Forced Sanchar Saathi App Sparks Nationwide Fears Over Phone Surveillance

A government directive requiring the Sanchar Saathi app to be pre-installed on all new smartphones sold in India — and pushed onto existing devices through software updates — has triggered widespread anxiety among users, rights groups and digital-policy experts.

The app, designed to verify IMEIs, block stolen phones, and flag suspicious mobile connections, will soon become an unavoidable presence on every handset. Manufacturers have been told that the app cannot be deleted, disabled, or hidden, making it one of the first state-mandated, undeletable applications in India’s smartphone ecosystem.

Even before the rollout begins at scale, users are expressing a mix of uncertainty and unease as it raises fears over phone surveillance. Many worry about what the app may eventually access once it lands on their devices.

“I’m not comfortable with anything that appears on my phone without my consent,” said a Bengaluru-based software engineer, anticipating the update. “If the government mandates it, it must mean deep access. That’s the part that bothers me.” Across cities and small towns, people say they fear losing control over the most personal object they own — their phone. Some are already discussing strategies to prevent automatic updates, while others are resigned to the inevitability of state-mandated software.

A teacher in Jaipur said she was trying to understand the app before it appears on her handset. “The idea that it can’t be removed makes me nervous. Apps like these tend to ask for more permissions than they need.”

A freelance journalist in Lucknow voiced concern about how such mandates could shape future digital policy. “If one government app becomes compulsory today, more could follow. This is how lines blur slowly.”

Digital rights groups say the apprehension is justified. Although the government positions Sanchar Saathi as a security tool, its deep permissions — including access to device identifiers, call-related data and location — raise fears of the state gaining unprecedented visibility into citizens’ digital lives.

The push to make Sanchar Saathi mandatory marks a significant turning point in India’s fraught relationship with digital privacy. While the stated goals — reducing fraud, tracking stolen phones, and cleaning up telecom networks — are legitimate, the method breaks from global norms. Mature democracies rarely force undeletable government apps onto personal devices without explicit consent, transparent data-use policies or independent oversight.

What worries experts is not the app alone, but the precedent: if a government can unilaterally plant software into every phone in the country, it fundamentally shifts the balance of power between the state and the individual. In a nation with weak data-protection laws, limited accountability mechanisms and a history of opaque surveillance practices, such a move risks normalising the idea that privacy is optional.

Sanchar Saathi may be packaged as a consumer-protection tool, but its mandatory nature raises a deeper question — one that India has yet to confront clearly: How much of their digital autonomy are citizens willing to surrender in the name of security?