Dawn
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15:57 Apr 17, 2026
India’s government has decided not to go ahead with a proposal to require Apple, Samsung and others to pre-install the country’s biometric identification app Aadhaar on phones, a move that had been opposed by the smartphone giants, a state body said on Friday. It was reported last month that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the state body that operates Aadhaar, had asked the IT ministry in January to engage with Apple, Google and other leading smartphone makers to consider mandatory pre-installation of the Aadhaar app. A unique 12-digit identity number tied to an individual’s fingerprints and iris scans, Aadhaar is held by nearly 1.34 billion residents and is widely used for verification purposes in banking and telecom services, as well as for faster airport entry. India’s IT ministry reviewed the proposal and “is not in favour of mandating the pre-installation of the Aadhaar App on smartphones,” UIDAI said in a statement to Reuters on Friday, giving no reason for the decision. India’s IT...