BharOS: The made in India operating system that might be Android alternative

BharOS or BharatOS mobile operating system has been released in India and it is currently considered as a possible alternative to Android by Google and iOS by Apple. The Operating System is developed by Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT). The BharOS is funded by the Indian government and is an open-source operating system (OS). It is meant to reduce the dependency on foreign OS in smartphones.

We have summarised some facts about the BharOS below.

BharOS- What is it?

Bharat OS or the Bhar OS can be said as something that might be equivalent for Android by Google and iOS by Apple. BharOS is trying to highlight the issue of security that rises in data collection in a smartphone. Usually, Android or iOS smartphones collect, store and use the data of customers. BharOS is trying to address the issue of data collection through the apps in the OS.

BharOS is developed by JandK Operations Private Limited (JandKops), a non-profit organisation incubated at IIT Madras and is an Android Open Source Project. Even though BharOS shares its basics with Android, it is free from Google Services and Apps. This means that it does not have preinstalled apps and services that collect data. The unavailibity of preinstalled apps in the BharOS makes it more secure than the Android.

BharOS – release and installation

There is no exact detail about the timeline and availibity of the BharOS. It is very likely that BharOS will be meant for upcoming smartphones and will not be meant for the already existing smartphones.

BharOS is currently only for those organizations that have a requirement of security as well as privacy. However, we can not expect the OS for the masses anytime soon. The OS developers are expected to bring smartphone supported by BharOS.

BharOS – Apps and availability

The BharOS will not offer any default apps like the Android. This means that after the smartphone is unboxed, a user have to download apps from the specific app store. The apps will be solely those which the user wants to install. This means that a free choice is available for the users in terms of downloading apps. There will also be a scope for sideloading apps. This means that a user will be able to download from sources other than their default app store.

Even though the BharOS will offer privacy and security better than Android, we are not sure that it will be an alternative to Android. Android offers support to variety of smartphones across the globe. More than a dozen of smartphone companies use Android as a default operating system. Future will say whether BharOS will be as popular as Android (atleast in India).

If you are wondering if BharOS is the first OS made in India, you are mistaken. The Bharat Operating System Solutions or BOSS was developed by CDAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) under the Ministry of Electronics and IT. The BOSS was assumed to be the alternative to Microsoft Windows. However, the OS could not live up to the mark.