White House app auto-downloads to government phones, can't be uninstalled

“It’s shooting pure unadulterated propaganda into our veins,” says one worker.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/white-house-app-auto-downloads-to-government-phones-cant-be-uninstalled/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

@arstechnica probably a good idea for people to have the OS require a password or FaceID to use the app. Then turn off its access to any system feature (like background processing and GPS). Then, if possible, hide it away.
@arstechnica Oh wow, Big Brother is in your pocket at all times, that's fun.
@arstechnica I fail to see what the big deal is here - company IT equipment normally has company software on it that is not to be removed. Has the US government only started doing this?
@UltrasonicMadness @arstechnica the big deal is that this seems to be a sloppily written Trojan, an app that appears to have privacy leaks and security holes all over the place and risks sensitive data. And now it's mandatory, thanks to MDM.
@fnordius @arstechnica This is what happens when I only read the headline. I'm so used to outrageous headlines that this genuinely threw me.

@arstechnica

I mean, they could just not use the app if they don’t want to… they work for the government, and just like any other employer, they can put software onto work phones

Volksempfänger - Wikipedia

@arstechnica

This… truth is lie…

@arstechnica
What strange app, you can install it even if you're not from / in the US (I am not). I just did for the heck of it.

There's a red button there which says "Text President Trump".

I just did. Told him that I'm not sure his quite right in the head.

Not sure where the SMS went though. It was some weird 5 digit number. But who knows, maybe he received it?

Mandatory government propaganda apps that can't be removed is exactly the architecture authoritarian states use. The only difference is usually they don't make the news.