India Aadhaar App Pre-installation Pushback

The government of India, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, privately proposed in January that smartphone manufacturers like Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics, and Alphabet Inc. consider pre-installing its biometric identification app, India — Aadhaar, on new phones. This proposal, initiated by the India — Aadhaar (UIDAI), aimed to enhance the app's reach and accessibility for nearly 1.34 billion residents who use India — Aadhaar for various verification purposes. However, the Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT), representing the smartphone giants, pushed back against the proposal. Companies expressed concerns over increased production costs, potential functional issues for users, and questions regarding safety and security, particularly from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics. MAIT also argued that such mandates would necessitate separate production lines for India and export markets and noted that only Russia mandates pre-installation of government apps. This is not the first instance of such a dispute, as the Indian government had to roll back a similar order in December for a telecom security app. Privacy advocates, including the Internet Freedom Foundation, have criticized the India — Aadhaar proposal as problematic, viewing it as an attempt by the government of India to control smartphone usage. It remains unclear whether the proposal is still being pursued.