- India issued an order to pre-install a state-owned app on all smartphones
- The move has attracted backlash due to privacy concerns
- The government said it's a way to halt cybercrime and hacking
UPDATE: On December 3, 2025, the Indian government announced that it won't make pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app mandatory for mobile manufacturers. We made some edits to the copy to reflect this.
India's telecoms ministry issued an order on November 28, 2025, to force smartphone providers to install a state-owned security app. A move that has been attracting strong criticism on privacy grounds.
The directive, which was first reported by Reuters, required smartphone makers to preload all new devices with the Sanchar Saathi app, while existing phones will have to download the application via a software update. Crucially, users won't be able to delete the software from their phone.
The Indian government said the move is intended to tackle the recent surge in cybercrime and hacking incidents. Yet, while Apple, Google, Samsung, and other phone-making firms have initially kept quiet, digital rights groups were quick to criticize the order, saying they were "deeply concerned" about the requirement, which they believe could jeopardize people's rights.
Although the full text of the order is still unavailable, the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) argues that such an order represents "a sharp and deeply worrying" expansion of executive control over citizens' digital devices.
"Today, the app may be framed as a benign IMEI checker. Tomorrow, through a server-side update, it could be repurposed for client-side scanning for 'banned' applications, flag VPN usage, correlate SIM activity, or trawl SMS logs in the name of fraud detection," the civil society organization wrote in a statement.
On December 2, three sources from Apple then said to Reuters that the company doesn't intend to comply with such a mandate – nor in India or anywhere else in the world.
The privacy backlash appears to have struck the right chords and, on December 3, the Indian government announced that it won't make pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app mandatory for mobile manufacturers.
While welcoming the development, the IFF asks to be cautious. "We are still awaiting the full text of the legal order that should accompany this announcement, including any revised directions under the Cyber Security Rules, 2024," experts wrote on X.
We approached Apple and Google for comments and will update the page as soon as we hear back.
What is the Sanchar Saathi app and why it could be bad for privacy
Indian tech publication MediaNama has reported that the Sanchar Saathi app stems from an initiative from India's Department of Telecommunications and is designed to help users protect their devices against malicious activities, such as online fraud, theft, and other crimes.
Citizens can use the app to report scams in real-time, enabling authorities to track and respond to cybercrime in a more effective way.
While the application may prove useful, experts are critical of the disregard for user choice. As IFF argues: "This converts every smartphone sold in India into a vessel for state mandated software that the user cannot meaningfully refuse, control, or remove."
IFF's Statement on the Sanchar Saathi App Pre-Installation DirectiveThe Department of Telecommunications (DoT), specifically its AI & Digital Intelligence Unit (AI & DIU) on 21st November, 2024 has under the Telecommunications (Telecom Cyber Security) Rules, 2024 issued a…December 2, 2025
IFF’s comments echo concerns raised by technology lawyer Mishi Choudhary, who told Reuters: "The government effectively removes user consent as a meaningful choice."
However, concerns extend beyond user choice. There is a real risk that current or future governments could expand the app's scope, effectively turning it into a surveillance tool, which would compromise privacy even for those using one of the best VPN services.
As the IFF notes, "Nothing in the order constrains these possibilities."
The IFF has already filed a complaint with India's telecoms body and says it will keep fighting "until it is rescinded."
It now remains to be seen if Google and Samsung will follow Apple in challenging the order, putting even more pressure on the Indian government to make the U-turn formal on a legal level.
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