India is ordering Apple and other phone makers to preinstall a state-owned app

Reuters reports that the Sanchar Saathi app will be required on new phones and can’t be disabled

Reuters reports that the Sanchar Saathi app will be required on new phones and can’t be disabled

India’s Department of Telecommunications is giving phone manufacturers 90 days to comply with an order to pre-install a state-owned app on new phones and push it to existing phones through software updates, reports Reuters. The government order was privately sent out to phone manufacturers on November 28th, according to Reuters, including Apple, Samsung, Vivo, Oppo, and Xiaomi.

In August, Russia issued a similar order requiring phone manufacturers to preload a state-backed messenger app, Max.

In this case, the state-owned Sanchar Saathi app is already available on the App Store and Google Play Store, but this order would make it mandatory and prevent it from being disabled or deleted. The app includes features for blocking and tracking lost or stolen phones based on their IMEI, and reporting suspected fraud messages.

While iOS users still make up a small slice of the pie in India, Apple’s sales in the region hit a record high of $9 billion in September. Similarly, Google began offering direct online sales of Pixel phones in India earlier this year, and both companies have increased local manufacturing of their mobile devices in recent years. Apple and Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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