India has ordered all new smartphones to come pre-loaded with a state-run cybersecurity app, sparking privacy and surveillance concerns.
Under the order - passed last week but made public on Monday - smartphone makers have 90 days to ensure all new devices come with the government's Sanchar Saathi app, whose functionalities cannot be disabled or restricted.
It says this is necessary to help citizens verify the authenticity of a handset and report the suspected misuse of telecom resources.
The move - which comes in one of the world's largest phone markets, with more than 1.2 billion mobile users - has been criticised by cyber experts, who say it breaches citizens' right to privacy.
Under the app's privacy policy, it can make and manage phone calls, send messages, access call and message logs, photos and files as well as the phone's camera.
In plain terms, this converts every smartphone sold in India into a vessel for state mandated software that the user cannot meaningfully refuse, control, or remove, advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation said in a statement.
Amid the growing criticism, India's Minister of Communications Jyotiradtiya Scindia has clarified that mobile phone users will have the option to delete this app if they don't want to use it.
Launched in January, the Sanchar Saathi app allows users to check a device's IMEI, report lost or stolen phones and flag suspected fraud communications.
The minister did not, however, clarify how this would be done if the app's functions cannot be disabled or restricted.
India's Department of Telecommunications stated that mobile handsets with duplicate or spoofed IMEI numbers pose serious endangerment to telecom cybersecurity.
The government says the move will bolster telecom cybersecurity. A Reuters report, citing official figures, says the app has helped recover more than 700,000 lost phones - including 50,000 in October alone.
However, experts say the app's broad permissions raise concerns about how much data it can collect, widening the scope for surveillance.
Compliance will be difficult, as the order runs counter to most handset-makers' policies, including Apple's, which reportedly does not intend to comply.
While India's smartphone market is dominated by Android, Apple's iOS is also a significant player, powering about 4.5% of smartphones in the country.
Similar measures have been observed in other countries, such as Russia, where state apps must also be pre-installed on devices.
