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India orders Google, Apple to remove 7 EV battery apps over e-rickshaw prank
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said service providers should ensure their apps do not pose risk to public safety or encourage unlawful activities
- PUBLISHED: Sun 5 Jul 2026, 4:29 PM
Google and Apple have been directed to remove seven battery management system (BMS) apps from their stores following their misuse by people remotely disabling batteries used in e-rickshaws and other electric vehicles in India.
Videos have gone viral showing pranksters remotely switching off e-rickshaws when they were moving on busy roads, causing enormous traffic jams in many cities, and possibly leading to accidents.
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The ‘Tirri prank’ trend was initially known to just a few experts. But it snowballed over the past few days with videos of the prank going viral, attracting millions of users.
Yash Bharadwaj, a content creator in Delhi, tested the app and found it worked on e-rickshaws. “I was told by a friend that a new app could instantly strand an e-rickshaw via Bluetooth,” he told the media. “It sounded impossible, so I went out to test it and filmed it actually working. Overnight, the video went viral with 7M views, and suddenly everyone started creating content on it.”
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Social responsibility
S. Krishnan, secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), told reporters that the service providers have a responsibility to ensure that their apps do not pose risk to public safety or encourage unlawful activities. The apps, including some Chinese ones, that have been blocked include BAT-BMS, Lossigy, Epoch Li-ion, and Smart BMS.
Drivers of e-rickshaws in Delhi have been harassed over the past few days by pranksters, who used the Bluetooth-enabled apps to connect with the battery management systems of the vehicles and remotely switching them off, even as they were moving on busy roads.
An e-rickshaw driver told reporters that youngsters in cars harassed him by abruptly turning off his vehicle and then demanding money to restart it. Another driver said that after his vehicle was stopped four times, he had to pay money to a person who set it right. Later, he downloaded the BAT-BMS app and helped other stranded e-rickshaw drivers in Delhi.
The app, developed by a Chinese company, do not have password protection or authentication and can be misused by anyone within the Bluetooth low energy range of 15 metres to cut power to the vehicle. Many of the e-rickshaws feature Bluetooth, but without password protection and can be easily manipulated.
Rajiv Tuli, general secretary of Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Society (EVMS), said manufacturers of the vehicles have set up helplines for drivers stranded on the roads, directing them how to restart their rickshaws.
Pankaj Kumar Singh, Delhi’s transport minister, warned that this was a serious security issue and the government would take all necessary steps to crack down on the operators.
