Sanchar Saathi no longer mandatory on smartphones, clarifies the central government

Sanchar Saathi was earlier made mandatory to be pre-installed in all smartphones, but now the centre took a U-turn over the issue and made it optional for users. The Sanchar Saathi app aims towards preventing and reporting cyberfraud. 

The Sanchar Saathi app is not mandatory for users 

• On Wednesday, 3rd December, 2025, the centre clarified that the Sanchar Saathi app is not mandatory for users and is completely optional. The Ministry of Communications released a statement and said the government has withheld its decision to mandate pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app on all smartphones. 

Statement

The PIB has just issued a statement at 3:00 PM on December 3, 2025 that the government will not make pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app mandatory for mobile manufacturers. This is a welcome development, but we are still awaiting the full text of the legal order… pic.twitter.com/VQV4t8YNfK

— Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) December 3, 2025

• The government announced that the Sanchar Saathi app will be pre-installed in all smartphones available in India, which works towards providing cybersecurity to the users and allows citizens to help them report cyberfrauds faster and easily. The Centre informed all the mobile manufacturers to install the app before the sale. 
• In the previous statement, it said “In order to safeguard the citizens from buying the non-genuine handsets, enabling easy reporting of suspected misuse of telecom resources and to increase effectiveness of the Sanchar Saathi initiative, the DoT has issued Directions dated 28.11.2025 mandating the manufacturer and importers of mobile handsets that are intended for use in India under the provisions of the Telecom Cyber Security, Directions mandates to complete the implementation in 90 days and submit the report in 120 days”. 

Sanchar Saathi is a snooping app, and clearly it's ridiculous. Citizens have the right to privacy. Everyone must have the right to privacy to send messages to family and friends without the government looking at everything.

It's not just snooping on the telephone. They're… pic.twitter.com/omw2XlD5pq

— Congress (@INCIndia) December 2, 2025

• After the announcement, the central government received criticism from the opposition party because it raises concerns about mass surveillance & invasion of privacy, and the app requires broad permissions (call logs, SMS, camera, files), and it could be used to monitor citizens’ communications and activities.
• Centre has said it is not mandatory but optional “Given Sanchar Saathi’s increasing acceptance, the government has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers.”