India Drops Aadhaar Pre Install Plan for Smartphone Brands

India drops Aadhaar pre install proposal after industry concerns

India has dropped a proposal that would have required smartphone makers to pre-install the Aadhaar app on new devices, according to Reuters. The move follows security and cost concerns raised by smartphone brands, after the idea was privately proposed by the Unique Identification Authority of India, or UIDAI, earlier this year.

The IT ministry said it is not in favour of mandating the pre-installation of the Aadhaar app on smartphones. The proposal had drawn industry objections over security and manufacturing costs, and Reuters reported that this was the sixth time in two years the Indian government had sought pre-installation of state-owned apps on mobile phones.

What the Aadhaar app contains

The Aadhaar app holds Aadhaar card details of an Indian resident, including a 12-digit unique identification number, birth date and residential address. It is tied to fingerprints and iris scans. UIDAI has generated more than 1.44 billion Aadhaar numbers so far, and the identity system is widely used for verification in banking, telecom and other services.

• UIDAI is a statutory authority under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
• The proposal involved pre-installing the Aadhaar app on smartphones
• Smartphone brands raised security and safety concerns
• Production costs were also flagged by phone makers

Industry pushback and earlier app orders

Reuters reported last month that UIDAI had privately proposed in January that smartphone makers be required to pre-install its Aadhaar app on their devices. After consultations with stakeholders from the electronics industry, the IT ministry rejected the proposal. The ministry said it “is not in favour of mandating the pre-installation of the Aadhaar App on smartphones,” though it did not specify the reason in that statement.

People familiar with the matter said smartphone makers argued that pre-loading the app could create security and safety issues. They also said it would raise production costs, since manufacturers would need separate production lines for India and for export markets.

The proposal came after repeated government attempts to push state-linked apps on mobile phones. In December, the Department of Telecommunications privately asked smartphone makers to preload its cyber safety app, Sanchar Sathi, on all new devices sold in India and to push it through software updates on devices already sold in the country. That order was rolled back within days after criticism and backlash.

A senior Indian official told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, that the IT ministry is not in favour of pre-installing apps “unless it is considered very essential.”

The Aadhaar system itself remains central to public and private verification use in India. The latest decision closes off, for now, the proposal to make smartphone brands place the Aadhaar app on devices at the factory stage. No further step was detailed in the report.