Government removes mandatory pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi App. Know all details

The Indian government on Wednesday removed the mandatory pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi App for mobile phones after it had triggered a political debate in the country.

Speaking elaborately on the decision, the Indian government said in a statement: " The Government with an intent to provide access to cyber security to all citizens had mandated pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi app on all smartphones. The app is secure and purely meant to help citizens from bad actors in the cyber world."

" There is no other function other than protecting the users in the app and they can remove the app whenever they want. This has been clarified by Government," the statement said.

The government said 1.4 crore users have downloaded this app and are contributing to information on 2000 fraud incidents per day so far.

"The number of users has been increasing rapidly and the mandate to install the app was meant to accelerate this process and make the app available to less aware citizens easily," the statement said.

Just in last one day, 6 lakh citizens have registered for downloading the App which is a 10x increase in its uptake, the government said.

Govt-Congress traded barbs

Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday clarified that the Sanchar Saathi application, which the government has asked mobile phone manufacturers to pre-install on devices, can be deleted by users if they do not wish to keep it.

Speaking to ANI, Scindia said, “If you don’t want Sanchar Saathi, you can delete it. It is optional. It is our duty to introduce this app to everyone. Keeping it in their devices or not is up to the user.”

Responding to Opposition criticism, he said rival parties were attempting to manufacture controversy and emphasised that the government’s focus remained on consumer safety.

The Congress, however, has strongly objected to the directive issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), calling it a violation of privacy.

Congress MP KC Venugopal told ANI, “It is an attack on the privacy of the common people of the country. It is basically an attack on the Constitution also.”

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra described Sanchar Saathi as a “snooping app”. “Citizens have the right to privacy. Everyone must have the right to send messages to family and friends without the government looking at everything. They are turning this country into a dictatorship in every form,” she said.

The mandate requires Sanchar Saathi to be bundled with all new smartphones sold in India, while existing devices will receive it through a software update.

Manufacturers have been given three months to comply, though industry insiders say major companies including Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo are likely to raise objections. Neither the DoT nor the companies responded to requests for comment.

A senior government official described the directive as part of a wider push to strengthen “cybersecurity and anti-spam measures.”

This includes recent instructions to messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram to implement SIM-binding, which would restrict users from accessing the apps unless the SIM used during registration remains active in the device.