India plans to force smartphone makers to allow users to uninstall pre-installed apps and impose restrictions on important apps under proposed new security rules, two people familiar with the matter and a government document showed, Reuters reported. Operating system updates are reviewed.
The new rules, details of which have not been publicly reported before, could extend product launches for manufacturers in the world’s second-largest smartphone market and cause losses in the pre-installed app business for vendors including Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo and Apple.
A senior Indian government official, who asked not to be named, said India’s Information Technology Ministry is considering these new rules because of concerns about foreign spying and user data abuse. The official said, “Pre-installed apps can be a security vulnerability and we want to make sure no foreign country is exploiting it. It’s a national security issue.”
Most smartphones now come with pre-installed apps that can’t be removed, such as Samsung’s payment app Samsung Pay mini and Safari, the browser that comes with Apple’s iPhone.
Under the new rules, smartphone makers will have to offer an uninstall option and new machines will be checked for compliance by a lab authorized by the Bureau of Indian Standards, two people familiar with the matter said.
The government is also considering mandating an audit of every major operating system update before it is rolled out to consumers, a person familiar with the matter said.
Confidential government minutes of a Feb. 8 IT ministry meeting seen by Reuters said “most smartphones used in India are pre-installed with apps/bloatware, which poses serious privacy/information security concerns. The minutes show that representatives from Xiaomi, Samsung, Apple and Vivo were present at the closed-door meeting.
The document adds that the Indian government has decided to give smartphone makers a year to comply after the rules come into effect, which has yet to be determined.
Counterpoint data shows that India’s fast-growing smartphone market is dominated by Chinese manufacturers, with Xiaomi, Vivo and OPPO accounting for almost half of all sales, while South Korea’s Samsung accounts for 20 percent and Apple for 3 percent.
While EU regulations require that the process of removing pre-installed apps be allowed, there is no screening mechanism to check compliance as is being considered in India.
An industry executive said that some pre-installed application processes (such as the camera) are critical to the user experience and that the government must distinguish between these and non-essential application processes when implementing audit rules.
Smartphone manufacturers typically sell their devices with proprietary applications installed, but sometimes they also pre-install other applications with which they have profitable partnerships.
Another concern, said another industry executive, is that more testing could lengthen the approval time for smartphones. Currently, it takes about 21 weeks for government agencies to test smartphones and their components for security compliance.
