The Indian government has mandated the Sanchar Saathi app must be pre-installed on all new smartphones in India within 90 days. This mandatory cyber security app is sparking major friction with global tech giants like Apple over data and user control, raising critical questions about mobile security and the use of IMEI numbers in the world’s fastest-growing mobile market.
Mandatory Sanchar Saathi App New Smartphones India
The Indian digital landscape is on the cusp of a major transformation, following an unprecedented directive from the Ministry of Communications. In a decisive move to fortify telecom cyber security and combat pervasive digital fraud, the government has mandated that its state-owned safety application, Sanchar Saathi, must be pre-installed on all new smartphones in India sold moving forward. This is not a voluntary initiative; the order explicitly demands that the application be permanently embedded, with no option for users to delete or disable the software.
This sweeping regulation, issued discreetly to major manufacturers, including market leaders like Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and, most notably, Apple, requires full compliance within a strict 90-day timeline. The scope of the directive is comprehensive, even requiring companies to push mandatory software updates to install the app on devices already sitting in the retail supply chain or warehouse inventory across India. This makes the Sanchar Saathi app a universal and unavoidable component of any new smartphone activated within the country.
The government’s primary justification for this aggressive action is rooted in the fight against mobile fraud and the “serious endangerment” posed by devices with cloned or spoofed IMEI numbers. The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is a unique digital fingerprint for every handset, and its misuse is a critical enabler for widespread scams, phone theft, and illegal network exploitation. Since its launch, the Sanchar Saathi platform has demonstrated considerable effectiveness, with official figures reporting the recovery of over 700,000 lost or stolen devices and the successful termination of over 30 million fraudulent mobile connections. For the government, this mandatory cyber security app is an essential tool for IMEI tracking and ensuring Indian mobile security at scale.
