While it’s unlikely that anyone wants a phone that doesn’t offeranypre-installed apps, manufacturers of thebest smartphonesout there often go above and beyond. Rather than just offering a selection of essential apps to get you started, many phone makers have deals with services and app makers, which means you’re often looking at duplicated and unwanted services — and often enough, you can’t uninstall some or all of these. It looks like India wants to change this, along with introducing new security testing requirements for system updates.
Areport from Reuterscites anonymous government officials, detailing upcoming and yet-to-be-announced rules that would force manufacturers to let you uninstall any apps preloaded on the device. It’s unclear if there will be exemptions for apps critical to system stability, safety, and functionality, like app stores, browsers, cameras, and payment apps. An executive in the smartphone industry told the publication that drawing a distinction between these is critical.
Judging by statements from government officials, the new rules are likely not primarily meant to provide users with a better experience, but to prevent spying and national security concerns. Reuters cites one of its government sources, saying, “Pre-installed apps can be a weak security point and we want to ensure no foreign nations, including China, are exploiting it. It’s a matter of national security."
This isn’t the first time that we see Indian government regulation seemingly targeting China. The countryalready banned a vast number of Chinese appsincluding TikTok, PubG, AliExpress, WeChat, and more following tensions at the border between the two countries two years ago.
In addition to the uninstall option, Indian authorities also want to require new security checks that are supposed to be part of every major system update. This could prolong the update process and make both Android and iOS updates take longer to reach devices.
If the new rules are passed, manufacturers will reportedly have a grace period of one year until they have to comply.
Similar legislation was introduced in Europe last year. As part of the Digital Market Act, phone makers need to make it easy to use alternatives for their preloaded services and allow for the uninstallation of most.
