Indian Army develops indigenous app 'SAI' similar to Whatsapp & Telegram

New Delhi: The Indian Army, has developed an indigenous app, ‘Secure Application for the Internet’ (SAI) for personal communication, without the support of any other apps, under the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign. The app currently available on the Android platform. Secured services for voice call, video call and text messaging will be available on the app. The app will start in the next few days and the defence ministry informed that the app would compete with the other apps like WhatsApp, Telegram and GIMS.

The soldiers and officers of the Indian Army use mobile apps like WhatsApp and Telegram to communicate with each other. But, the servers of these apps are outside the country, which poses a serious security issue. Moreover, the Indian Army has restricted the use of conversation apps, following the Galwan conflict. The Army has also directed to delete Chinese apps, social media platforms, e-commerce, camera apps, browsers as well as Facebook, Instagram and True Caller apps.

The servers of the app developed by the Indian Army are connected to the NIC. This will ensure that the data will remain in the country. The app has been developed as per the requirement of the Armed forces and it is important from a strategic point of view. The app will support text messaging, and also audio and video calls. Currently, the app is available only on the Android platform. The app also has all the security features for Local In-house Server and Coding. The officials said that time to time modifications is possible in the app.

The app has been allowed to be used after being scrutinised by the auditors in the CERT-In panel and the cyber group of the Indian Army. Now the app will be patented for Intellectual Property Rights. The sources in the Indian Army informed that the work on the IOS version of the app is in progress.