TNI Bureau: Apple has reportedly declined to follow an Indian government order that requires all smartphone makers to preload a government-run cybersecurity app, Sanchar Saathi, on new phones. The order also asks companies to push the app to existing devices and prevent users from removing it. Apple is refusing because it believes this could harm user privacy, weaken device security, and create a bad precedent.

According to a report, Apple will officially inform the government that it does not preload any third-party or government apps on its devices. However, the company does not plan to challenge the order publicly or in court, since India is an important and growing market for Apple.

In India, Apple holds about 9% of the smartphone market, much lower than Android brands like Vivo, Oppo, and Samsung — all of which have also been told to install the app.