United Kingdom, Dec. 2 -- Apple has been ordered to pre-install an undeletable state security app on all iPhones sold in India.

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 au...