The Indian government is forcing a tracking app onto all new mobile phones in the country. Privacy experts are concerned. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo
The government of India launched a tracking app to be “preinstalled on all mobile handsets manufactured or imported for use in India,” prompting privacy concerns throughout the country.
The app is called Sanchar Saathi and was designed to help prevent theft and phone smuggling, as well as call center fraud.
“Sanchar Saathi is a snooping app,” Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress Party’s general secretary, posted on X. “There’s a very fine line between reporting fraud and seeing what every citizen of India is doing on their phone.”
Under the app’s privacy policy, it can make and manage phone calls, send messages, access call and message logs, photos and files, and the phone’s camera, the BBC reported.
“In plain terms, this converts every smartphone sold in India into a vessel for state-mandated software that the user cannot meaningfully refuse, control, or remove,” advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation said in a statement.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, India’s minister of communications, said that “this app exists to protect them from fraud and theft,” it was also “completely optional,” The New York Times reported.
“If you don’t wish to register, you shouldn’t register and can remove it at any time,” he told reporters.
Except that the app’s functions cannot be disabled or restricted.
The government order said that phone manufacturers would be responsible for ensuring that the app’s “functionalities are not disabled.”
The government said there were 2.3 million “cybersecurity incidents” last year, more than double the amount two years before. Fraud is the biggest issue. In 2024, a government portal tracked $2.6 billion in losses, The Times said.
“India has a big second-hand mobile device market. Cases have also been observed where stolen or blacklisted devices are being re-sold,” said India’s Department of Telecommunications in a statement.
All telecom companies were asked to give compliance reports in 120 days.
