All about Sandes, the WhatsApp alternative for Indian Govt
Developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Sandes is the latest alternative to WhatsApp
Notably, this app is an upgrade to NIC's existing Government Instant Messaging System (GIMS) app
The first version was released in August 2020 for central and state government officials “for intra and inter-organisation communication”
Currently, the app can only be downloaded via the APK link, which is available on its official website
The user needs to have a government ID to sign up and use the app
Like WhatsApp, this NIC app can be used for all kinds of communications with a mobile number or email id
There’s a web version of the app as well
It also allows a user to mark a message as confidential to let the recipient know that the message should not be shared with others
However, the limitation is that the app does not allow the user to change their email id or registered phone number
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