What is BharOS?

BharOS is a mobile operating system developed by IIT Madras. It is an Indian government open-source project for the use of government public projects. It was developed by JandK Operations Private Limited (Jandkops), which IIT Madras incubated. Later, the minister for telecommunications and information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, and the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, launched the operating system at a public event. Its initial release was on 24th January 2023. BharOS is a contribution to the idea of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ project by securing an OS environment for Indian-based users.

Features

• BharOS does not come with any pre-installed apps.
• BharOS is a Linux-based operating system that is specifically designed for smartphone users in India.
• BharOS does not include any pre-installed apps which saves more usable storage space.
• BharOS offers Native over the Air (NOTA) updates, similar to Android, which will update the software and install it on the device.
• BharOS also provides Private App Store Services (PASS), which offer trusted apps from specific organizations.

Advantages

• Security – User security is the top priority of BharOS, so it is expected to provide the best security and protection to the users.
• NOTA – BharOS will receive security updates through the Native Over The Air (NOTA) update process, which automatically downloads and installs the updates to the phone without the need for manual initiation by the user.
• Independent of foreign OS – BharOS will not ship with Google, Apple, or Microsoft services pre-installed, which will allow the user to decide which service and apps anyone wants to opt for.

Disadvantages

• Sufficient funds – To run this operating system, the team needs sufficient funds and enhance protection and security for the users.
• Man Power – Android and iOS have taken a lot of manpower to reach where there are now. BharOS will need more manpower for developers to compete with them.
• Marketing team – BharOS will need a marketing team to promote the operating system to the public and provide a good reason to use it.
   

How BharOS is different from Android?

• BharOS is based on Android Open-Source Project (AOSP), and it does come with pre-loaded software like Google services on Android. So, users can able to download any software of their own choice.
  Whereas, for android phones, google services are pre-installed.
• Android phones usually have Chrome set up as the default browser but BharOS has DuckDuck Go as its default browser (DuckDuck Go is a privacy-focused browser with several privacy-centric features like anonymous browsing mode and Privacy Grade).