India reportedly asks smartphone makers to pre-load state-owned cyber safety app Sanchar Saathi on new devices

India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has privately asked smartphone makers to pre-load all new devices in India with its cyber safety app Sanchar Saathi, reports Reuters.

The publication claims that a November 28, 2025, order by the DoT gives smartphone brands 90 days to ensure all new mobile phones are pre-loaded with the Sanchar Saathi (pronounced: sun-chaar saa-thi) app, with the provision that users cannot disable it.

The order, meant to tackle a surge in cybercrime and hacking, also asks phone makers to push the Sanchar Saathi (translation: communication partner) app via software updates to devices already sold in India.

Smartphone companies affected by the directive include Apple, Samsung, Oppo, vivo, and Xiaomi.

DoT describes Sanchar Saathi as "a citizen centric initiative" to "empower mobile subscribers, strengthen their security and increase awareness about citizen centric initiatives of the Government." It's available on the web at www.sancharsaathi.gov.in and can also be downloaded by iPhone users from the App Store and by Android users from the Play Store, where it has more than 10 million downloads.

The stats shared by the ministry on the Sanchar Saathi website reveal that the app has over 11 million registrations, with Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra the only Indian states with over 1 million registrations at the time of writing.

Some notable services of Sanchar Saathi include allowing users to block their lost/stolen mobile phones, verify the genuineness of their mobile handset, and check whether there are mobile connections in their name.

Data shared by the DoT reveals over 4.2 million lost/stolen mobile phones have been blocked, while more than 2.6 million mobiles have been traced with the help of Sanchar Saathi.

Reuters reports that the Indian government said the Sanchar Saathi app was essential to combat "serious endangerment" to telecom cybersecurity posed by duplicate or spoofed IMEI numbers, enabling scams and network misuse.

It remains to be seen whether smartphone companies will comply with the DoT's order and pre-install Sanchar Saathi on all their new devices or seek a middle ground.