India's government has abandoned its proposal that would require smartphone manufacturers to preinstall the state-owned biometric identification app, Aadhaar, on phones.
In November, India's Ministry of Communications issued a directive ordering smartphone producers to preload Aadhaar on any phone sold within the country. The order would have affected Apple, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi.
According to Reuters, India's IT ministry has since reviewed the proposal and "is not in favour of mandating the pre-installation of the Aadhaar App on smartphones." The ministry said the decision came after it held a "consultation with stakeholders from the electronics industry."
It provided no specific reason for the decision, although the consultation likely played a role in it. For their part, smartphone producers worried about the costs, noting they'd need to maintain separate manufacturing lines for India and export markets.
Recently, Apple pushed back against the idea of preinstalling Aadhaar on iPhone. The company cited concerns over privacy and security, with a source saying that Apple "can't do this. Period."
Other critics had voiced concerns, accusing the government demanding the installation of a snooping tool. India's Congress party spoke out against it, saying "Big Brother cannot watch us."
This wasn't India's first attempt at pushing the issue, either. In January 2025, the country talked to Apple and Google about preinstalling a state-backed suite of apps.
In 2023, India proposed that it should be allowed to pre-screen any operating system updates before they are pushed to customers. It also argued that it should be allowed to remove preinstalled apps on the grounds that they could be viewed as security weak points.
