Citizens noted that the app has full access to all data in the device and claimed that it could be used to "spy" on the users.
Published Dec 02, 2025 | 12:16 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 02, 2025 | 2:06 PM
Sanchar Saathi app.
Synopsis: Following the Union government’s directive to mobile phone companies to ensure that the Sanchar Saathi app is pre-installed in every device, citizens have raised concerns about the breach of privacy. Some noted that the app has full access to all data in the device and claimed that it could be used to “spy” on the users.
If and when used to track citizens, the Narendra Modi government’s Sanchar Saathi app can put sophisticated spyware like ‘Pegasus’ to shame and users cannot do a thing about it.
Following the Union government’s directive to mobile phone companies to ensure that the Sanchar Saathi app is pre-installed in every device, citizens have raised concerns about the data it could access.
In a press release on Monday, 1 December, the Union government said the move was to safeguard the citizens from buying the non-genuine handsets, enabling easy reporting of suspected misuse of telecom resources and to increase the effectiveness of the Sanchar Saathi initiative. It asked companies to ensure compliance within 90 days.
Citizens noted that the app has full access to all data in the device and claimed that it could be used to “spy” on the users. While other apps can also access similar data, they do so with the user’s permission and awareness.
However, since the Sanchar Saathi app would become unremovable — with no option of disabling or restricting it — it raises the question of unauthorised data access. After much uproar, union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia claimed that the app can be uninstalled by users if they prefer. However, his statement contradicts the directives to manufacturers and importers given by union government that the apps functionalities must not be disabled or restricted at first use or device set up. Essentially, the directives ensure that whether a user wants it or not, the app will be fully functional and running when a new phone is acquired or an older phone’s software is updated.
While users can remove other apps, except the built-in company apps, due to privacy concerns, the move to make Sanchar Saathi pre-installed can be considered a breach of personal data.
According to the description of the app, it has permission to:
The government has directed companies to ensure that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application is readily visible and accessible to the end users at the time of first use or device setup and that its functionalities are not disabled or restricted.
The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) said the move represents a sharp and deeply worrying expansion of executive control over personal digital devices.
“The direction by requiring manufacturers and importers of mobile handsets to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi App represents a sharp and deeply worrying expansion of executive control over personal digital devices. The stated objective of curbing IMEI fraud and improving telecom security is, on its face, a legitimate state aim. But the means chosen are disproportionate, legally fragile, and structurally hostile to user privacy and autonomy. Clause 7(b) is the clearest expression of this. It requires that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application be ‘readily visible’ and that ‘its functionalities are not disabled or restricted’,” it said in a statement.
“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. For this to work in practice, the app will almost certainly need system-level or root-level access, similar to carrier or OEM system apps, so that it cannot be disabled. That design choice erodes the protections that normally prevent one app from peering into the data of others, and turns Sanchar Saathi into a permanent, non-consensual point of access sitting inside the operating system of every Indian smartphone user,” it added.
Political Analyst Raju Parulekar compared the move to a Mossad-level citizen monitoring.
“We The People of India are Ruled by MOSAD now? Sanchaar Saathi’s CHAKSHU doesn’t guarantee you will not be defrauded, just like having a good Constitution in our hands didn’t guarantee our slip into Communalism and Fascism. If you are defrauded, you will have to go through the same old grind of complaint, follow up and if lucky, full/partial recovery of money lost,” he wrote on X.
“CHAKSHU is a PLACEBO, a toy for jingoistic WhatsApp Uncles and Bhakts of Modi Regime. Making it mandatory is permitting the GESTAPO to enter your digital space. And once they enter your digital space, they can plant bugs, files which can be later used against you, as they did in Bhima Koregaon case to Incarcerate the Academics, Scholars and Rights Activists? With enforcement of Sanchaar Saathi, you won’t be a FREE Citizen,” he added.
Congress General Secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said it is a snooping app.
“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 turning this country into a dictatorship in every form,” she said.
“The parliament isn’t functioning because the government is refusing to discuss anything. It’s very easy to blame the Opposition, but they’re not allowing any discussion on anything, and that’s not democracy. A healthy democracy demands discussion, and everybody has different views, and you hear them out.”
“There’s a very fine line between reporting fraud and seeing what every citizen of India is doing on their phone. That’s not how it should work. There should be an effective system to report fraud. We’ve discussed this at great length in terms of cybersecurity. There’s a need for cybersecurity, but that doesn’t mean it gives you an excuse to go into every citizen’s phone. I don’t think any citizen would be happy,” she added.
“Govt’s grand plan for citizen “empowerment”: Make Sanchar Saathi app mandatory ..pre-install on every phone! Anyone without this app should be removed from the voters list , CEC should be happy to do this ! Pegasus too expensive & Apple keeps sending those annoying warnings anyway!” wrote CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas.
“Have anyone heard about the outcome of CERT-In’s probe into state-sponsored iPhone hacks? Questions asked in Parliament on this disallowed continuesly.. Next step obviously: ankle monitors, collars & brain implants for 1.4 billion people. Only then will the government finally know what we really think n do..” he added.
