\t\t\t\t\t\tSUMMARY<\/p>\n
Central government\u2019s proposal to have the Aadhaar app pre-installed on smartphones has reportedly run into resistance from device makers and the broader tech industry<\/p>\n
The UIDAI had reportedly asked the IT ministry to engage companies such as Apple, Samsung and Google to explore pre-loading the app on new devices back in January<\/p>\n
While the move was not a formal directive, it reportedly triggered pushback from industry body Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT)<\/p>\n
The Central government\u2019s proposal to have the Aadhaar app pre-installed on smartphones has reportedly run into resistance from device makers and the broader tech industry.<\/p>\n
As per a report by Reuters, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had asked the IT ministry to engage companies such as Apple, Samsung and Google to explore pre-loading the app on new devices back in January.<\/p>\n
While the move was not a formal directive, it reportedly triggered pushback from industry body Manufacturers\u2019 Association for Information Technology (MAIT), which represents major smartphone brands and tech firms.<\/p>\n
In its internal communication, MAIT said that its members, which includes Dixon, Nothing, Google, among others, were concerned about higher production costs and possible technical issues for users.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It also flagged privacy and security risks linked to pre-installing a government app tied to biometric data. MAIT added that only a few countries follow similar rules, with Russia being a key example of mandating pre-installed state apps.<\/p>\n
UIDAI has argued that pre-installing the app would improve access and allow users to use key services without downloading it separately. The push comes weeks after the government rolled out a redesigned Aadhaar app positioned as a privacy-first identity solution.<\/p>\n
Launched in January, the Aadhar app enables users to selectively share identity data, control consent and avoid handing over full Aadhaar details. It supports features such as QR-based verification, face authentication, biometric lock and unlock, and viewing authentication history.<\/p>\n
The app is designed for multiple use cases, including hotel check-ins, hospital admissions, age verification and gig worker onboarding. It also allows users to manage up to five Aadhaar profiles on a single device and update details such as address and mobile number.<\/p>\n
UIDAI\u2019s app is built around data minimisation, allowing users to share only specific fields required for a transaction through digitally signed credentials, in line with India\u2019s data protection framework.<\/p>\n
The proposal comes months after the government rolled back a plan to mandate a telecom security app<\/a> named Sanchar Saathi, on smartphones following criticism from tech firms, smartphone manufacturers, among others<\/a>. At the time, watchdogs had argued that the app\u2019s deep integration could turn into a full-fledged surveillance tool.\u00a0<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SUMMARY Central government\u2019s proposal to have the Aadhaar app pre-installed on smartphones has reportedly run into resistance from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[49,48,190,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-548887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}