10-02 | 2026-07-31 |
| Cumulative installs (Google Play, 11-06) | 171k | 1.57M |
| New in the last 7 days | 51k | 180k |
| Charts | #62 in the Philippines Tools free chart | #4–8 on the Philippines Tools chart, also charting in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand |
| Rating | 3.4, with only 1 stars (about 40%) and 5 stars (about 60%) | — |
Yin Tools had only about 14k installs in Oct 13 (third-party estimate), then in Oct 21 a single day spiked to about 35k; the cause is not found. From November on it was three to four thousand a day, and it's slowing. Ratings grow by 80–140 a day. The version has been stuck at Oct 5, with no updates since.
The ratings only sit at 1 star or 5 star: five stars say "best injector to use," one star says "injected, no effect."
Where users come from
TikTok has a full set of ready-made promo content. Search "ml skin injector" on TikTok and the top results are almost all promo for this kind of app. One account, @app.injector.ml.skin.gfx, posted "Best 5 Apps Injector ML 2026 Safe" on Jun 20 and has 500k views so far; another post from Jun with the same title has 15 320k views; an August video is titled "Name App: ML Tools Hub", the same name as another PutMax app. The standard play for these accounts is a daily demo of "hero X with an anime crossover skin," riding event tags like #MLBB10TH (10th anniversary) and #MLBBxNARUTO. The bio links to the developer page, not a single app, so one account can push several apps at once.
Organic word of mouth from the flagship's existing users. The flagship gets real organic sharing: players in Myanmar, Nepal and the Philippines make their own tutorials, and some video titles read "THE INJECTOR NAME IS ML TOOLS GFX." Yin Tools uses the same pitch and the same developer page, and the store's "More by PutMax Dev" section lists all four apps together. The flagship adds 9–200k installs a week, so routing a few thousand of those to a new app is easy (inferred; I didn't get screenshots of in-app cross-promotion).
Store search. The title stuffs in "Config Skin ML," the package name is MLConfigSkin.Injector, and the description repeats "skin injector" and "skin script." The hero name Yin is there for search too: players who search "yin tools" on TikTok get, about half the time, tutorials on the Yin hero's builds and combos.
It gets little direct exposure on TikTok. One Facebook Reel with its logo (10-11) has only 40 views. Most of Yin Tools' installs likely come from in-store traffic and the flagship (inferred). I found no evidence of paid acquisition.
Who it's competing with
This category is already crowded, with small Southeast Asian developers, and each one ships several apps:
| Product | Developer | Launched | Installs (11-06) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kionyx GFX / Kaizoku-ō GFX | Two companies | Around 2025-12 | 2.18M / 1.69M |
| ML Tools GFX | PutMax Dev | 2026-07 | 1.57M |
| BS Tools - ML Script Injector | Aneh Developer Malaysia | 2026-05 | 810k |
| GS Tools - Skin Tools ML | Situ Studio | 2026-08 | 510k |
| ML Skin Config Tools Injector | Aneh Developer Malaysia | 2026-05 | 330k |
| Ryu Tools - ML Script Skin | Situ Studio | 2026-08 | 200k |
| Skinix Hub | Founders Cubed | 2026-07 | 190k |
| JC Tools / ADR Skin Tools | Aneh Developer Malaysia | 2026-05 / 08 | 170k / 150k |
| Yin Tools | PutMax Dev | 2026-10 | 170k |
Going back further, the same play has run for years on other games: Vietnam's Skin Tools AOVV (for the Vietnamese version of Arena of Valor) has 3.98M installs, and Free Fire's FF Skin Tool has 2.69M. Both are 2023-year-old apps.
Apart from the name, Yin Tools is basically the same as these. PutMax alone has at least four similar apps: ML Tools GFX, Yin Tools, ML Tools Hub, and ML Skin Toolkit 2026.
Why one person would ship four apps
Because any app can die at any time. These apps use Moonton's game assets, so Google can pull them for infringement or as "cheating tools." On Moonton's side, players on Reddit say they were banned some 24 hours after using an injector, and YouTube has videos saying "2026 Moonton tightened skin scripts again." The vague store description is also there to stay clear of policy lines.
Shipping several apps has three benefits: if one is pulled, the others keep running; each new app gets the boost that newly listed apps receive; and four names cover four sets of keywords. The cost is close to zero: same code, same description, different icon and name.
Monetization is AdMob ads. Ad rates in Southeast Asia are low, but a few hundred thousand to a million installs is enough to sustain a solo developer in Indonesia. Revenue isn't public.
If it were you
My take: Learn the playbook, but don't follow it. The demand is real, but a dozen or more companies are already flooding the Mobile Legends space, and PutMax is shipping its fourth app. The product has no barrier to entry, so there's no place for you in it.
Who it's for: Small teams already making game utility apps in Southeast Asia, with AdMob accounts, a few developer accounts they can ship apps under, and a willingness to play guerrilla.
Who it's not for: Anyone who wants a product that lasts; anyone who cares about account safety or doesn't want to touch game IP; anyone who doesn't know the Southeast Asian player communities well.
If you do it anyway, how: Don't make another Mobile Legends app. Use the same template on a mobile game where paid skins are expensive, players are plentiful, and the market isn't saturated, such as a new MOBA or shooter that's just starting to grow in Southeast Asia, South Asia or Latin America. First search Google Play for "game name + skin tools / injector" to see how many competitors exist. Name the app after the game's most popular character, put community slang in the title and package name, and write the description like Yin Tools: "browse, preview, creative reference." Plan to ship two or three apps from the start.
How to get users: Run three to five of your own TikTok accounts posting daily demos of "a specific character in a limited skin," riding the game's official event tags. Link the developer page in the bio. Once the first app takes off, route traffic from it, inside the app and on its store page, to the apps that follow.
When to start: Time it to the game's major updates and crossover events. Demand peaks in the weeks a limited skin drops, so have the apps and videos ready one to two weeks before the event starts.
Signs you've misread the market: A new app still sits past page two of "game name + injector" a month after launch; the app gets pulled by Google before it gains traction; or the TikTok demo videos keep getting only a few hundred views. Any one of these means the niche is already taken or the platforms are tightening, and you should cut your losses and switch games.
Research notes: competitor table, acquisition evidence, full research report
- Competitors
Name Where Launched Scale How it differs from this one ML Tools GFX - ML Injector Android 2026-07-31 1.57M installs, +180k in 7 days, #6 on Philippines Tools chart Same developer's flagship, same features and description; Yin is a clone with less traffic BS Tools - ML Script Injector(Aneh Developer Malaysia) Android 2026-05-04 810k installs, 7 days +110k Same kind of features, launched earlier; this developer also runs a multi-app portfolio GS Tools / Ryu Tools(Situ Studio) Android 2026-08 510k / 200k installs Same features, but has its own TikTok account network (@mlinjector and others) routing to the developer page Skinix Hub(Founders Cubed) Android 2026-07-31 187k installs, #27 on Philippines Tools Promoted by Philippine TikTok creator @daisukeml (70k views) Kionyx GFX / Kaizoku-ō GFX Android Around 2025-12 2.18M / 1.69M installs Earlier-generation GFX + skin tool, larger scale Skin Tools AOVV / Nox Skin Tool / FF Skin Tool Android 2023 1.48M–3.98M installs Same play, aimed at Liên Quân / Free Fire rather than MLBB Moonton's official skin store Big-company features long-standing MLBB itself Official only sells skins and offers no free use; accounts using scripts may be banned - Where users come from
- Verified Injector demo content on TikTok / Facebook: a TikHub search for "ml skin injector" returns mostly the same kind of promos in the top 20 results; @app.injector.ml.skin.gfx has one post with 500k views; "Shade Mlbb" on Facebook posted a Reel with the Yin Tools logo and a Play download prompt (40 views... 10-11); the flagship ML Tools GFX has user-made tutorials.
- Inferred cross-promotion within the same developer (More by PutMax Dev / in-app recommendations): 4 apps listed side by side on the developer page; the flagship adds 9–200k a week; I didn't verify whether in-app cross-promotion exists
- Verified store keyword search: title, package name and description stuffed with Config Skin ML / Injector / skin script; named after the popular hero Yin; Google results include organic referrers like utm_term=putmax dev ml tools gfx
- Inferred review gating: the flagship review sample has many repeats of "keren ketua"; Yin's rating histogram only shows 1-star and 5-star reviews
- Inferred paid acquisition: no evidence found
Yin Tools: Config Skin ML (com.Yin.Tools.MLConfigSkin.Injector), why it shows up in the charts
Channel: Google Play | Developer: PutMax Dev (ABDI SAPUTRA, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia; support email [email protected]) | Store launch 2026-10-02 | Research date 2026-11-06
Bottom line
It isn't a product that broke out on its own. The Indonesian indie developer PutMax Dev validated demand with the flagship "ML Tools GFX - ML Injector" (listed 2026-07-31, 1.57M installs so far), then shipped a clone with the same description and the same features. It rides a long-standing Southeast Asian demand among Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) players for "free paid skins" (locally modified skin scripts, known as injectors or skin scripts). Traffic comes from TikTok and Facebook content around "best injector ML 2026 no ban" style posts, store keyword search, and cross-promotion among the developer's several apps. Monetized with ads (AdMob). The distribution playbook and platform rule arbitrage are the key; the product itself has nothing special.
1. Data (from our googleplay library, 2026-10-29 to 11-06)
- Global cumulative installs: 120,375 (10-29) → 171,239 (11-06), +50,864 in 7 days; ratings count 2,367 → 3,206, adding 78–138 a day.
- Curve since launch (estimated by AppstoreSpy,
app_day_ext): at 10-13, 14,067; from 10-18 to 10-27, 5–8 thousand a day, with a single-day spike of about 35k on 10-21 (a one-off burst; I didn't find the cause, possibly a viral video or a recommendation feature); since 11-04, 3–4 thousand a day, slowing down. - Charts: only the Philippines Tools top free chart, ranking 59–78 (peak #62 on 11-06). In the same period the flagship ML Tools GFX ranked 4–8 on the Philippines Tools chart and 67–94 on the Philippines overall chart, and also charted in the Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand Tools charts.
- Rating 3.4. The histogram has only one-star 1 (40%) and five-star 5 (60%) ratings, polarized: praise says "best injector ever," complaints say "injected but nothing happened." Ratings-to-installs is about 1.9%, similar to the flagship (2.2%).
- No updates since version 1.5,10-05;
ad_supported = True, no in-app purchases. - Same developer: the two apps in the library total 1.74M installs; the developer page also lists "ML Tools Hub: ML Skin Injector" and "ML Skin Toolkit 2026 Injector" (neither charted, not in the library). That means one developer has at least 4 similar apps.
2. Competitors: who else is doing the same thing
This category is already packed with the same kind of apps from small Southeast Asian developers (data from the googleplay library, 2026-11-06):
| Product | Developer | Launched | Installs | 7-day gain | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ML Tools GFX - ML Injector | PutMax Dev (same company) | 2026-07-31 | 1,570,444 | 180,264 | Flagship, #6 on Philippines Tools |
| BS Tools - ML Script Injector | Aneh Developer Malaysia | 2026-05-04 | 814,250 | 110,232 | #20 on Philippines Tools |
| GS Tools - Skin Tools ML | Situ Studio | 2026-08-09 | 511,146 | 76,398 | Uses a TikTok account network for traffic |
| ML Skin Config Tools Injector | Aneh Developer Malaysia | 2026-05-06 | 328,849 | 68,725 | |
| Ryu Tools - ML Script Skin | Situ Studio | 2026-08-30 | 201,620 | 35,030 | |
| Skinix Hub | Founders Cubed | 2026-07-31 | 187,486 | 15,251 | Promoted by TikTok @daisukeml, 70k views |
| JC Tools Skin ML Injector 2026 | Aneh Developer Malaysia | 2026-08-03 | 169,215 | 11,422 | |
| ADR Skin Tools | Aneh Developer Malaysia | 2026-05-06 | 150,873 | — | Promoted by TikTok @adiramlbb |
| Kionyx GFX / Kaizoku-ō GFX | Vinzz / Kaizoku-Ō | Around 2025-12 | 2.18M / 1.69M | 61k / 24k | Top 70 on Philippines Tools |
| Bisaya Toolkit / BeastHub | Ken Kaede | 2026-08 / 09 | 87k / 37k | Ken Kaede also makes JC Tools GFX (listed on Softonic) | |
| ZENHub GFX, GT Tools: ML Injector GFX, Lumina GFX Tools | Various | 2026 | Not verified | Visible in web search | |
| Earlier generation: Skin Tools AOVV, Nox Skin Tool (Honor of Kings overseas version Liên Quân), FF Skin Tool (Free Fire) | Developers in Vietnam and India | 2023 | 1.48M–3.98M | The same playbook has been running for years, just with a different game |
What big players already offer: Moonton's official channel only sells skins and offers no free trial; its stance is that using scripts can get you banned (Reddit r/MobileLegendsGame has threads like "banned after using an injector for 24 hours", and YouTube has videos like "2026 years of MLBB getting stricter on skin scripts").
How Yin Tools differs from these rivals: barely at all. The description is word-for-word the same as flagship ML Tools GFX (only the name changed), and the pitch is identical: "the biggest skin script collection + hero guides." The only real difference is the name: it uses "Yin," a popular MLBB hero, as the brand, riding the traffic of players searching for Yin builds and combos (on TikTok, searching "yin tools" turns up mostly Yin hero tutorials), and stuffs keywords like "Config Skin ML" and "Injector" into the title and package name.
3. Growth tactics (evidence)
- The TikTok / Facebook "injector" content ecosystem (confirmed to exist; Yin's own ad spend not verified)
- Searching "ml skin injector" on TikTok, the first 20 results are almost all promotion for the same category: @mlinjector (7,711 followers), @app.injector.ml.skin.gfx (15,285 followers; one post titled "Best 5 Apps Injector ML 2026 Safe" has 500k views), @injector_of_mlbb. Their bio links all point to Situ Studio's Play developer page. The standard approach in this category is for developers to run a stable of TikTok accounts posting daily demos of "a hero × anime skin" (paired with trending hashtags like #MLBBxNARUTO and #MLBB10TH).
- The Facebook page "Shade Mlbb" 10-11 posted a Reel titled "Best injector ml Skin 2026" whose footage shows the Yin Tools logo and a Google Play download prompt (per Jina's page read). It has only 40 views, so the reach is small.
- The flagship ML Tools GFX has organic spread: @commanderinch's "THE INJECTOR NAME IS ML TOOLS GFX", and tutorials made by users in Myanmar, Nepal, and the Philippines (found by searching "ml tools gfx" on TikHub). Yin Tools mainly borrows from these existing users and this pitch.
- Cross-promotion within the same developer (inferred, fairly credible): the store page "More by PutMax Dev" groups 4 apps together; the flagship adds 9–200k new installs a week. Once a new package is linked from within the app or on the store page, getting a few thousand DAU for Yin isn't hard. No in-app screenshots were obtained, so this is unverified.
- Store search / keywords: title "Config Skin ML" + package name "MLConfigSkin.Injector" + the description repeatedly includes "ML Skin Injector," "skin script," and "Collector." Google search results include referrers like
utm_term=putmax dev ml tools gfxtagged as organic, which shows people really are searching by the developer name and the tool name. - Reviews and ratings: the recent flagship review sample contains many identical "keren ketua" (Indonesian for "cool boss"), which looks like prompted five-star reviews (possibly creators, or the app asking users to write them); unverified. Yin's histogram has only 1-star and 5-star ratings, which doesn't look like a natural distribution either.
- Timing: MLBB's 2026 anniversary (#MLBB10TH) and the Naruto crossover 2.0 (3-27 to 5-10) are big events; the more limited-edition skins there are, the greater demand for "free skins" becomes. Since 2026-05 this category has seen a steady stream of new packages.
- Paid acquisition: no evidence found (the Meta / TikTok ad libraries only track products on the watchlist, so not finding something there doesn't mean no spend). Judging by its scale and the background of a single Indonesian developer, large-scale paid user acquisition seems unlikely.
4. Why it took off
- Real demand, a must-have, year-round: there are hundreds of millions of MLBB players across Southeast Asia, and paid skins are expensive; "use skins for free, and only you can see them" is a strong pull. Earlier packages of the same kind in Vietnam and India (Skin Tools AOVV 3.98M, FF Skin Tool 2.69M) already proved this.
- Reusing a proven template: after the flagship ML Tools GFX reached 1.57M in two and a half months, the developer used the same code and description to ship Yin Tools and other packages, getting new-app cold-start weighting and keyword placement at zero R&D cost.
- Spreading risk across a portfolio: apps like this can be pulled by Google at any time over infringement (Moonton's IP) or "cheating tool" policies, or killed by a Moonton ban wave, so developers spread out across multiple packages (PutMax has 4, Aneh Developer Malaysia has at least 4, Situ Studio has more than 2).
- Monetization: free with ads (the developer email is literally "putraadmob"). eCPMs in Southeast Asia are low, but hundreds of thousands to millions of installs is enough volume for a solo developer to make a living. No public revenue.
5. Differentiation, and whether that's why it took off
There's no product-level differentiation: it's a copy of its flagship, with the same features as a dozen competitors. It took off because of the developer's existing traffic and category playbook (TikTok demo content, keywords, cross-promotion from the flagship), plus using a popular hero's name as the brand. Differentiation isn't why it worked.
6. Visibility
Not many people know about it yet; it's only circulating in MLBB player circles. No media coverage; searching "ml injector" in the X corpus (x-radar, last 30 days) returns 0 posts; no public revenue; the only web presence is auto-indexing pages like APKPure, AppBrain, Uptodown, Softonic, and AppGazers. But the category itself is already crowded with copycats, so this isn't an empty niche.
7. What others can learn
- "Flagship validation → mass-produce template clone packages": new packages get the new-app ranking boost and occupy more keyword slots, and if one gets pulled, the whole operation doesn't go down with it.
- Name the app after popular in-game characters and community slang (injector / script / config) to catch search traffic directly.
- A TikTok account network: post daily "hero × anime crossover skin" demos, with bios linking to the developer page instead of a single app, so one account can drive traffic to several apps.
- Risks: infringing game IP, violating Google Play policy (impersonation / cheating tools), and exposing users to account bans. This path only suits small developers willing to play guerrilla.
8. Uncertain
- What caused the 10-21-day spike of 35k (a viral TikTok? store recommendation?) was not found.
- Whether the flagship app drives traffic to Yin Tools: no screenshots obtained.
- Whether there's paid user acquisition: not verified.
- Whether the injection feature actually works (negative reviews say it doesn't), and how much ad revenue it makes.
- Searching TikHub by app name ("yin tools ml") turns up almost no videos specifically promoting Yin Tools, suggesting little direct exposure on TikTok; it likely relies mainly on in-store traffic.
Sources
- Our googleplay library (agent-im, 2026-11-06 queries): app_profile / app_day / app_snap / chart_rank / review / app_day_ext (AppstoreSpy estimates).
- Google Play store page: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Yin.Tools.MLConfig…; developer page play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=PutMax+Dev (read via Jina, 2026-11-06)
- TikHub TikTok searches for "ml skin injector," "yin tools ml," "ml tools gfx," "config skin ml," and "injector ml 2026 safe", plus the profiles of @mlinjector, @app.injector.ml.skin.gfx, and @injector_of_mlbb (2026-11-06)
- Facebook Shade Mlbb Reel:www.facebook.com/61593207779286/videos/2610315246048123/
- Reddit ban discussions: www.reddit.com/r/MobileLegendsGame/comments/1kte8pd/injector…; www.reddit.com/r/MobileLegendsGame/comments/1r9qlww/do_skin_…
- MLBB x Naruto 2.0 schedule: www.ldshop.gg/blog/mlbb/mlbb-x-naruto-2-0-release.html
- Indexing sites: AppBrain, APKPure, AppGazers, Uptodown (Jina search)