Sanchar Saathi no longer mandatory on new phones, says Centre: Full statement

The central government on Wednesday retracted its decision to mandate pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app on all smartphones. The Ministry of Communications' order had sparked widespread criticism from rights groups and opposition parties.

The government had earlier mandated the Sanchar Saathi app on all smartphones to enhance cybersecurity and enable citizens to report cyberfraud. With 1.4 crore downloads, the government notified the decision to make pre-installation optional for mobile manufacturers.

Read the full statement here —

The Ministry of Communications, in a statement issued on Wednesday, December 3, noted –

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.

It helps in " Jan bhagidari" by all citizens in reporting on such bad actors and actions while protecting users themselves. 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.

So far 1.4 crore users have downloaded this app and are contributing to information on 2000 fraud incidents per 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. Just in last one day, 6 lakh citizens have registered for downloading the App which is a 10x increase in its uptake. This is affirmation of faith by citizens on this App for protecting themselves provided to them by the Government.

Given Sanchar Saathi’s increasing acceptance, Government has decided not to make the pre- installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers.

Row over mandatory installation of Sanchar Saathi

The statement came after concerns raised by opposition MPs over the compulsory installation of this app on smartphones. The backlash started when the Department of Telecom (DoT) instructed phone manufacturers and importers to pre-install its Sanchar Saathi app, which detects fraud, on all new devices within 90 days.

What is Sanchar Saathi app?

The Department of Telecommunications launched the Sanchar Saathi Mobile App in January this year for both Android and iOS to help users report and protect against mobile-related fraud and theft.

Once the app is installed, users can block lost or stolen phones on any telecom network nationwide. This ensures that if a blocked phone is used anywhere in India, law enforcement agencies can track its location.