Yesterday it emerged that the Indian government was asking smartphone makers to preload a state-owned cyber safety app called Sanchar Saathi onto every new device they sell. This is intended to track stolen phones, block them, and prevent them from being misused.
The companies apparently have 90 days to comply, but according to a Reuters report, Apple won’t. The Cupertino company allegedly intends to refuse the order to install the app on its iPhones.
It will reportedly tell the Indian government that it doesn’t comply with such orders in any market, as they “raise a host of privacy and security issues for the company’s iOS ecosystem”, according to “two industry sources” who are familiar with Apple’s concerns.
There’s been quite a bit of backlash over this app in India, and following that the country’s telecom minister said it was a “voluntary and democratic” system and that users can choose to deactivate it and “easily delete it from their phone at any time”, even though the November 28 government directive ordered smartphone makers to start preloading it and ensure “its functionalities are not disabled or restricted”.
