India’s telecom ministry has directed Apple and other phone manufacturers to factory-install an un-deletable, state-owned “cybersecurity” app on all new devices, a requirement that is expected to provoke strong opposition from Apple and other privacy advocates.
Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil for Reuters:
India is joining authorities worldwide, most recently in Russia, to frame rules blocking the use of stolen phones for fraud or promoting state-backed government service apps.
Apple, which has previously locked horns with the telecoms regulator over development of a government anti-spam mobile app, is among the companies, such as Samsung, Vivo, Oppo, and Xiaomi bound by the new order.
The November 28 order, seen by Reuters, gives major smartphone companies 90 days to ensure that the government’s Sanchar Saathi app is pre-installed on new mobile phones, with a provision that users cannot disable it.
For devices already in the supply chain, manufacturers should push the app to phones via software updates, the ministry said in its order, which was not made public and was sent privately to select companies.
Privacy advocates criticised a similar requirement by Russia in August for a state-backed messenger app called MAX to be pre-installed on phones.
“Apple has historically refused such requests from governments,” said Tarun Pathak, a research director at Counterpoint. “It’s likely to seek a middle ground: instead of a mandatory pre-install, they might negotiate and ask for an option to nudge users towards installing the app.”
The app is mainly designed to help users block and track lost or stolen smartphones across all telecom networks, using a central registry. It also lets them identify, and disconnect, fraudulent mobile connections.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote last month:
Many would consider it a strong selling point if every iPhone user had the ability to disable and track their stolen iPhone – as Apple does to iPhones (and other devices) stolen from Apple Retail Stores in smash and grabs, BUT:
Apple already empowers iPhone users with robust tools like Find My, Activation Lock, and Stolen Device Protection to remotely track, lock, erase data, and render a device unusable without the owner’s Apple ID credentials—effectively bricking it for thieves in most cases.
For retail store smash-and-grabs, Apple deploys an even more aggressive, immediate “kill switch” via proximity-based software on demo units, triggering alarms, disabling functionality, and alerting authorities the instant devices leave the store’s Wi-Fi network. Extending this instant, foolproof remote disable to every consumer iPhone sounds empowering, but Apple likely holds back for several pragmatic drawbacks that could outweigh the benefits:
• Abuse and False Claims: Verifying theft would be a nightmare — requiring police reports, proof of purchase, or eyewitness accounts for millions of reports annually. Malicious users could falsely flag devices to spite ex-partners, settle grudges, or sabotage secondhand sales, overwhelming Apple’s support and leading to wrongful bricks.
• Retail cases are straightforward: Apple owns the inventory and has direct telemetry.
Impact on Innocent Buyers and the Used Market: Stolen iPhones often resurface cheaply on secondary markets like Craigslist or eBay. A permanent disable could punish good-faith purchasers who bought unknowingly, stranding them with e-waste and eroding trust in Apple’s ecosystem — especially since sellers vanish with cash. Activation Lock already mitigates this by tying devices to Apple IDs (removable with proof), but a “retail-style” brick might be irreversible without Apple’s manual intervention, complicating legitimate transfers.
• E-Waste and Environmental Backlash: Bricking devices en masse would accelerate electronic waste, as thieves might dismantle for parts anyway, but victims couldn’t recover or repurpose hardware. This clashes with Apple’s sustainability pledges and could invite regulatory scrutiny or consumer boycotts over planned obsolescence perceptions.
• Privacy and Security Risks: A universal kill switch demands constant connectivity and deeper device monitoring, raising red flags for surveillance fears or vulnerabilities to hacks (e.g., nation-states coercing Apple to disable dissidents’ phones). It could also conflict with laws like right-to-repair mandates, locking users out of repairs or third-party services.
• Legal and Liability Hurdles: Broadening this feature might expose Apple to lawsuits from affected parties (e.g., disabled devices in rentals or family-shared plans) or demands from governments for backdoor access. Carriers already blacklist IMEIs for theft, so Apple avoids redundant, litigious territory.
In essence, while retail disables are a controlled, low-risk demonstration of the power of Apple’s infrastructure, scaling it consumer-wide invites chaos Apple has wisely sidestepped by prioritizing user-empowered (but reversible) tools over an iron-fisted kill swtich. If theft spikes, though, expect iterative tweaks like enhanced Stolen Device Protection rather than a full switch.
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