Under a new 28 directive from India’s Department of Telecommunications, Apple and all other smartphone manufacturers must ship new devices with the government’s Sanchar Saathi app preloaded - and crucially, users may not disable or remove it.

The same order instructs companies to push the app to existing devices via software update, meaning hundreds of millions of users will soon receive the system-level tool whether they want it or not.

Officials argue Sanchar Saathi is designed to help recover lost or stolen phones, but privacy experts warn that making the app mandatory - and permanent - effectively hands authorities a persistent monitoring mechanism.

Those concerns intensify in light of a separate DoT rule requiring encrypted messaging apps to link accounts to the IMSI identification numbers inside SIM cards.

Since SIMs require government ID, this would allow authorities to identify any WhatsApp or similar user instantly.

The move lands just as Apple faces a high-stakes antitrust showdown in India.

The company is challenging a legal amendment that allows penalties to be calculated using global turnover, not just Indian revenue - exposing it to potential fines of up to $38 billion in a case involving in-app payments and anti-competitive practices.

Regulators accuse Apple of trying to stall proceedings, while the Delhi High Court has ordered the Competition Commission of India to file a detailed response.

For Apple, India has become both a critical manufacturing hub and one of its most aggressive regulatory environments, and this latest mandate pushes the conflict to an entirely new level.