• An IIT Madras-incubated firm has developed an indigenous mobile operating system called BharOS. 

• Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw successfully tested BharOS.

• The system can be installed on commercial off-the-shelf handsets. BharOS services are currently being provided to organisations that have stringent privacy and security requirements and whose users handle sensitive information that requires confidential communications on restricted apps on mobiles. 

• Such users require access to private cloud services through private 5G networks.

Features of BharOS:

• The BharOS was developed by JandK Operations Private Limited (JandKops), which has been incubated at IIT Madras. 

• BharOS Service is a Mobile Operating System built on a foundation of trust, with a focus on providing users more freedom, control, and flexibility to choose and use only the apps that fit their needs.

• BharOS comes with No Default Apps (NDA). This means that users are not forced to use apps that they may not be familiar with or that they may not trust. 

• Additionally, this approach allows users to have more control over the permissions that apps have on their device, as they can choose to only allow apps that they trust to access certain features or data on their device.

• BharOS offers ‘Native Over The Air' (NOTA) updates that can help to keep the devices secure. 

• NOTA updates are automatically downloaded and installed on the device, without the need for the user to manually initiate the process. This ensures that the device is always running the latest version of the operating system, which includes the latest security patches and bug fixes. 

• BharOS provides access to trusted apps from organisation-specific Private App Store Services (PASS). 

• A PASS provides access to a curated list of apps that have been thoroughly vetted and have met certain security and privacy standards of organisations.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store