What is BharOS? Everything we know so far

A few days back, we heard the news about a Made in India mobile operating system BharOS developed by an IIT Madras-incubated firm. BharOS is also called BharatOS by many people. IUnion ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw were present at the event where BharOS was unveiled. Pradhan also praised this move.

It focuses on offering a safer and more privacy-oriented experience. This mobile OS is made for meant for Indian smartphone users and aims to compete against Android and iOS. Only time will tell if BhatOS is competent enough to get a considerable market share. Now when everyone is talking about BharOS, I thought to write a detailed article about Bharat OS or BharOS.

What is BharOS?

BharOS is a Linux kernel-based operating system similar to Android. It has been developed by JandK Operations Limited, a firm incubated at IIT Madras.

The project has been funded by the Indian government which wanted to own an operating system specifically made for India. With an Indian mobile OS, the government wanted to reduce the dependence on foreign companies Currently, BharOS is available for government agencies to use on their devices.

BharOS features

BharOS doesn’t come with any preinstalled services or apps. It will give users complete freedom to install and use the apps they want. Users can also grant specific permissions to only apps they want.

One of the key features of BharOS is that it supports a wide range of Indian languages. So, Indian users will be able to set up and use the IS in their native language. The OS takes security seriously. It has been built with multiple layers of security to protect sensitive data and information.

BharOS has also been designed to be highly customizable. It will allow government agencies to add or remove features as per their needs. It also offers the ability to integrate the OS with other government-approved software and applications for seamless applications.

This operating system also offers Native Over The Air (NOTA) updates. Updates will also be automatically downloaded and installed on the device to ensure the device is always running the latest version of the OS which includes the latest security patches and bug fixes.

The company behind this made-in-India mobile OS has not revealed many details. As per reports, BharOS is based on Android Open Source Project. Now when Google has changed some Android rules after the directive of CCI, it will be easier to manage third-party apps and forked versions of Android. Google will also let device manufacturers decide what Google apps they want to use. So, BharOS will get a slight advantage as compared to other forked Android operating systems,

BharOS features availability details

BharOS is currently available for government agencies to use this operating system on their devices. So, the initial users will be the employees of some select government agencies. The Indian government is also working to make the OS available for commercial use in the future. In the coming months, the company behind BhatOS will try to make the OS available to the general public. The company will collaborate with OEMs to launch devices running BharOS.

This isn’t the first made-in-India OS

This is not the first time when an Indian company tried to build an Indian OS. Back in 2007, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) released Bharat Operating System Solutions or BOSS. BOSS initially got good media attention, but it was another operating system that disappeared in a few days. Now, most people don’t know if BOSS exists or ever existed. BOSS is still under active development and the most recent version was released back in February 20021.

Although it will be very early to talk about the success of BharOS, I wish it doesn’t become another OS no one wants to use.