While going through today’s newspaper, one news item caught my eye, and that was regarding SANCHAR SAATHI APP. To be frank, I have not heard of this App. The news item was “ The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has mandated the pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi App on all new mobile handsets manufactured or imported for sale in India. The directive was issued to all original manufacturers (OEMs) and importers on 1st December 2025”. It urged the manufacturers to ensure that the App was readily visible and accessible to the end users at the time of first use or device setup, and that its functionalities are not disabled or restricted.
What is Sanchar Saathi App?
- The portal, set up in May 2023, allows the reporting and blocking of mobile phones which are lost, and malicious web links.
- It further helps knowing the number of mobile connections in a user’s name, and to check trusted contact details of banks and financial institutions.
- According to an earlier report, a DoT official said that App will make fraud reporting easier. ‘Right now reporting times varies because users have to go to the website to report fraud or stolen mobile phones’.
- On reporting fraud through the App, the official said the portal is “advanced enough” and users do not need to remember their IMEI number.
- The App will also provide other services, like checking mobile connections issued in a user’s name verifying whether a handset is genuine, and reporting suspicious communication or spam.
- The App can also help users to report an international call with an Indian number. It does not require OTP verification on the phone.
- Up till now, under this initiative more than 42.14 lakh mobiles have been blocked and over 26.11 lakh lost or stolen mobile handsets have been traced, according to Sanchar Saathi website.
- Over 288 lakh requests have been received from persons wanting to get information regarding mobile connections registered in their name. of these, 254 lakh requests have been resolved.
- Till date, App has more than 1.14 crore registrations, with more than 1 crore from Google Playstore, and more than 9.5 lakh downloads from Apple Store.
For the devices which have already been manufactured and are in sales channels in the country, the government has asked manufacturers and importers to push the Sanchar Saathi App through software updates.
The step has taken to ‘safeguard the citizens from buying non-genuine handsets, enabling easy reporting of suspected misuse of of telecom resources to increase effectiveness of the Sanchar Saathi App, as per official of DoT.
OEMs including Apple, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and Samsung will have 90 days to comply with the requirement. The compliance report for the same will have to be submitted in 120 days.
In the end very good initiative by the government for mobile users to access telecom security and awareness services, such as blocking or stolen phones, reporting fraud and checking how many SI cards are registered under one’s name. It empowers users by providing tools to combat cyber risks, including identity theft, fake KYC and financial fraud.
App Will Help ‘Safeguard’ Citizens from Fraud
Friends, if you have not installed this App on your mobile, please do it now and feel safe.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
2nd December 2025
Shivaranjan
Good safe app