The Unique Identification Authority of India had proposed requiring smartphone makers to pre-install the Aadhaar app, but the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has now rejected the idea.
The Aadhaar system, used by over 1.4 billion people in India, stores sensitive personal and biometric data. Smartphone brands opposed the plan due to security risks and higher production costs.
This marks another rollback by the government on mandatory pre-installed apps, with officials stating such requirements will only be considered if absolutely essential.
Source: GSMArena
