Travel · South Asia

Working from India with a Mac: internet, eSIMs and what’s blocked

Most of what a Mac needs works in India, and mobile data is plentiful. The differences are a list of apps banned since 2020, internet shutdowns that hit whole regions for days, identity checks on every SIM and on public Wi-Fi, and strict rules on satellite devices, which catch out travellers every year.

Region: South Asia
Blocked: TikTok and other apps banned since 2020¹; regional shutdowns, 65 of them in 2025².
Calls: Regional internet shutdowns can interrupt calls in affected areas; fixed and mobile services may be affected differently².
SIM rule: Passport with a valid visa; a tourist SIM lasts no longer than the visa or three months at a time⁵.
VPN law: Consumer-facing VPN services must retain certain customer records for five years or longer³; satellite phones need DoT permission⁷.

Checked 1 November 2026. Rules and blocks change, sometimes overnight. Each claim links to its source; where a source and this page differ, the source wins.

What’s blocked or restricted

India blocks specific apps and sites rather than whole categories, and cuts the internet off in regions during unrest.

Banned apps. In June 2020 the government blocked 59 mostly Chinese apps, among them TikTok, SHAREit, UC Browser and WeChat, under Section 69A of the IT Act, citing sovereignty and security¹.
Internet shutdowns. India imposed 65 internet shutdowns in 2025, second only to Myanmar in the Asia Pacific, during protests, religious events and politically sensitive moments².

A shutdown looks like a dead connection, not a blocked site. If the whole internet stops at once in one area, check local news before restarting anything. When a banned app won’t load, Kilobat can identify signs of a network block or a service’s own regional refusal, though the result can be inconclusive. See blocked here, not down.

Calling apps

Regional internet shutdowns can interrupt internet calls in affected areas; the services and networks affected vary².

In a shutdown, an ordinary phone call through your carrier may still work when data doesn’t.
Agree a fallback for important calls, such as a phone number, before a shutdown rather than during one.

How mobile data reaches your Mac

There are three ways to get mobile data to your Mac.

An Indian SIM. Cheap and fast, but tied to your visa and checked against your passport⁵. Shutdowns and app bans apply.
Roaming on your home SIM. Roaming data can be routed through your home carrier¹⁰, but the route and service availability vary by carrier and network. Check with your provider and do not rely on access to a specific service.
A travel eSIM. Many exit to the internet through another operator’s gateway in a third country¹⁰¹¹. Sellers rarely say which.

Indian law still applies to what you do in India, whichever way the data travels.

What the law says about VPNs

CERT-In’s cybersecurity directions set subscriber-record requirements for some VPN services³.

CERT-In’s 2022 directions require VPN services offering Internet-proxy-like access to the public to retain certain customer information for five years or longer; its FAQ excludes enterprise and corporate VPNs from this particular subscriber-record requirement³.
Satellite phones are allowed only with specific permission from the Department of Telecommunications or through BSNL’s licensed service⁷. Having one without permission is an offence even in transit, and can lead to a fine, arrest and confiscation⁸.
Australia’s travel advice warns of up to three years in prison and large fines, including for personal locator beacons; ordinary smartphones with maps are fine⁹.

SIM and eSIM registration

Every SIM is registered to a verified person. The Department of Telecommunications’ instructions set out what foreigners need⁵.

A passport with a valid visa is the proof of identity, and a local reference or the address where you stay, such as a hotel, is the proof of address⁵¹².
A tourist’s connection can’t run beyond the visa, and no longer than three months at a time even when the visa is longer⁵.
Since July 2024, the step that sends a one-time code to a second Indian number is optional for foreign visitors; operators can send it to your email instead⁴⁶.

Hotel and café Wi-Fi

Public Wi-Fi in India is usually signed in with a mobile number and a one-time code.

Under the government’s PM-WANI public Wi-Fi framework, you create a profile in an app and verify your mobile number with a one-time password before you connect¹³.
Hotels and cafés often use their own sign-in pages, which may also send a code by text. On a roaming number, that text can be slow; ask the front desk for another way in.
If the sign-in page never appears, see why the Wi-Fi sign-in page doesn’t show.

Prepare your Mac before you go

Prepare the Mac, and check your bag.

Leave satellite messengers and personal locator beacons at home unless you have DoT permission⁷⁹.
Download big installers, updates and documents before you go, so a regional shutdown doesn’t stop your work.
For two-factor sign-in, an authenticator app works offline. Its codes come from a shared secret and the clock¹⁴, so they keep working when texts to a roaming number don’t arrive.
Save offline maps and booking details, and note your hotel’s address for SIM registration⁵.

Where Kilobat helps

Kilobat checks your connection and the service to help you investigate what may be wrong.

Is it them or me, or blocked here? Kilobat checks your connection and the service’s status page. It may identify signs of a network block or a service’s own regional refusal; results can be inconclusive. See blocked here, not down and “not available in your region” answers.
Hotel Wi-Fi sign-in. Kilobat can notice a sign-in page and offers a button to open it. With Pro, it can warn before a session expires once it has learned its usual length. See hotel Wi-Fi login on a Mac.
Leak test. The VPN leak test checks for selected DNS, IPv6 and UDP leaks. Passing these checks does not prove that all traffic uses the VPN. See proxies and VPNs.
Hotspot data saver and data packs. The Travel profile holds back backups and updaters on your phone’s hotspot, and a budget that starts over only when you reset it fits a prepaid data pack. See save hotspot data.
Call reports. After each call, Kilobat says whether it froze and why, such as a busy hotspot or a weak signal. See video calls and Kilobat for digital nomads.

Guides for the road: Wi-Fi login page does not appear on a Mac, Mac uses Personal Hotspot data in the background, Set a monthly data budget that resets on renewal day and Test for call stutter.

Questions

Can I bring a satellite messenger or beacon to India?

Not without permission. Satellite phones need permission from the Department of Telecommunications⁷, and Australia’s travel advice says this includes personal locator beacons⁹.

How long does an Indian tourist SIM last?

No longer than your visa, and no more than three months at a time⁵.

Sources

Checked on 1 November 2026. Government, regulator and travel-advice pages come first where they exist; news outlets and research cover what officials don’t publish, such as which services are blocked. This page explains the situation; it isn’t legal advice.

Know whether it’s the network, the country or you

Kilobat is a Mac menu-bar app that checks your own line, the Wi-Fi sign-in page and the service’s status page, guards a hotspot’s data and reports on every call.

Download for Mac ↓

$ brew install seifip/kilobat/kilobat