India Mandates Preloading of Cybersecurity App on All New Smartphones Despite Potential Conflict with Apple

Dec 01, 2025 05:40 pm CST

India's telecoms ministry has ordered all smartphone manufacturers to preload the government's Sanchar Saathi cybersecurity app on new devices within 90 days. This directive affects major brands including Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi, and aims to combat telecom fraud and phone theft in a market with 1.2 billion subscribers. The app has already helped recover over 700,000 lost phones and block 3.7 million stolen devices since its January launch.