Smartphone makers have been given three months to comply with the directive, which industry executives said companies are expected to push back against. It will affect manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, among others.

On Tuesday, Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia said keeping the app on their phones will be the users’ choice.

While speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Scindia said, “If you don’t want the Sanchar Saathi app, you can delete it. It is optional… It is our duty to introduce this app to everyone. Keeping it in their devices or not, is up to the user”.

‘Dystopian tool to monitor Indians’

“Big Brother cannot watch us. This DoT Direction is beyond unconstitutional,” said Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, adding that the right to privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty, enshrined in the Constitution.

“A pre-loaded government app that cannot be uninstalled is a dystopian tool to monitor every Indian. It is a means to watch over every movement, interaction and decision of each citizen,” said Venugopal in a post on X.

Big Brother cannot watch us. This DoT Direction is beyond unconstitutional.

The Right to Privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty, enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution.

A pre-loaded government app that cannot be uninstalled is a… pic.twitter.com/kx33c7fmda

— KC Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) December 1, 2025

Venugopal said it was part of the long series of relentless assaults on the Constitutional Rights of Indian citizens and will not be allowed to continue. “We reject this Direction and demand an immediate rollback,” said the Congress leader.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra called the move “ridiculous”. “Citizens have the right to privacy. Everyone must have the right to privacy to send messages to family, friends, without the government looking at everything… They are turning this country into a dictatorship in every form,” she said, speaking to reporters in the Parliament complex.

VIDEO | Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) on row over Sanchar Saathi app, says, “It is a snooping app… I mean clearly, it’s ridiculous… citizens have their right to privacy to send their own messages to family, friends without the government looking at… pic.twitter.com/EJMgLre4H1

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 2, 2025

Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi said the Sanchar Saathi app “mandate to every mobile phone manufacturer as a permanent mobile feature” by the government “is nothing but another big boss surveillance moment”.

“Such shady ways to get into individual phones will be protested and opposed and if the IT Ministry thinks that instead of creating robust redressal systems it will create surveillance systems then it should be ready for a pushback,” said Chaturvedi, in a post on X.

CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member John Brittas said the application “is a blatant invasion into the privacy of the people”. “Pre-installed, no removal; that means it’s mandatory for 120 crore instruments. This is another form of surveillance. And the next step would be, like, putting angle monitors and brain chips. Every moment of what people say and think will be monitored by the government,” said Brittas.

The Sanchar Saathi application was launched in January this year, and till August, it has crossed 50 lakh downloads. A press release by the government in September said that over 37.28 lakh stolen or lost mobile devices were successfully blocked using the app, and more than 22.76 lakh devices had been traced.