When announcing the creation of BharOS, ITT said it could be installed on “off-the-shelf commercial handsets” to provide “users with a secure environment.” The operating system has no pre-installed applications and does not share any user data. Only private app stores can be used with the operating system. Pradhan also said that BharOS does not run malware, but gave no further explanation.
Created in India, BharOS was unveiled last week
While the OS installs without default apps, local over-the-air updates will automatically propagate security patches without waiting for the device owner to initiate the process. This means that all BharOS users will be running the latest version of the software.
Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras said, “BharOS Services is a mobile operating system built on trust with a focus on giving users more freedom, control and flexibility to choose and use apps that suit their needs .This innovative system has the potential to revolutionize the way users think about mobile device security and privacy.”
Kamakoti added, “IIT Madras looks forward to working closely with more private companies, government agencies, strategic agencies and telecom service providers to increase the use and adoption of BharOS in our country.” A fork of , meaning it copies the source code used by Android. This is what Amazon used to create FireOS for the Fire Phone. These phones don’t require a Google Mobile Services (GMS) license, but don’t offer any Google apps or the Google Play Store.
