Sandes
Instant Messaging System
Only for iPhone
Free
Sandes is an open source based indigenous instant messaging platform developed by NIC, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India to facilitate instant messaging communication in Government organisations. It is hosted exclusively at Government infrastructure. It supports end to end encrypted messaging and encrypted backup and encrypted OTP service. Its privacy and data policy is governed by rules and regulations of the Government of India. Sandes can be integrated with other Government communications systems for sending encrypted messages without any cost. Currently Sandes is integrated with NIC email, DigiLocker and e-office.
At present, full features of Sandes app are available only to the Government verified users. Employees of Government organisation need to contact the Nodal officer of their Ministry/ Department for verification. For information about Nodal officers write to us at support-sandes[at]nic[dot]in
more Bug fixes and improvement
2.4.24 24/10/2025
- Incorporated the new liquid glass elements into Sandes iOS app.
- Bug fixes and improvements.
2.4.23 14/10/2025
- Enhanced chat loading performance and improved scroll performance in the chat interface.
- New file and document preview UI, with zoom enabled for images.
- Fixed crashes occurring during app switching and when clicking the search button.
- App UI now blurs in the app switcher for added privacy.
- Fixed message search functionality.
- Improved HTML sanitization in text messages.
- Delivered notifications are now cleared when the app is launched.
- Fixed sender name not appearing in group chat.
- Improved contact search—no more prompts to add existing contacts.
- Bug fixes and improvements in the calling module.
- Fixed the issue where users could add members already in a group chat.
- When importing a shared contact, users can now review and edit the contact’s name and details before saving.
- Fixed tap gestures on images and files.
- Added an option to reset user's profile picture to default.
- Various other bug fixes and improvements.
2.4.20 11/06/2025
- Improvements in notification handling
- Other bug fixes and improvements
2.4.11 09/01/2025
- We've migrated message actions in the chat interface - Reply, Forward, Copy, Chat Info, and Delete—to a new Context Menu format for a more intuitive and responsive chat experience.
- Other bug fixes and improvements.
2.4.09 12/12/2024
Bug fixes and improvements
2.4.03 18/09/2024
Bug fixes and improvements
2.4.01 19/08/2024
The update brings you,
1. Support for resume-able file uploads, allowing users to pause and resume uploads seamlessly.
2. Fixed issues in contact search by phone number.
3. Resolved a bug that caused a crash when sending a web link with incomplete metadata.
4. Bug fixes in audio/video calling.
5. Fixed issues in "invite contact."
6. Fixed a bug that caused invalid names to be displayed for contacts.
7. Improved message fetching.
2.4.0 08/08/2024
- Support for creating App managed groups.
- Enhanced log reporting
2.3.18 20/04/2024
Fixed a bug in the Calling module.
Fixed an issue in Add contact.
2.3.16 03/03/2024
Features and Enhancements:
- This update allows users to pause and resume file downloads as needed.
Bug fixes:
- Fixed a bug where the sending a document required text to be added to enable send.
2.3.15 02/02/2024
Bug fixes and improvements.
2.3.14 08/01/2024
Features and Enhancements:
- Reworked audio message module for enhanced audio message experience.
- Refreshed user interface for playing audio messages.
- Unified audio message player for playing audio seamlessly in a chat
- Video messages now utilize the native video player for improved playback.
- Added support for replying to messages with GIMOJIs.
- Added loading UI for messages containing web links.
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed previews for messages containing links.
- Resolved a bug where a "Mail sent successfully" message appeared when no email address was provided during message or media long-press.
- Bug fixes in message forwarding functionality.
- Addressed an issue related to account deletion and re-registration.
- Fixed UI issues with message time.
- Resolved issues with forwarding messages.
- Additional bug fixes and performance improvements for a smoother experience.
2.3.13 18/12/2023
Feature Enhancements:
Image Sharing Enhancement: Users can now add captions to images shared from other apps.
Contact search: Context menus added to contact search
Bug Fixes:
Group Search: Resolved issues affecting the functionality of group search.
Messages: Performance improvements in message loading and updates
Contact search: Fixed missing designation in contact search
Other: Addressed various minor bugs to enhance overall stability and performance.
2.3.7 03/09/2023
Bug fixes and improvements
2.3.4 14/07/2023
1. Improvements in the speed and efficiency of the search feature.
2. Users can now select different scopes in Search bar to narrow down search results.
3. Verified users now have the capability to search and add registered users within their organization to their local contacts on Sandes.
4. Organization-wide user search functionality integrated into the group creation flow. When creating a group, users can conveniently search for and add members from the entire organization.
5. Fixed duplicate chats appearing in chat summary for some users.
6. Fixed chat count in Tab bar. The count now reflects the total unread chats.
7. Fixed issues with sharing files, links and images
8. Fixed UI issues for messages with hyperlink.
9. Fixed issues with contact forwarding.
10. Other improvements and bug fixes.
2.3.3 26/06/2023
Performance Improvements & New Features:
Enhanced performance and stability in the calling module.
New previews now available for shared URLs.
Users can now share multiple files from other apps through Sandes, with a limit of up to 5 images, files, or videos at a time.
Message replies will now include a thumbnail of the original file for better context.
Optimizations in the share extension have led to faster search and more responsive UI.
Updates and improvements to the occupation data update page.
Performance enhancements in the conversations UI.
Introduced an option to add text styling and tags for message replies.
Bug Fixes:
Resolved issues with the contact sync UI.
Fixed problems relating to contact invitations.
2.3 27/05/2023
Introducing the ability to add up to 5 photos or videos from the gallery simultaneously, with an option to add individual captions for each.
Added App description for E Gov apps on the contact info screen.
Bug fixes and improvements in the message forwarding option.
Group description is no longer mandatory for creating groups
UI improvements and fixes
Improvements in Contact sync.
Fixed info messages for calls.
Other fixes and improvements.
2.2.94 28/02/2023
UI improvements
Bug fixes
2.2.92 24/01/2023
Bug fixes
2.2.88 06/01/2023
Fixes for app crashes
Notifications will now display the group title along with the sender's name.
Fixed issue where copying an image shared the file URL
Fixed minor issue with the read more option.
2.2.86 12/12/2022
Added support for presentation files to be shared from other apps.
Video file can now be attached from the gallery.
Fixed issues with .docx and .doc file sharing.
Fixed issue where text file couldn't be shared.
Fixed issue with forward icon.
Fixed a bug that caused Keyboard to overlap the new message area.
Fixed a bug where sharing spreadsheets or presentations displayed a doc icon.
Fixed UI inconsistencies in Image and video Preview view.
Camera capture preview is now shown in common Preview View
Fixes and optimisations in share extension.
2.2.84 05/12/2022
Fixed background app crash issues.
Fixed image preview view issues (layout adjustments and dynamic text).
Fixed an issue where the "Forwarded" tag was missing on messages forwarded by the user.
Fixed an issue where an audio file shared appeared with Document icon
Fixed issues with UI refresh.
2.2.82 16/11/2022
UI/UX Changes:
Reworked the share from other apps feature. File and media can be shared with up to five Sandes users directly from any other app.
Optimisation and fixes in sending files and media. Significant improvement in Files and media upload and download speeds.
Contact sync module with the capability to sync and merge results from 3 different data streams(Phonebook, Sande's local contacts, Sandes).
Dynamic text added to Main Chat, Contacts, Groups and Account screens.
Attach images from gallery limit increased to 5 images at a time.
Long pressing a chat in the Main chats list now shows a context menu with "Delete chat" and "Mark as read" options.
Long pressing a contact in the Contacts list now shows a context menu with "Delete contact" and "Mark as favourite" options.
The title of the navigation bar on each screen now displays the name of the section.
UI changes done to Splashscreen.
Bug fixes:
Fixed an issue in End to end encryption.
Fixed issues that caused the app to crash while in the background.
Fixed a bug where the keyboard overlapped the type new message area.
Fixed bug where Archive/Email of media files caused the app to crash.
Fixed bug where audio file shared appeared with Document icon.
Fixed a bug which allowed users to send blank messages.
Other minor bug fixes and improvements.
2.2.80 05/11/2022
Improvements in push notifications
Bug fixes in UI dark mode.
2.2.72 01/09/2022
Bug fixes and improvement
more Version 2.4.24 24/10/2025
Data Linked to You The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
Contact Info Contacts User Content Identifiers Diagnostics Other Data