Govt Withdraws Sanchar Saathi Mandate

The government on Wednesday withdrew its order requiring smartphone manufacturers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on all new and existing devices, citing the platform’s rising voluntary adoption among users.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had issued a directive on November 28 mandating phone makers to include the cyber safety app in new smartphones and push it to existing devices through software updates.

The rollback follows what the government described as the app’s “increasing acceptance”, with over 1.4 crore downloads so far and a ten-fold surge in voluntary installations within a single day.

“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 DoT said in a statement.

The move comes amid criticism from opposition parties and digital rights activists, who raised concerns about surveillance after reports claimed the app could not be removed.

Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia denied the allegations, stating such misuse was “not possible”.

“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,” the statement said. It added that users were free to delete the app at any time.

According to the government, Sanchar Saathi is helping citizens report fraud.

“So far 1.4 crore users have downloaded this app and are contributing to information on 2000 fraud incidents per day… Just in last one day, 6 lakh citizens have registered for downloading the App which is a 10x increase in its uptake,” it said, calling the rise an affirmation of public trust.

Scindia reiterated that keeping the app was “not mandatory” and users who do not wish to use it may remove it from their devices.