Explained: Why Apple Reportedly Does Not Plan To Comply With Government's Sanchar Saathi Mandate
For almost two decades, Apple has prided itself due to its 'walled garden' ecosystem in the iPhone, which promotes safety, security and privacy.
After years of unprecedented growth, Apple has found itself in quite a rabbit hole this year. From growing slowly down to an ongoing legal battle with the Competition Commission of India, the world's second-largest company by market capitalisation is certainly having a topsy-turvy year.
But Apple's challenges in India have been compounded following a fresh directive from the Department of Telecommunications, which has mandated all smartphone manufacturers to pre-install the Sampart Saathi app, in an effort to curb digital fraud and rising cases of digital arrests as well as the sale of counterfeit devices in the nation's massive secondary smartphone market.
Apple does not plan to comply with the mandate, reports Reuters. This is hardly a surprise, as the nature of the directive is such that it breaks most of Apple's core philosophies as a smartphone brand.
For almost two decades, Apple has prided itself due to its 'walled garden' ecosystem in the iPhone, which promotes safety, security and privacy.
But complying with the fresh directives from the Dot - which includes pre-installing the app on every smartphone that is being manufactured and keeping it enabled at all times - means Apple has to break away from those core philosophies.
A clash of principles
Historically, Apple has always been unappreciative towards pre-installed software, which is often derided as bloatware. Since iOS 10, the company has even allowed its users to delete its own pre-installed apps, such as calculator, Garageband, among others.
This is in sharp contrast to Android phones, where manufacturers and carriers have the liberty to load the device with their personalised set of third-party apps, whereas Apple prefers a clean, standardised set of Apple proprietary software.
The DoT's requirement that Sanchar Saathi be installed in devices and be non-removable violates Apple's core principle.
Indeed, Apple's 'sandbox' has apps which are isolated from one another and the operating system. But in order for Sanchar Saathi to function as intended - verifying IMEI numbers and checking network connections during setup - it would require deep-level security clearance that Apple doesn't usually offer to third-party apps.
Apple has always argued that having pre-installed apps increases the attack surface of the device. Therefore, if the government’s app were to have a vulnerability, it could compromise the security of the entire iPhone.
Not the first time
This is not the first time Apple has found itself in such a position. In 2016, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) demanded that Apple allow its "Do Not Disturb" (DND) app on the App Store to help users report spam calls.
The company refused for nearly two years. They argued that the app demanded access to a user's call logs and SMS history, thus violating its privacy policies.
This is the same reason why the Find My Train app is not located in the app store or at least does not work as functionally as it does on Android.
The dispute eventually ended in 2018 after Apple developed a specific extension in iOS 12 that allowed the reporting of spam without giving the app direct access to personal data.
However, the Sampark Saathi problem is slightly different compared to Do Not Disburb app. The DND dispute, after all, was about allowing an app on the store; the Sanchar Saathi order is about forcing an app onto the device’s permanent system image.
