The Government Instant Messaging System (GIMS) has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for use by any government employee or public user for official or casual use. Any individual with a valid mobile number or email ID can make use of the system.
The platform is also available as mobile phone app for Android and iOS or for use on desktop via the portal here which can be used for administration and monitoring.
Here is all you need to know about it:
>> Where do I get GIMS application?
- For Android users to download or update the app: Go to this link and click on Download button under Android tab or find the app on Google Play Store.
- For iOS users to download or update the app: search GIMS Instant in App Store and then download and install from the link provided in App Store.
>> App availability is on Android, iOS and Web. Users can backup their chats by exporting to email, but there is no option to transfer your chat history between platforms.
>> Onboarding/Registration on App
- For registration in GIMS is the first-time login on GIMS Mobile App, you can use your mobile number of e-mail ID.
- Download the GIMS App from Play store/Appstore and login using any of the two modes
- For registration by mobile: Select country code from drop down list and provide your valid mobile number
- For registration by email: Provide your email id.
- Furnish the received OTP on your mobile number/email id
- Provide basic details such as Name and Gender.
- Provide the necessary permissions.
- Sync your contacts when prompted.
- You are now ready to use the GIMS App.
>> Users outside India can register the following way:
- Download the GIMS App and tap on 91 to get list of country code
- Select your country code from the list by tapping on it
- Provide your mobile number
- Enter OTP received
>> Occupation details to be filled by Government employee:
- Go to Settings and tap on your display picture
- Tap on and tap on Occupation details
- Select the radio button in front of Government (Indian Govt) from the list.
- Depending on your employment, select one of the options from Central, State, Panchayat, ULB and Judiciary.
>> Occupation details to be filled by Central Government. Employees:
- Tap on and select the right option from the drop-down list for each of the details like Ministry, Name of Organisation, Department and their Designation.
- Fill in Remarks (optional)
- Tap on the top right corner to update one’s occupation details.
>> Verified status: Verified Users are those Govt. users whose occupation details have been verified by their respective Organisation Admin. Such users will have a tick symbol visible on their profile.
- Public Users are the users who are either Citizens or Govt. users who are not yet verified.
- For users who have filled their occupation details as Government employees, any change in profile will change their status to Un-Verified user and their Organisation Admin will need to verify them again.
>> Instant Messaging: Users can chat with all contacts from the contacts list using GIMS instant chat feature. Users can also send a message to multiple contacts at the same time, using the ‘Broadcast Message’ option from the menu. Presently 10 contacts can be added in a broadcast list and only text messages can be broadcast.
>> Sharing & Privacy: Forwarding the message(s) to any e-mail can be done from GIMS by selecting the messages and using the send email feature. Also, any message may be selected and copied to be pasted on e-mail directly.
- Further, one-to-one messages and group messages are end-to-end encrypted.
>> Special message: The GIMS App provides the functionality to mark a message as Confidential, on Priority or as Auto Delete.
- Confidential tag: If a user wants to differentiate between messages to show that the message is Confidential, he can use the Confidential Tag both in individual and group chat. This is just for display purpose and will indicate to the recipient(s) to keep this as confidential matter.
- Priority tag: Priority Tag is used to differentiate between messages in individual and group chat to show the recipient that the message is to be considered on priority basis.
- Auto-delete tag: Auto delete tag is used in individual and group chat when a user wants to send a message such that it gets deleted automatically once the recipient has read it.
>> App integration: GIMS is integrated with DigiLocker. Any PDF document received in GIMS can be uploaded to DigiLocker.
>> Dashboard service: User can use the GIMS Chatbot service which provides the dashboards of different government entities / initiatives.
>> Maximum Limits as of now:
- An official group can have a maximum of 200 members
- A non-official group can have a maximum of 50 members
- A broadcast list can have maximum 10 contacts at a time.
- Only the following file types are supported: documents (doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, pdf), images (jpeg, jpg, png), audio (mp3, m4a), video (mp4)
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