An old gaming account with 210k followers carries a free skin app: how Skinix Hub got 187k installs in the Philippines
What it is An Android app for Filipino Mobile Legends players that displays paid skins for free on your own phone, monetized by ads, while being listed in the store as a hero info tool.
Why it took off Demand for free skins is constant, and downloading from Play makes users feel safe. An old MLBB account with 210k followers has been posting tutorials repeatedly since August, and installs and chart rank jump with each post.
CHow you could follow Don't build the Nth injector. Build a compliant mobile-game companion tool, and learn from how it leans on a faded but loyal niche creator who pushes one app for the long haul, with titles that directly address users' biggest worry.
- Data (updated daily) · first launch 2026-07-31 · 11-07 installs 187,486
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.
Skinix Hub calls itself a "MOBA hero info tool" on Google Play, but it's really a free skin injector for Mobile Legends (MLBB) players, with traction only in the Philippines. Three-plus months after listing, it hit 187k installs and reached #17 on the Philippines tools free chart in November. It has no matrix and no keyword-stuffed title, and it's nearly identical to a dozen rivals. It rose almost entirely on one person: a Filipino MLBB TikTok account that peaked 2021 years ago and came back this year. Below: what it is, where the traffic came from, who competes with it, and whether you should follow it.
One 58-second video, and a comment asking "is it safe?"
In Oct 2026 31, the TikTok account @daisukeml (DAISUKE ML, 212k followers) posted a 58-second video titled "Best Injector MLBB 2026! Safe No ban Skinix Hub." By Nov 6, the video had 75.6k views, 1,567 likes, and 65 comments.
The comments are almost all usage questions: "pano set up" (how do I set it up), "kailangan pa ba I open ang developer" (do I still need to open developer options), "di gumagana sa redmi??" (doesn't work on Redmi?), "sa iPhone boss pano?" (how on iPhone?). One very specific comment: "Why did my injected skin disappear after I played one match and the game auto-downloaded resources later that night?" And one with just four words, "Safe bato? 😭", meaning "Is it safe, bro?"
Two days later, Skinix Hub jumped from #121 to #58 on the Philippines tools free chart, reached #21 by day three, and held at #17 on Nov 4 and 5. It even squeezed into the Philippines overall app chart at #158–#187 (Google Play chart, 11-01 to 11-05).
On the account's own profile, the three most-liked videos are all from 2021: "Tanggap Nyo Na🥺" with 3.16M views, and "Paano Pabilisin ang loading sa ML?" (how to speed up ML loading) with 2.97M views. It went quiet for several years, resumed posting in May 2026, pushed another injector, Draxyn, in July, and switched to Skinix Hub from August.
What it actually is
The store description never mentions skins: "Skinix Hub is a MOBA companion application… Browse heroes and game-related content… Interactive utility features" (Google Play page, 11-06). This is the standard store wording for this type of app.
The top comment that got the most useful votes is the one that matters. Kurt Matthew Golez (08-21,51 people found it useful): "This is the best, most recommended injector for MLBB 2026–2027... the skins really work and you can actually see them!" Below it, an all-caps warning: "DON'T inject more than 30 at once! Only inject the heroes you use most! So you don't get flagged for suspicious bans!" Another comment (Liam Herrera, 08-23) says the effects and voice lines are all there, but some skills still show the default button UI.
The mechanism: it uses Shizuku to get permissions, then rewrites MLBB's local resource files so paid skins show up on your phone. Other players can't see them, and nothing is added to your account. The creator's profile links straight to the Shizuku APK download. Every time the game updates its resources, the injected files get wiped, so users have to keep coming back to re-inject.
The money model is simple: the listing says "contains ads," there are no in-app purchases, and the data safety section says device IDs are shared with third parties (Google Play, 11-06). Rating: 4.2,346 reviews. The last version was 9 1.1 from Aug, with no updates since.
The developer identity is pieced together from scraps. The store name is Founders Cubed, the registered contact is Renz Aaron Dela Cruz from the Philippines, support is a Gmail address, the website is an empty GitHub Pages site, and the privacy policy sits on a Blogspot under a different name. Four places, four names: it looks like a person or small group throwing together a front.
Installs track the videos
| Timeline | What happened |
|---|---|
| 7-31 | Launched |
| 8-08, 8-11 | @daisukeml posted two Skinix Hub tutorials back to back. 8-11, the one with about 55k views (both are gone from his profile now) |
| 8-16 ~ 8-18 | 4.7k / 6.4k / 7.9k a day, the first peak since launch; 8-24 to 51k |
| 9-03 | About 11k in a single day, 87k total (I couldn't find the matching video) |
| October | Hundreds to five thousand a day, 10-28 to 172k |
| 10-31 | The "Safe No ban" video went up |
| 11-02 ~ 11-05 | Philippines Tools free chart: #121 → #58 → #21 → #17 |
| 11-05 | He posted another tutorial, 8.3k views |
| 11-06 | +5,364 in a single day, 187k total, +7k over the last 15 days |
(Daily numbers before October are third-party estimates; read them for shape only. Charts are the Google Play Philippines Tools free chart.)
Both peaks follow the same creator's videos. Elsewhere, you only find scattered organic posts (one "skinix hub op👑" with 08-22k views on 6.2), and APK mirror download counts are small (around 1,060 on Softonic this month). Nobody on X has mentioned it in the last 30 days. From the outside, you can't tell whether he's a paid promoter, on revenue share, or the same person behind it. This account rotates through different injectors, which suggests it's doing promotion for hire, though that's an inference.
Why users are willing to install it
The demand has always been there. MLBB is a national game in the Philippines, paid skins aren't cheap, and demand for free skins has never gone away. The big apps in this category have reached 1.5M to nearly 4M installs, so the demand doesn't need proving.
On Play, it reads as "safe." The comment "Safe bato?" shows the users' biggest worry: malware and bans. Every one of the creator's titles says "Safe No ban," and a Google Play download answers that worry better than sideloading an unknown APK from a shady site. It's disguised as a hero-info app so it can stay on Play.
Recommended by an old player, so trust comes built in. An account that has been teaching "how to make ML load faster" for 2021 years has a following. When he says it works and doesn't get you banned, that's more believable than a freshly registered promo account.
Light on ads, so users come back. Another positive review (Joaquin Pamatian, 09-06) praises that it's "all effects, no errors, and the ads are short." Skins vanish with every resource update, so users reopen the app and re-inject again and again, and each opening shows an ad.
The category is already crowded
| Product | Developer | Launched | Installs (11-06) | How Skinix differs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ML Tools GFX - ML Injector | PutMax Dev (Indonesia) | 2026-07-31 | 1.57M, 7 days +180k | Launched the same day with 8× its volume; titles stuffed with keywords, many packages to spread reach |
| Kionyx GFX | Vinzz | 2026-05-06 | 2.18M | An earlier generation, bigger scale |
| BS Tools - ML Script Injector | Aneh Developer (Malaysia) | 2026-05-04 | 810k, +110k in 7 days | Four or five packages at once |
| GS Tools / Ryu Tools | Situ Studio | 2026-08 | 510k / 200k | Runs its own batch of TikTok alt accounts |
| Kaizoku-ō GFX | Kaizoku-Ō | 2025-12 | 1.69M | Earlier |
| ZongHub GFX | Atelier Thivant | 2026-06-09 | 208k | Comparable scale to Skinix |
| NIX HUB | — | — | The official site claims 500k+ | Not on Play; distributed via its website and APK sites. "Skinix" may be borrowing its name (inference) |
| FF Skin Tool / Skin Tools AOVV, etc. | several | From ¥2023 | 148–3.98M | Same playbook, aimed at Free Fire and Vietnam's Liên Quân |
In this table, Skinix sits in the middle to lower range. Its difference from the others isn't the product, it's acquisition: the others rely on package matrices, keyword titles, and their own alt accounts, while Skinix relies on one package plus one outside veteran creator. I haven't seen anyone copy it specifically, and there isn't much worth copying anyway.
There's one more party not in the table: the game publisher, Moonton. It sells skins and bans accounts that use injectors. The review warning "DON'T inject more than 30 at once" is about exactly this.
The money: there is some, but not much
It relies on ads alone, and its users are in the Philippines, where ad rates are low globally. 187k installs with users reopening it repeatedly could support one person or a small group, but that's far from a big business (inference). How much ad revenue it actually makes isn't visible from outside. These apps can also be pulled from Play or hit with a Moonton complaint at any time, so income is unstable.
If it were you
Verdict: You can learn one acquisition tactic from it, but it's not worth building an injector the way it did. The product has no moat, and the category's multi-package players have several times its volume. It also falls foul of the game's copyright and Google Play's deceptive-behavior policies, and users can get their accounts banned because of it.
Good fit for: small teams already building compliant Southeast Asian mobile-game utilities (match lookups, build recommendations, hero info, GFX graphics settings) that lack a acquisition channel.
Bad fit for: anyone wanting a product that stays in the store long-term and can charge money; anyone unwilling to take on delisting and copyright risk; anyone who can't produce local content for markets like the Philippines, Indonesia, or Malaysia.
How to do it: copy its distribution, not its disguise. Build a real MLBB (or Free Fire, Honor of Kings) helper tool and describe it honestly. Find a faded but still-followed veteran creator in the niche and run a long-term partnership to promote one app, instead of building a batch of alt accounts from scratch.
How to acquire users: On TikTok, find old MLBB tutorial accounts that blew up 2020–2022 years ago, whose views have dropped but still have 100–200K followers. Negotiate per-install revenue share or a monthly flat fee. Address users' biggest worry directly in the title (Skinix uses "Safe No ban"; you could use "official data" or "doesn't modify game files"), and put the dependency and tutorial link on the creator's profile.
Timing: Veteran creators are still cheap right now. The earlier you negotiate, the better, before this injector wave burns out these accounts.
Signs you've read this wrong: ① Skinix Hub and similar packages get delisted en masse, or Moonton starts large-scale bans. The injector route is closed, but the "veteran creator pushes a single package" playbook still works. ② After @daisukeml's next video goes up, Skinix's installs and ranking stop jumping. That would mean he wasn't actually driving the volume, and the single-creator model isn't as powerful as it looks. ③ A compliant tool promoted through an old account converts far worse than "free skins" do. That would mean this audience wants the gray-market stuff specifically, not whatever tool you offer.
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(PutMax Dev) Android 2026-07-31 1.57M installs, +7k in 180 days, PH TOOLS #6 Launched the same day, titles stuffed with keywords, multi-package strategy, 8× its volume Kionyx GFX(Vinzz) Android 2026-05-06 2.18M installs, +61k in 7 days An earlier generation, large scale BS Tools / ML Skin Config, etc. (Aneh Developer Malaysia) Android 2026-05 810k+ and 330k, etc., +7k in 110 days Multiple packages for reach; Skinix has only one GS Tools / Ryu Tools(Situ Studio) Android 2026-08 510k / 200k installs Runs its own TikTok alt-account matrix; Skinix relies on one outside veteran creator ZongHub GFX(Atelier Thivant) Android 2026-06-09 208k installs, 7 days +14k Comparable scale, similar features NIX HUB(nix-tools.com) Other Not verified Official site claims 500k+ downloads Distributed via website / APK sites; Skinix's name may be borrowing from it (inference), but the Play barrier is lower Skinhub GFX(Zendevour) Android 2024 500k+ Older competitor in the same niche, no longer updated FF Skin Tool / Skin Tools AOVV / Nox Skin Tool Android 2023 148–3.98M installs Same model, aimed at Free Fire and Vietnam's Liên Quân Moonton's official skin store Big-company features — MLBB itself The official store only sells skins, and bans accounts that use injectors - Where users come from
- Confirmed TikTok creator @daisukeml (212k followers, an old Philippine MLBB account): 08-08 and 08-11 he posted Skinix tutorials (the 08-11 one with 54.5k views, since gone); 10-31 one with 75.6k views; 11-05 one with 8.3 thousand. His profile links the Shizuku download. Install peaks 08-16 to 08-18, ranking jumps 11-02 to 11-03, and +5.4k in a single day 11-06 all follow the videos.
- Confirmed Organic / alt-account content: @clipster454 posted "skinix hub op" on 08-22, 6.2 thousand views.
- Inference Store search and third-party APK sites: AppBrain, APKPure, Softonic (around 1,060 downloads this month), and MEmu have mirror pages. Titles don't contain "injector," so estimated search volume is limited.
- Inferred Paid acquisition: no evidence found
Why Skinix Hub (com.skinix.tools) got traction
Channel: Google Play | Developer: Founders Cubed (registered contact: Renz Aaron Dela Cruz, Philippines) | Listed 2026-07-31 | Research date 2026-11-06
One line
The store listing is written as a "MOBA hero info / tools" app for Mobile Legends (MLBB), but it's actually a free skin injector, and it only targets the Philippines. Most of the traffic comes from one person: @daisukeml, an older Filipino MLBB TikTok account with 212k followers. From the day it launched (day 8), he kept posting the tutorial "Best Injector MLBB 2026 – Safe No ban – Skinix Hub", and every post came with a jump in installs and chart rank. The product itself is no different from a dozen similar packages in the niche.
1. What it is
- Store description: "MOBA companion application… Browse heroes… Interactive utility features". It never mentions skins or injection. This is the standard wording these packages use to get past review (Google Play page, read via 2026-11-06).
- What it actually does: the most-liked review on Play (Joaquin Pamatian, 2026-09-06,3 people found it helpful) says "I really like this injector cuz it provides full effects without errors and the ads are also really short". An AppBrain summary also quotes a review calling it the "most powerful and recommended injector in MLBB (2026-2027)… The skins are WORKING" (Jina search snippet).
- Depends on Shizuku: the @daisukeml profile link promoting it goes straight to the Shizuku 13.6.0 APK download (github.com/Mexi23/...), which suggests it gets its permissions through Shizuku and rewrites MLBB's local resource files (TikHub profile data).
- Monetization: the page says "Contains ads" with no in-app purchases. The Data safety section says Device ID is shared with third parties, i.e. ad SDKs (Google Play).
- Developer identity is scattered: the developer name is Founders Cubed, the registered contact is Renz Aaron Dela Cruz (Philippines), the support email is [email protected], the website kinhina.github.io is an empty page, and the privacy policy is hosted on jeancedricsebastian.blogspot.com (googleplay library
apptable + Play page). Four different names across four places, which looks like a personal or small-group account stitched together on the fly. No updates since version 1.1 (Play and APKPure both show 2026-08-09).
2. Data
- 187,486 total installs (googleplay library, 2026-11-06), +15,251 over the last 7 days.
- AppstoreSpy's estimated curve since launch (googleplay library
app_day_ext):- At 08-15 it was 11k; from 08-16 to 08-18 it added +4.7k / +6.4k / +7.9k per day, reaching 08-24 to 51k;
- 09-03 single-day +11k, reaching 87k; 09-16 to 112k;
- October: a few hundred to 5 thousand a day, 10-28 to 172k;
- 11-06 single-day +5,364, reaching 187k.
- Charts: it has only charted in the Philippines. The PH TOOLS Top Free chart had it at #167 on 10-29, with 10-30 148,10-31 138,11-01 121, 11-02 58,11-03 21,11-04 / 11-05 17, 11-06 27; 11-03 to 11-05 it also squeezed into the PH overall chart at #158–187 (googleplay library
chart_rank). - Ratings: the ratings field is empty in the library; the Play tablet listing shows 4.0 stars from 6 reviews, a very small count.
3. Competitors (the niche is already crowded)
MLBB / similar skin tools found in the googleplay library by searching titles and descriptions (2026-11-06):
| Product | Developer | Launched | Installs | 7-day gain | How Skinix differs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ML Tools GFX - ML Injector | PutMax Dev (Indonesia) | 2026-07-31 | 1.57M | +180k | Launched the same day, with 8 times its volume; a multi-package portfolio plus keyword-stuffed titles |
| Kionyx GFX | Vinzz | 2026-05-06 | 2.18M | +61k | An earlier generation, bigger scale |
| BS Tools - ML Script Injector | Aneh Developer Malaysia | 2026-05-04 | 810k | +110k | A Malay team running 4–5 packages at once across BS / ML Skin Config / JC / ADR and more |
| GS Tools / Ryu Tools | Situ Studio | 2026-08 | 510k / 200k | +76k / +35k | Runs its own TikTok sub-account portfolio, with profiles linking to the developer page |
| Kaizoku-ō GFX | Kaizoku-Ō | 2025-12-17 | 1.69M | +24k | Earlier |
| ZongHub GFX | Atelier Thivant | 2026-06-09 | 208k | +14k | Comparable scale to Skinix |
| Skinhub GFX | Zendevour | 2024 | 500k+ (Play page) | — | Veteran package, and its name also carries skin + hub |
| NIX HUB(nix-tools.com) | — | Not verified | The official site claims 500k+ | — | Not on Play; distributed via website / APK sites, claims 8,000+ skins. "Skinix" is likely riding on the NiX name (speculation) |
| FF Skin Tool / Skin Tools AOVV / Nox Skin Tool | several | From ¥2023 | 148–3.98M | — | Same playbook, targeting Free Fire and Vietnam's Liên Quân |
| Moonton's official skin store | Moonton | — | MLBB itself | — | The official store only sells skins, and bans accounts that use injectors |
Two reports already cover this niche: play_com.Ryu.Tools.MLSkinInjector.ML.Toolkit and play_com.Yin.Tools.MLConfigSkin.Injector.
4. How users found it
- Sustained promotion by one veteran MLBB creator account (confirmed, main channel)
- @daisukeml (display name DAISUKE ML, 212k followers): made MLBB tutorials for 2021 years, peak single video 3.16M views; revived 2026 years later to push injectors specifically. 7-08 also promoted another app, "Draxyn"; started promoting Skinix Hub in August (video list pulled via TikHub).
- Publish dates inferred from video IDs: 7671538958836256018 was 2026-08-08, titled "Skinix Hub! Best Injector in MLBB 2026 No Ban"; 7672740503913368839 was 2026-08-11, "Tutorial Best Injector in MLBB 2026 - Skinix Hub", and the TikTok discover page showed 54.5k views (Brave search results). Both are no longer in his video list, so they may have been deleted or made private.
- 10-31 "Best Injector MLBB 2026! Safe No ban Skinix Hub" 75.6k views; 11-05 "Best injector 2026 no Ban Tutorial" 8.3 thousand views (TikHub).
- The timing lines up:
- After the 08-11 tutorial went out, installs ran 08-16k–08-18k a day from 4.7 to 7.9, the first peak since launch;
- After the 10-31 video went out, PH TOOLS rank jumped from 11-01 on 121 to 11-02 on 58, and 11-03 to 21, and it entered the overall chart;
- After the 11-05 video went out, 11-06 single-day +5,364.
- The commercial arrangement (paid promotion or revenue share) is unverified. Given that this account rotates through different injectors and links Shizuku downloads from its profile, it looks like a for-hire promotion account.
- Scattered organic user and sub-account content (confirmed, small volume): @clipster454 posted "skinix hub op👑 #injector #mlbb" on 08-22, 6.2 thousand views (TikHub).
- Store search / third-party APK sites (partly confirmed): AppBrain, APKPure, Softonic (about 1,060 downloads this month), MEmu, apppage.net and CNET all have mirror pages, but off-store download volume is small. The title itself doesn't include the word injector, so the traffic from store search is likely far below that of packages like PutMax whose titles are stuffed with keywords.
- Paid acquisition: no evidence found; with ad-only monetization in the Philippines, where eCPM is very low, it's unlikely.
- x-radar: 0 posts mentioning "skinix" in the last 30 days.
5. Why it took off
- Demand is constant: MLBB is a national-level game in the Philippines, paid skins are expensive, and demand for free skins has always been there. The largest package in the category has reached 157–3.98M installs, which shows the demand is real (googleplay library).
- Being listed on Play reads as "safe": users are most worried about injectors carrying malware or getting accounts banned. The creator's titles keep stressing "Safe No ban", and an official Play download addresses that worry. The listing disguised as hero info is what lets it stay in the store.
- One creator account carries most of the volume: there's no portfolio and no keyword-stuffed titles, and both growth peaks follow @daisukeml's videos closely. That's what sets it apart from multi-package players like PutMax, Aneh and Situ: it's "one package + one creator".
- Short ads, full effect: the pinned top review praises exactly these two things. Skins have to be re-injected every time the game is opened, so users keep coming back, which is good for ad revenue.
6. Differentiation
At the product level there's essentially no differentiation: the listing template, the Shizuku injection mechanism and the ad monetization all match its peers. The few things that set it apart:
- The name borrows from NiX / SkinHub, two brands already known in the scene (speculation);
- The pinned review praises "ads are really short", which suggests the ads are restrained;
- It acquires users through one veteran creator account, not a multi-package portfolio.
It got traction through distribution, not differentiation, and its scale is only mid-to-low in the niche (187k, while ML Tools GFX, listed the same day, has 1.57M).
7. Visibility and copycats
- Few people know about it yet: no public revenue figures, no press or X coverage; it's spreading only within Philippine MLBB player TikTok circles.
- The niche is already crowded: PutMax, Aneh, Situ, Vinzz and others are all scaling through multi-package volume. I haven't seen a package copying Skinix specifically yet.
8. What others can learn
- Pay a fading veteran niche account that still has fans (210k followers, peaked 2021 years ago) to keep promoting one package. It's cheaper than building a portfolio from scratch, and "a veteran player recommends it" carries built-in trust.
- The title template "Best X 2026! Safe No ban" speaks directly to users' biggest worry.
- Putting the download link for the dependency (Shizuku) on the creator's profile lowers the installation barrier.
- Risks: IP infringement, violating Play's deceptive behavior policy, users getting banned by Moonton. The disguised listing part is not recommended to copy.
9. Uncertain
- How the arrangement with @daisukeml works (paid, revenue share, or the same person), and why the two August videos are gone.
- Whether the injection feature actually works and whether it gets accounts banned.
- How much ad revenue it makes.
- Where the early-September spike (09-03 single-day +11k) and the peak around 10-03 came from; I couldn't find matching content.
- When it might get pulled from Play.
Sources
- Google Play page play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.skinix.tools (2026-11-06, read via Jina)
- googleplay library: app_profile / app / app_day_ext (AppstoreSpy estimates) / chart_rank, 2026-11-06
- TikHub: searches for "skinix hub" and "skinix"; @daisukeml profile and videos
- Brave search: tiktok.com/@daisukeml/video/7671538958836256018, /7672740503913368839; tiktok.com/discover/mobile-legend-skin-hacks-apps
- APKPure apkpure.com/skinix-hub/com.skinix.tools; AppBrain, MEmu, apppage.net (Exa search)
- NIX HUB nix-tools.com/;Skinhub GFX play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cyyhubgfx
- x-radar: q=skinix, last 30 days, 0 posts