Sanchar Saathi app no longer mandatory: Govt rolls back decision amid backlash

The government has rolled back its decision to make the Sanchar Saathi app mandatory for pre-installation on mobile phones made or imported in India. The Ministry of Communications cited the application’s growing acceptance among users, with 1.4 crore downloads and 2,000 fraud incidents reported daily, as the reason for the reversal.

“The government, with an intent to provide access to cyber security to all citizens, had mandated the pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi app on all smartphones. The application is secure and purely meant to help citizens from bad actors in the cyber world. It helps in ‘jan bhagidari’ by all citizens in reporting on such bad actors and actions while protecting users themselves,” the government said.

It said there is no other function of the app other than protecting the users in the app and they can remove the app whenever they want.

The government initially mandated pre-installation to accelerate adoption and make the app accessible to less aware citizens. However, opposition parties and digital rights groups raised concerns about privacy and surveillance, prompting the government to withdraw the order.

Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia assured that the app is secure, optional, and can’t be used for snooping. “The app’s popularity surged, with 6 lakh new registrations in a single day, marking a tenfold increase,” said the ministry.