India is reportedly tightening its grip on smartphone security with a new directive that forces every major handset maker, from Apple and Samsung to Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo, to ship devices with the government’s ‘Sanchar Saathi’ cyber-safety app baked directly into the system.
Issued quietly at the end of November by the telecom ministry, the order requires the app to be preinstalled in a non-removable form on all new phones sold in the country, and pushed via software update to units already in the production pipeline, reports Reuters. It is a rare, far-reaching software mandate from the Indian government, emerging as authorities warn of rising IMEI duplication, fraud-heavy call patterns and the misuse of unregistered mobile connections across a market of more than 1 billion active subscribers.
The Sanchar Saathi platform itself has been a major part of India’s telecom security push through 2025. The system is connected to the national IMEI registry and allows users to report stolen or misplaced devices, verify the authenticity of a handset, and request the blocking of its IMEI so that it becomes unusable across Indian networks. Officials argue that as fraud operations increasingly rely on cloned IMEI numbers and mass-activated SIM cards, a universally present app is necessary to create a tighter loop between consumers, carriers and law enforcement.
The new directive’s most controversial element is the requirement that the app cannot be uninstalled or disabled by users. This puts manufacturers in a difficult position, especially companies like Apple that maintain strict control over system software and rarely allow government-mandated apps to sit permanently on devices. But according to the report, the policy is uncompromising – every phone entering the Indian retail channel must ship with the app in a locked-in state, whether it runs Android, iOS or a customized UI layer.
For consumers, the impact will likely differ by brand. Android phone makers can fold a system app into their builds without too much friction, even if it means pushing updates to units already boxed up. However, Apple could face a more complex technical and policy negotiation with regulators. Any deviation from the mandate risks shipment delays, compliance penalties or forced reconfiguration of device software specifically for the Indian market. Phone makers now have a 90-day compliance window, and the coming months will reveal how strictly the government intends to enforce the rules.
Despite its stated purpose, the mandate is kicking up fresh privacy worries. Sanchar Saathi is not a surveillance tool right now, but forcing a permanent government app onto every phone sets a precedent that could make more intrusive requirements easier to justify later. The country’s digital systems have expanded quickly in recent years, and each new layer raises questions about how much access the state could eventually gain to users’ devices and data.
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