A third shell from a Hong Kong individual account: Nela and Saudi's 60 new "video chat" packages

Nela is a 1v1 video chat app that has charted only in Saudi Arabia. It launched on Google Play in Jul 24, had 108k installs by Nov 6, and gained 18.8k in the last 7 days. It isn't a new product that took off: the people behind it already had a working "paid companionship" backend, and the older shell Gala Pro has more than 420 million installs. Nela is the same thing under a new name and a new package. Below: how it got traction, where the money comes from, how crowded this space is, and whether you should follow it.

A one-star review that said "29 seconds and it dies"

To understand Nela, look at its older sibling first. On Dec 25, 2024, a user named Thomas Lindsay left a review on Gala Pro's Google Play page: "Fake. Nobody download this. I paid for the VIP package and nobody replied to my messages, video calls only last 29 seconds, and you can't even hear the other person unless you pay extra to unlock the mic. Total scam." 187 people marked it helpful, and as of Nov 6 it was still the top review on Gala Pro's store page.

Gala Pro and Nela are published by the same developer account, tuho, and share the same domain doyakim.com for their website and privacy policy. The bad review describes exactly how this backend makes money: users buy coins and pay per minute to video chat with "hosts," and the mic and extra time are each sold separately.

What it is

Open Nela's store page (Saudi store, 11-06) and the title is "Instant Video Chat," but the description never mentions video chat or payment: "Discover people, ideas, and everyday moments from around the world," "Browse profiles from different places and backgrounds," "Enjoy flexible and fun interactions." Vague copy like this is standard for these apps and helps with review (inference). The page lists the rating as 18+, category as "User Interaction," with "Contains ads" and in-app purchases of $2.09 to $189.99 each.

The Saudi store page shows a 4.6 rating with about 290 reviews. The two visible reviews: one from Aug 30 saying "nice app," and one from Oct 25 saying "off." The official site liza.doyakim.com features three five-star reviews "from users in various countries," paired with stock-style avatars.

Nothing in the features sets it apart from its peers. The only new things are the name and the package.

Same person, three shells

• Gala Pro: Video Chat & Call (com.daily.unity.callalive): launched in November 2024, 4.25M installs total, charted on the social charts in 11 countries including Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Still gaining about 27k a day 7 days ago (Google Play, 11-06). The store description is blunt: live streams, gifts to hosts, random matching, video chat.
• Liza - Video Chat (com.chat.mapleaf.liza): same developer account, still updated in mid-October. Opening the Play page without a region today returns 404. Delisted or geo-restricted, unverified.
• Nela: the website domain is liza.doyakim.com, the image filenames on the pages are all liza_*, and the account deletion page says "Delete Liza|Nela User Account". Nela and Liza share one account system and one backend, only the shells differ.

The three package names have nothing in common in style (daily.unity.callalive, chat.mapleaf.liza, chat.circbre.nela). The developer info lists a residential address in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, with legal rep DENG LANZHI, while the privacy policy says "developed by TUNG HO". One backend hosts several shells; when one gets delisted or dragged down by bad reviews, you switch to the next and keep buying installs. That is the standard playbook for this kind of product.

Where the traffic comes from

Paid acquisition, almost certainly, but no ad was directly seen. Nela's install curve is not a straight slope but steps and pulses: after launch it averaged about 1,000 a day, then jumped sharply on a few days, Aug 16 +4,400, Oct 3 +6,700, Oct 7 +8,300 (third-party estimates). Daily increments over the last week were 0, 4,933, 8,818, 2,602, 0, 0, 2,476 (Google Play installs, 10-30 to 11-06). This shape looks like batches of paid traffic; store install counts only refresh every few days, so part of the steps may come from how the numbers are counted. Few ratings, almost no written reviews, and not a single relevant post on TikTok or X, all pointing to bought volume. Whether it runs through Google App Campaigns, affiliates or an agency account can't be determined (inference).

The bar for Saudi category charts is low. Nela has only charted in Saudi Arabia: Entertainment Top Free #29 in Oct 177, #2 in Nov 99, #6 in Nov 95; on the same day it first entered the Saudi Entertainment Top Grossing chart, at #179. Around two thousand new installs a day is enough to sit in the top hundred, but that position brings limited organic exposure.

Where the money comes from

The money comes from Gala Pro, which has run for two years: some male users in the Middle East, South America and Southeast Asia will pay for video with real people (hosts, companions), up to over a hundred dollars per transaction. Backend, billing and host supply are already in place, so the cost of a new shell is just a new package, new assets and an ad budget. Nela reaching #179 on the Saudi Top Grossing chart shows people are paying; whether it breaks even or by how much can't be seen from outside (revenue not disclosed).

The reason for choosing Saudi Arabia is equally plain: high spending power, a low bar on category charts, so a new package can quickly get a little chart position to test the acquisition model (inference).

Who it's competing with

This niche is already crowded in Saudi Arabia. Since Oct 29, there have been 60 apps with video chat / video call / live chat in the title, launched in 2026, that charted in Saudi Arabia, from 53 developers (Google Play charts, 10-29 to 11-06). Among similar apps launched after June, ranked by 7-day growth, Nela is roughly #18, mid-pack.

Most of these new packages list borrowed small companies or personal names as developers, and the products look identical. The top of the Saudi Entertainment Top Grossing chart is held by voice-room apps like Yari, Masti and Karak chat. Nobody is copying Nela specifically; it is just one of the many in this wave.

If it were you

Verdict: Worth knowing about, not worth copying. Nela's growth comes from a backend someone else spent two years proving, ready-made host supply and a mature paid-acquisition payback model, none of which followers have; the product itself has no barrier, and 60 similar new packages in Saudi Arabia at the same time are competing for the same users.

Who it fits: teams already running Middle East or Southeast Asian live streaming, companionship or voice-room products, with host agencies, payment channels and app review experience. For you, "one backend, many shells, validate in the Saudi category charts before expanding" is an operating rhythm you can take directly.

Who it doesn't fit: solo indie developers and small teams. The core of this business is not the app; it's host supply, payment conversion and resistance to delisting. It also sits on the edge of Google Play policy (18+ ratings, vague descriptions, sock-puppet accounts), so you carry the risk of account bans and refunds, and reputation damage like the Gala Pro review will follow.

How to do it: if you're already in this niche, the thing to learn is the rhythm: new shells get paid acquisition in one high-spending small market (Saudi Arabia) only, use category and grossing chart positions to judge whether the acquisition model works, and only then copy it to other Arabic-speaking countries; when an old shell gets stuck under bad reviews, switch to a new one while sharing the account system. If you're not in this niche, the more worthwhile opportunity is the part nobody has done well: an Arabic social product with real people, real matching and transparent per-minute billing. That's a different business, though, and Nela doesn't prove it can work.

How to get users: these products can only buy them: Google App Campaigns and affiliate traffic, tested with a small Saudi budget, working out whether first-few-day payments cover install costs; use store titles to claim category keywords like "video chat". Don't count on TikTok or word of mouth; Nela and its peers leave no trace on content platforms.

When to get in: there's no window to speak of. The niche is already crowded, and a new batch of shells arrives every quarter. If Google Play tightens rules on this kind of sock-puppet or misleading description, the first to fall will be new packages with no existing users.

What would show I got this wrong: ① Nela's installs keep rising when no ads are running, or it starts charting outside Saudi Arabia, which would mean it has organic growth and is more of a real product than this analysis assumes; ② Nela pushes into the top 100 of the Saudi Entertainment Top Grossing chart and holds there, meaning new shells pay back better than estimated and this shell-swapping approach is more profitable than I think; ③ conversely, if Nela disappears from Play before year end, like Liza, that means shells last only a few months and copying this approach teaches little about operating rhythm.

Data and sources

• Google Play store pages (Saudi store, English, read on 11-06): Nela's description, 18+ rating, in-app purchase ranges, ratings and reviews, developer info; Gala Pro's description and reviews (Thomas Lindsay, 2024-12-25).
• Google Play installs and charts (10-29 to 11-06); daily installs through October and earlier are third-party estimates. The count of similar new packages is apps on the Saudi charts with video chat / video call / live chat in the title, launched in 2026.
• Websites and policy pages: liza.doyakim.com, policy-p.doyakim.com, policy-d.doyakim.com, yk.doyakim.com.
• Liza: download pages on filehippo and softonic; current Play page returns 404.
• TikTok and X searches for "Nela video chat" and "Nela app": no relevant content. No ads found in the ad libraries, which doesn't mean it isn't advertising.
• Where it says "inferred" or "unverified," it means inference or unchecked.