India’s telecoms ministry has privately asked smartphone makers to preload all new devices with a state-owned cyber security app that cannot be deleted, a government order showed
Apple’s iOS powered an estimated 4.5% of 735 million smartphones in India by mid-2025, with the rest using Android, Counterpoint Research says.
will be interesting to see if Apple tells them to pound sand.
The app is mainly designed to help users block and track lost or stolen smartphones across all telecom networks, using a central registry. It also lets them identify, and disconnect, fraudulent mobile connections.
With more than 5 million downloads since its launch, the app has helped block more than 3.7 million stolen or lost mobile phones, while more than 30 million fraudulent connections have also been terminated.
The government says it helps prevent cyber threats and assists tracking and blocking of lost or stolen phones, helping police to trace devices, while keeping counterfeits out of the black market.
There has to be a way to do all of this without installing something on your phone that you didn’t ask for.
Isn’t it a little suspicious that nearly every one who downloaded it later had their phone stolen?
“Cannot be deleted”
sure. Based on ALL the youtube vids from India of unlocking phones or bypassing FRPs, etc I imagine it won’t be long before you start seeing videos from India on how to easily bypass this.
I mean some of those FRP videos are wild with the steps they go through to unlock an Android phone.
Cyber security
In sure it protects children too by scanning for “child pornography” too, right?
Ah yes, cybersecurity.
Weird way to say “backdoor.”
I wonder if this would make Apple pull out of India. It’d be awkward, with all the manufacturing they moved there.
app that cannot be deleted
Someone never heard of ADB…
