India’s New Phone Rule Sparks Storm: Is Sanchar Saathi Safety or Surveillance?

The government wants a mandatory app on your phone, but the Opposition says it's a "Big Brother surveillance moment.” The phone company may also push back...

Adepu Bindu

02 Dec 2025 — 2 min read

India’s New Phone Rule Sparks Storm: Is Sanchar Saathi Safety or Surveillance?

According to the Press Information Bureau, Cybercrime in India rose from 10.29 lakh in 2022 to 22.68 lakh in 2024. To address the situation, the government of India has launched the Sanchar Saathi app. The government of India will soon force-install a cyber safety app (Sanchar Saathi) on every phone in the country. However, the Opposition objects that it could be a means of spying on citizens. Interestingly, even the phone companies may oppose it due to privacy risks and technical concerns. The situation has sparked a big political and industry-level fight. And many wonder with questions like: What is Sanchar Saathi? What has the government exactly ordered? Why is the Opposition angry? For all that, learn more.

What Is Sanchar Saathi?

It's a digital safety app built by the Central government to safeguard people from cybercrime.

The main feature involved here is Chakshu:

The feature will let you report suspicious calls or messages like spam calls, phishing messages, fake job links, and bank fraud attempts.

It also lets you report malicious links, cloned-device attempts, and malware sent via:

SMS
WhatsApp
Telegram
iMessage
RCS
Social media messages
The app helps the government block phone numbers used for fraud.

Sanchar Saathi has reportedly:

Blocked 42 lakh stolen phones
Helped recover 7 lakh phones
Has 1 crore+ downloads on Android and nearly 10 lakh on iPhone

What Has the Government Ordered?

The Department of Telecommunications has passed a strict direction:

Every phone sold in India (from here on) must have Sanchar Saathi already installed.

Rules:

The companies must install the app in all new phones within 90 days from November 28, 2025.

The app must be:

Visible during first setup
Fully functional
Not removable or disabled
Older phones should get the app via software updates.
If ignored, the government will take strict action.

Why Is the Opposition Angry?

The Opposition parties strongly object to the move, calling it a backdoor surveillance plan.

Congress leader KC Venugopal said:

Called it “beyond unconstitutional”.
It goes against the Right to Privacy (Article 21).

He mentioned that a government app that cannot be uninstalled can be used to:

Track people
Monitor their activities
Watch communications
He also called it a “dystopian tool”.

Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena UBT) said:

She called the move "Big Boss surveillance moment”.
According to her, the government is prioritising surveillance over building proper systems to fight fraud.
She has promised a strong pushback.

How Might Phone Companies React?

According to a Reuters report, the government hadn't yet consulted phone manufacturers before issuing the order.

Especially Apple may strongly oppose this because:

Apple has a strict stance on privacy and has refused similar orders in the past.
And overall, Apple doesn’t allow forced apps because it affects user privacy and device security.
Hence, there could be a clash between the government and major phone brands.