Aadhaar aap: India makes important announcement about smartphone mandate

Aadhaar aap: India makes important announcement about smartphone mandateBy Reuters -Apr 17, 2026India’s government has decided not to go ahead ​with a proposal to require Apple, Samsung and others to pre-install the country’s biometric identification app Aadhaar on ‌phones, a state body said on Friday, a move that had been opposed by the smartphone giants. Reuters reported last month that UIDAI, the state body that operates Aadhaar, had asked the IT ministry in January to engage with Apple, Google and other leading smartphone makers to consider mandatory pre-installation of ​the Aadhaar app. A unique 12-digit identity number tied to an individual’s fingerprints and iris scans, Aadhaar is held by ​nearly 1.34 billion residents and is widely used for verification purposes in banking and telecom services, ⁠as well as for faster airport entry. India’s IT ministry reviewed the proposal and “is not in favour of mandating the pre-installation of ​the Aadhaar App on smartphones,” UIDAI said in a statement to Reuters on Friday. It gave no reason for the decision in the ​statement. India’s IT ministry did not respond to Reuters queries. The IT ministry held a “consultation with stakeholders from the electronics industry” before reaching its decision to drop the Aadhaar preloading proposal, UIDAI said in its statement. The Aadhaar request was the sixth time in two years the government has sought pre-installation of ​state apps on phones, according to industry communications reviewed by Reuters earlier this year. All six attempts were opposed by the ​industry. Smartphone makers flagged concerns about device security and compatibility when they received the Aadhaar preload proposal, and also flagged higher production costs as they ‌would have ⁠been required to run separate manufacturing lines for India and export markets, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. Apple and Samsung in particular both had concerns with the proposal due to questions over safety and security, sour...