Everything you need to know about India’s Android rival BharOS

BharOS is an AOSP (Android Open Source Project) operating system that is designed to be secure and powerful. It is a Made in India operating system with a focus on security, reliability and scalability. It is developed by JandK Operations Private Limited (JandKops), a non-profit organisation incubated at IIT Madras.

Since the BharOS is based on the Android project by Google, it is not that different from Google’s stock Android in terms of its UI and features. However, there are no pre-installed Google apps and services on the phone. So apps like Google Maps, Gmail, and Google search won’t be available. 

Users will be able to sideload almost any app of their choice on their BharOS-installed smartphone and with many of the apps. And there are workarounds for some like using the web version of Gmail instead of the app which is only available when connected to the Google Play services.

BharOS is designed to be secure and reliable, with features such as kernel patch protection, encrypted file storage, and sandboxing. It also provides a secure boot process and a secure boot loader, as well as a secure update system. It is designed to be simple to use, with a graphical user interface. It comes with a wide range of pre-installed applications, including web browsers, and multimedia players.

Currently, there are no exact details by the developers as to when BharOS will be released or what smartphones will be supporting it.

While the BharOS can’t replace Google's ubiquitous Android OS just yet, it is still a step in the right direction as an alternative to the Android and iOS ecosystems. Strong support from smartphone manufacturers as well as from the people to use the OS is key for its adoption.

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