Government of India has released it’s own Made In India Instant Messaging App to the Public namely “Sandes”. The application will be made available for both Android And iOS(Apple) smartphone users across the world.

Sandes, previously named Government Instant Messaging System (GIMS), is an instant messaging application developed by the Government of India as an alternative to WhatsApp.

In 2020, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the government had announced the creation of a messaging application as part of its Make in India initiative. Presently, the application is used by the government officials of several ministries. The intention behind the application is to prompt the government employees to switch from mainstream social media applications to a secured application built by the government, in a bid to mitigate potential security risks.

The application comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and is handled by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The Sanders application works on both Android and iOS platforms. Today the app has been released to the public.

Features:

The instant messaging app features are similar to other messaging apps present, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal. A valid phone number or email id is necessary to sign up. Users can forward messages, broadcast, create groups, and backup messages. Chats are backed up to the user’s registered email id. Users can mark messages as “confidential”, preventing it to be shared with others.