BHIM App Update for Android Brings Spam Reports, Privacy Controls, and Support for More Indian Languages

The BHIM app, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) based payments app launched last month by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has received a major update. Currently only available on Android, the BHIM app has now been updated to v1.2, bringing new features and fixes.

In a press release, NPCI has detailed the key additions that come with the BHIM v1.2 app. The biggest amongst these is support for seven more regional languages. While it was launched in English and Hindi, the app is now accessible in Bengali, Kannada, Gujarati, Malayalam, Odia, Tamil, and Telugu.

BHIM app for Android v1.2 also adds the Pay to Aadhaar Number payment option, with which users can transfer money to the Aadhaar number linked with the beneficiaries' bank account. Also new, is the Spam Report feature, which NPCI will help block unknown persons requesting money. NPCI has added an improved Customer Redressal Mechanism as well.

Other new features of the BHIM app for Android include improved privacy settings alongside the option to disable mobile-number@upi; the ability to retry mobile registration via OTP/ USSD; the ability to choose SIM on dual-SIM phones; the ability to restore forgotten passcode; the ability to report issues to banks and view the status of resolution, and finally, the ability to reverse a payment received.

The updated BHIM app is now available via Google Play.

A. P. Hota, MD & CEO, NPCI, commented on the launch of the new version of the BHIM app, saying, "We are pleased to launch the new upgrade for all BHIM users. The new version offers enhanced security features, superior user experience which makes digital transactions much more safe and secure. We believe this will lead to higher acceptance among customers as well as merchants. At NPCI we remain committed to customer centric approach by constantly innovating and improvising our services."

BHIM - which stands for Bharat Interface for Money - was launched back on December 30. At that point, NPCI said the app was due to be launched on iOS as well - but so far, it hasn't yet made its way to the App Store.