UIDAI ‘helpline’ on Android phones due to glitch: Google

UIDAI issued a statement Friday saying that “some vested interests are trying to create unwarranted confusion in the public” and asserted that it has “not asked or advised anyone including telecom service providers or mobile manufacturers or Android to include 18003001947 or 1947 in the default list of public service numbers”.

UIDAI said that the number in question – 18003001947 – is “outdated and invalid” and it has not asked or communicated to any manufacturer or service provider for having it saved in contact lists by default.

The mystery of the appearance of an old UIDAI helpline number in the contact list of some Android phones has been solved with the publisher of the operating system Google claiming a glitch on its end that “inadvertently coded” the number into the SetUp wizard of an Android release in 2014. Of the estimated 500 million smartphones being used by consumers in India, more than 80 per cent operate on Android.

“Our internal review has revealed that in 2014, the then UIDAI helpline number and the 112 distress helpline number were inadvertently coded into the SetUp wizard of the Android release given to OEMs for use in India and has remained there since. Since the numbers get listed on a user’s contact list these get transferred accordingly to the contacts on any new device. We are sorry for any concern that this might have caused, and would like to assure everyone that this is not a situation of an unauthorised access of their Android devices. Users can manually delete the number from their devices. We will work towards fixing this in an upcoming release of SetUp wizard which will be made available to OEMs over the next few weeks,” a Google spokesperson said. However, the statement did not detail why the UIDAI helpline number was coded in the first place.

Prior to Google’s statement late Friday, almost all key stakeholders of the smartphone ecosystem were caught off-guard, setting of a raging debate on Twitter. While the UIDAI, which is the nodal agency for the Aadhaar project, said that the number in question – 18003001947 – is “outdated and invalid” and it has not asked or communicated to any manufacturer or service provider for having it saved in contact lists by default, telecom operators deny having saved the number in SIM car phone-books by default.

Also read: Google admits adding UIDAI helpline number in Android version given to Indian OEMs in 2014

A number can appear in the contact list in the following ways – by a user saving it, by a handset maker pre-loading it, mobile operators loading it in the SIM card, or the operating system pulling certain service numbers after detecting the geography once it is connected to the internet.

The issue was first raised by French security researcher Robert Baptiste, who uses the pseudonym Elliot Alderson on Twitter. On Thursday, Baptiste asked a question to his followers if they had UIDAI in their contact list by default, bringing the subject to light. “Many people, with different provider, with and without an #Aadhaar card, with and without the mAadhaar app installed, noticed that your phone number is predefined in their contact list by default and so without their knowledge…,” he said in a tweet.

UIDAI issued a statement Friday saying that “some vested interests are trying to create unwarranted confusion in the public” and asserted that it has “not asked or advised anyone including telecom service providers or mobile manufacturers or Android to include 18003001947 or 1947 in the default list of public service numbers”.

Story continues below this ad

Industry group of telecom service providers Cellular Operators Association of India also claimed no responsibility in the issue and said in a statement: “The inclusion of a certain unknown number in the phonebooks of various mobile handsets is not from any telecom service provider”. The body counts Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio and Vodafone India as its members.