Smartphone makers Apple and Google — which own the two most popular operating systems iOS and Android, respectively — are planning to push back on the government directive to mandatorily pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on their devices, with concerns around privacy and system security weighing heavy on their minds, The Indian Express has learnt.
Sanchar Saathi is a state-developed cybersecurity application and allows users to report fraudulent calls, messages, and stolen mobile phones.
Industry sources aware of the companies’ point of view said the phone-makers have no history or precedent of preloading state-owned applications to their devices anywhere in the world. The change poses operational challenges since it could require them to customise iOS and Android specifically for India.
Both Apple and Google are expected to figure out “less intrusive” means of distributing the Sanchar Saathi app, the source said.
Samsung is evaluating its options and reviewing the government order, but has not made a decision yet, it is understood.
Last week, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sent a confidential directive to smartphone companies including manufacturers and importers, to pre-install Sanchar Saathi, and insisted that the app’s functionality cannot be restricted or disabled.
India has over 1.2 billion mobile phone users, of which more than 650 million are said to have a smartphone, making it one of the largest phone markets in the world. Civil society activists are raising alarm bells over the potential implications on people’s privacy by mandating the app, since preloading it defeats the principles of choice and consent, while leaving the potential for ‘functional creeping’ in the future. ‘Functional creeping’ refers to a gradual expansion of a system beyond its original purpose.
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The government has, however, argued that the Sanchar Saathi app allows users to check the genuineness of their phones through their IMEI number, and in a press statement released on Monday said, “Mobile handsets bearing duplicate or spoofed IMEI pose serious endangerment to telecom cyber security.”
Apple, Samsung and Google did not respond to a request for comment until publication. Reuters first reported that Apple was not going to comply with the government’s order.
Companies are considering several options and “a legal challenge is not out of the question,” if private discussions with the government to overturn the directive aren’t successful, one of the sources said.
A second industry executive said implementing the government’s order would mean that Google would have to create a custom version of Android specifically for India, with the Sanchar Saathi app pre-loaded. This will not be acceptable to the company, the executive said. Android, the operating system for smartphones controlled by Google, powers most phones in the country. A third executive said for Apple, it would mean violating its internal policy of not pre-loading iPhones with third-party software. These people spoke on condition of anonymity as the companies’ pushback plans are currently private.
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Smartphone makers fear that following the Indian government’s order could set a precedent that they were open to preload government-backed apps on their devices, and that could trigger similar requests in other jurisdictions they operate in. While such a move would be unusual in most Western democracies, it is not entirely without precedent. Russia recently directed smartphone companies to preinstall the state-backed messaging platform MAX, a rival to WhatsApp, which critics say could be used to track users.
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