Government Removes Sanchar Saathi Pre-Installation Mandate After Pushback

The Union Ministry of Communications announced on Wednesday that phone manufacturers won't have to install its Sanchar Saathi app on new and existing smartphones. This comes a day after the government clarified that the use of the Sanchar Saathi app was not compulsory and users could delete the app from their smartphones. A recent report also indicated that Apple was planning to oppose the now-removed mandate to pre-install the app on its smartphones in India. The government says that its latest decision comes because of the “increasing acceptance” of the Sanchar Saathi app, which has been downloaded by over 1 crore smartphone users in the country.

Government Says Sanchar Saathi Has Been Downloaded by 1.4 Crore Users

In a press release, the Ministry of Communications announced that the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app is no longer mandatory. The ministry highlighted that the app has been downloaded by about 1.4 crore users in India, while contributing to information on 2,000 fraud incidents each day. Due to the app's increasing downloads, the earlier decision to make its pre-installation mandatory is no longer a necessity, the government said.

On Tuesday, Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia stated that the Sanchar Saathi app was optional and users could activate and deactivate it, just like other apps. “You can activate or deactivate it as per your wish... If you don't want Sanchar Saathi, you can delete it. It is optional,” the minister told ANI on Tuesday.

According to a Reuters report citing three sources, Apple was planning to oppose the government's instructions to install the Sanchar Saathi app on iPhone units sold in the country, without going to court or taking a public stand. The company doesn't follow similar mandates in other regions, including Russia, which instructed all phone makers to install its MAX Messenger on all handsets in August.

Published earlier this week, the DoT's instructions to manufacturers stated that the Sanchar Saathi app should be visible, functional, and enabled for users when they are setting up their smartphone. At the time, companies were given 90 days to comply with the directive, and an additional 30 days to submit a compliance report.

Now that the government has withdrawn the mandate to install Sanchar Saathi on new and existing smartphones, users who want to use the app will have to download it from the Google Play store or the App Store. This also lets users who do not want the app on their smartphone due to storage constraints or privacy concerns uninstall the app from their handset.