Hyderabad, Feb. 28 -- Starting Sunday, March 1, messaging apps used by millions of Indians - WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Snapchat, Sharechat, Jiochat, Josh and Arattai, among others - will have to remain continuously linked to a user's active SIM card.

The government's SIM binding directive, a first of its kind in the world, kicks in on March 1, and it will change how these platforms work in India, regardless of the significant pushback from messaging platforms and their industry representatives in the run-up to the deadline.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) introduced the SIM binding rules in November 2025 under the Telecommunications (Telecom Cyber Security) Amendment Rules, 2025. For users, the most immediate change is that...