India will not force smartphone makers to preinstall Aadhaar app

Following pushback from smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung, the Indian government has abandoned its plans to pre-install the Aadhaar biometric authentication app on all new mobile devices sold in India.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) confirmed the decision last Friday without specifying the reason for dropping the plan.

Earlier this year, UIDAI requested the IT ministry to engage with leading smartphone manufacturers about pre-loading the Aadhaar mobile app, which allows Aadhaar number holders (ANH) to manage their national digital identity on smartphones. The app offers face biometrics and liveness detection for user authentication, age verification and QR code-based credential sharing.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, however, was not in favor of mandating the pre-installation. According to an anonymous senior official, there is no support for mandatory preloading of applications unless it is essential, Reuters reports.

The decision was made following consultations with stakeholders in the electronics and smartphone industries.

Apple and Samsung had raised security concerns about the pre-installation requirement, including those related to user privacy, device security and potential compatibility issues. Industry group MAIT (Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology) also warned that such a mandate would compel its members to maintain dedicated production lines exclusively for India, increasing production costs.

This marks the sixth attempt by the Indian government to mandate the pre-installation of state-backed apps on smartphones, with each effort met with pushback from device manufacturers. A similar mandate to pre-install a telecom security application was withdrawn in December after criticism.

The industry is not alone in resisting the pre-installation mandate; organizations such as the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) are also raising their voices.

“This persistent pattern is itself the problem,” the non-profit said on X. “Bundling state software with personal devices has no legislative foundation, no clear articulated public policy objective and no assessment of proportionality. Citizens carry their phones as extensions of their autonomy, not as vessels for government order.”

More than 1.35 billion people – around 95 percent of the Indian population – currently hold an Aadhaar, a 12-digit unique identity number which plays a key role in identity verification across sectors such as banking, telecom services and airport access.

In March, UIDAI launched its first structured Bug Bounty Program to strengthen the security of the Aadhaar system.

Article Topics

Aadhaar  |  digital ID  |  digital wallet  |  India  |  mobile app  |  smartphones