Sanchar Saathi, the government’s cyber-safety app originally designed to help citizens track, block and disable stolen phones, is now positioned to become part of every new smartphone sold in India. What began as a seemingly innocuous anti-fraud utility has rapidly escalated into a fierce policy dispute—touching on privacy, state power, and the limits of regulatory authority over global device makers.
Ministerial Clarification vs. Regulatory Reality
Union telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia attempted to defuse rising political heat by describing Sanchar Saathi as strictly voluntary. He emphasised that users need not activate it, that it offers no surveillance or call-tapping capabilities, and that it can be deleted at will. The subtext was unmistakable: this is not a Pegasus-like intrusion, but a public-safety tool citizens may choose to adopt.
However, this reassurance clashes with the Department of Telecommunications’ confidential order—reported through leaked documents—that directs manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and others to pre-install the app on all new devices within 90 days. The same order states that the app’s functionalities “should not be disabled,” creating an unmistakable regulatory intent: every phone should carry a fully capable, non-removable state client.
The policy goal—combatting cloned IMEIs and large-scale telecom fraud—may be legitimate. Yet the contradiction between the public claim of choice and the private mandate of compulsion has become the heart of the controversy.
Platform Pushback and the Device-State Standoff
Apple, citing security and privacy concerns, has signalled it will not comply with the preload requirement. Its resistance is unsurprising: the company markets its devices on the promise that no untrusted software can be pushed onto them, least of all by a government.
Industry sources also indicate that the order contemplates pushing Sanchar Saathi to phones already in the supply chain through software updates. This intensifies fears that the app may evolve into a persistent layer of state infrastructure embedded across India’s 1.1 billion-device ecosystem.
The conflict is therefore larger than Sanchar Saathi itself. It represents an early test of India’s expanding “digital sovereignty” posture—an attempt to assert regulatory control over global platforms that view device integrity and user privacy as core to their business model.
Privacy Safeguards India Can—and Should—Build In
If Sanchar Saathi is to function as a legitimate public-safety tool rather than a vector of state overreach, several privacy-by-design safeguards are essential:
1. Data Minimisation and Local Storage
· Limit collection strictly to IMEI-related and fraud-reporting metadata.
· Avoid any access to call content, contact lists or continuous location.
· Keep logs on the device unless a user explicitly submits a complaint.
2. True User Control and Revocable Consent
· Make activation strictly opt-in, with clear, plain-language prompts.
· Guarantee full uninstallability without affecting network access.
· Provide user-facing deletion controls and explicit retention timelines.
3. Strong Technical and Legal Firewalls
· Bind the app’s operations to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act.
· Enforce encryption, role-based access, audit logs and independent audits.
· Conduct mandatory Data Protection Impact Assessments for new features.
4. Transparency and Oversight
· Align public documentation with actual data flows and permissions.
· Establish an independent grievance mechanism for misuse disputes.
· Make non-expansion of scope—no political monitoring, no behavioural profiling—a matter of law, not ministerial assurance.
A Crucial Precedent for India’s Digital Future
Sanchar Saathi sits at the intersection of security needs and civil-liberty expectations. The government’s desire to curb telecom fraud is understandable. Yet the method—mandating a potentially non-removable state app on every device—risks setting a precedent whose implications extend far beyond anti-theft functions.
India now faces a defining choice: whether to build public-safety infrastructure that citizens can trust, or to entrench systems that deepen fears of digital overreach. The path chosen for Sanchar Saathi will shape not only the future of this app, but the fundamental equilibrium between state power, user autonomy and platform governance in the world’s second-largest smartphone market.
(With agency inputs)
