India has ordered smartphone companies to pre-install an anti-spam and phone-tracking app on all new devices within the next 90 days.
The Sanchar Saathi app, launched in January, lets users lock down and track lost or stolen phones across all telecom networks using a central registry. Since its release, the app has helped recover over 700,000 lost phones and blocked more than 3.7 million stolen or lost devices, Reuters reports. The government says the app combats cyber threats from spoofed IMEI numbers that enable scams and network misuse.
Smartphone makers must pre-install the app so users cannot disable it on new phones. For devices already in the supply chain, manufacturers are urged to push the app through software updates. The order was not made public; companies received it privately.
Privacy advocates are not fully on board with the mandate. Technology lawyer Mishi Choudhary warned that the government “effectively removes user consent as a meaningful choice” by forcing users to maintain a state-controlled tracking app. The mandate resembles Russia’s August requirement that a state-backed messenger app be pre-installed on phones; this, too, drew intense criticism.
Apple’s current policies prohibit pre-installing government or third-party apps. The company has historically refused such requests from governments worldwide. With iOS powering about 4.5% of India‘s 735 million smartphones, Apple is expected to seek a middle ground, negotiating for an option that would nudge users toward installing the app themselves.