Govt withdraws Sanchar Saathi pre-installation mandate; here's what happened in the last 24 hours

It all happened very soon. Citing issues related to cybersecurity, the department of telecommunications (DoT) under the ministry of communications issued a notification on Monday, December 1, 2025, mandating the pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi app in mobile handsets that are intended for use in India.

Within 48 hours, the government withdrew it. The ministry issued a statement earlier today announcing scrapping the pre-installation mandate it made earlier. Here's quick recap of what transpired during the brief period.

The government mandate

The DoT notification mandated mobile manufacturers and importers to pre-install Sanchar Saathi app on all mobile phones that are intended to be sold in India. The government also said that for those devices that are already manufactured and in use, the manufacturer should push the application through software updates.

Additionally, the government also asked the manufacturers to make sure that the Sanchar Saathi app is “readily visible and accessible” to end users at the time of first use or device setup, and its functionalities are not disabled or restricted.

Industry opposed move

Even as no handset manufacturer or importer gave an official response to government's mandate, industry sources indicated that Apple is most likely to challenge the government's demands citing privacy concerns. The Cupertino-tech giant wanted to discuss the order with the government and then work out a middle-path.

Opposition's 'snooping' jibe

A huge political outcry also broke out following the DoT's notification with opposition parties calling it an attempt to invade privacy of individuals. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, for instance, called it 'ridiculous' attempt to infringe on the rights to privacy of citizens. Other prominent political leaders including KC Venugopal, Priyanka Chaturvedi among others also voiced their protest against the government's move.

Registration optional, said Scindia

Amid the political outcry, and confusion among mobile phone manufacturers, communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on December 2, 2025, said that it's not mandatory for the users to register on the app.

“If you don’t wish to use this application, then don’t register. It'd stay dormant. If you want to delete it, do it. It is our duty to ensure that this app reaches every citizen in order to ensure cybersecurity. If you don’t need it, don’t register. It won’t be active unless you register,” the minister said while speaking to the media outside the Parliament on Tuesday.

Govt revokes mandate

Even though the communications minister said that installation of the app is not mandatory, telecom manufacturers were still hoping for a final confirmation from the government regarding the pre-installation mandate. The government on Wednesday issued a fresh notification saying it has decided not to make the pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi app mandatory.

 "The government, with an intent to provide access to cyber security to all citizens, had mandated pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi app on all smart phones. The app is secure and purely meant to help citizens from bad actors in the cyber world," the DoT said in a release.

The release said so far 1.4 crore users have downloaded Sanchar Saathi app and "are contributing to information on 2000 fraud incidents per day".

"Just in last one day, 6 lakh citizens have registered for downloading the App which is a 10x increase in its uptake. This is affirmation of faith by citizens on this App for protecting themselves provided to them by the government. Given Sanchar Saathi’s increasing acceptance, the government has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers," the notification added.