India has reversed its plan to mandate the pre-installation of a government app on all smartphones. This decision follows significant backlash and widespread concerns that the requirement would expand state access to personal devices and undermine privacy protections.
On Wednesday, the Indian telecom ministry announced that the Sanchar Saathi app, designed for anti-theft and cybersecurity protection, will remain voluntary. Smartphone manufacturers will no longer be forced to preload the app on devices they sell.
This new notice effectively cancels a directive issued to manufacturers just last week, which had instructed them to bake the app into all devices and prevent its features from being disabled. News of that initial mandate quickly sparked alarm over privacy and state overreach.
The ministry stated that given the growing acceptance of Sanchar Saathi, the government chose not to make pre-installation compulsory. However, the government has not yet issued an official notification to smartphone makers reflecting this withdrawal. According to sources involved with the proceedings, manufacturers are still awaiting formal instructions.
Since its launch in January 2025, Sanchar Saathi has been downloaded 14 million times. The Indian government reports that it contributes information on roughly 2,000 cyber-fraud incidents daily. The recent controversy actually increased interest in the platform, with the ministry noting that approximately 600,000 citizens registered to download the app on December 2 alone.
The telecom ministry’s clarification follows confusion over whether the app was truly voluntary, as the government had previously claimed. Telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia insisted earlier this week that users could delete the app at any time. This statement conflicted with the directive circulating among manufacturers, which stated the app’s functionalities “must not be disabled or restricted.”
These conflicting signals fueled criticism that the government was attempting to downplay the extent of its mandate. Critics warned that forcing a government app onto every smartphone and preventing its features from being disabled would grant authorities excessive visibility into users’ devices.
The directive also raised concerns within the industry. Manufacturers privately questioned the feasibility of enforcing a permanent, system-level app without clear legal backing. Deputy telecom minister Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar noted in media interviews that Apple did not participate in the working group for this initiative, though other smartphone makers did.
According to marketing intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Sanchar Saathi had more than 3 million monthly active users in November. Web traffic to the app has also surged, with monthly unique visitors rising by more than 49 percent year-over-year.
The Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights group based in New Delhi, called the reversal a welcome development but urged caution. The group stated it is still awaiting the legal order that should accompany the announcement, adding that “cautious optimism, not closure” is warranted until revised directions under the Cyber Security Rules of 2024 are published and independently verified.
Other parts of the Sanchar Saathi ecosystem continue to expand. Recommerce and trade-in platforms are still required to validate devices through a central IMEI database. The telecom ministry is also piloting an API that could allow these firms to submit customer and device information directly to the state.