The telecom ministry has asked smartphone manufacturers to mandatorily preload all new devices with a government cyber security app that users cannot uninstall, Reuters reported on Monday.

The order issued by the Department of Telecommunications on Friday gave manufacturers three months for compliance, Reuters reported. The Sanchar Saathi app has been developed by the department.

The app allows users to report suspected fraud, block lost or stolen mobile handsets and check the mobile connections registered in the person's name.

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In the phones that are already being sold, the ministry told the manufacturers to add the app through a software update. Reuters reported that the order was not made public, but sent privately to select manufacturers.

The app is essential to combat “serious endangerment” of telecom cybersecurity from duplicate or spoofed International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers that could enable scams or misuse of the network, the ministry was quoted as saying.

The app has been available since May 2023 for users to download voluntarily. There is also a Sanchar Saathi website providing the same services.

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The order is based on the belief that it will make reporting of fraud easier, an unidentified telecom department official told the Hindustan Times.

“Right now, reporting time varies because users have to go to the website to report fraud or stolen mobile phones,” the official said.

United States-based technology giant Apple, South Korea’s Samsung, and Chinese electronics manufacturers Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi are among the companies that have been asked to comply, according to Reuters.

In 2018, Apple was in loggerheads with India’s telecom regulator over the development of an anti-spam mobile app by the government.

In August, the Russian government had made it mandatory for smartphone and tablet manufacturers to pre-install the state-backed MAX Messenger, a WhatsApp rival.