India Orders Mobile Phones Preloaded With Government App Ensure Cyber Safety 2025 12 01
Reuters3 days
India Revokes Order to Install Undeletable Government App on All Smartphones
Is this a necessary cybersecurity move to which the public has already consented, or is the government pushing a surveillance state dressed up as public safety?
Above: A man installs the cyber-safety application Sanchar Saathi on his mobile phone in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on Dec. 2, 2025. Image credit: Firdous Nazir/NurPhoto/Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-government narrative
While preinstalling Sanchar Saathi would've been a reasonable policy to address the cybersecurity crisis in a market with over 1.2 billion subscribers, it appears the public already understands this. The app has already recovered 700,000 lost phones and blocked millions of fraudulent connections through voluntary downloads, proving that aggressive preventive measures work at scale.
Government-critical narrative
Whether Sanchar Saathi is mandated or not, its very existence crosses a dangerous line into state surveillance. The app isn't just for helping people who lost their phone: it can access the phone's camera, flashlight and even messages. While India may not have yet joined the likes of Russia in mandating preinstalled government software, it's already crossed the line by surveilling its citizens' most private possessions.
© 2025 Improve the News Foundation. All rights reserved.Version 6.18.1
© 2025 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 6.18.1