What is Akha, the application that Valérie Pécresse doesn't want you to download?

In Arabic, “akha” means “attention”. The eponymous application, available on the App Store (iPhone) and the Play Store (Android), has been talked about a lot since the beginning of 2025, although it has actually been available for more than one year. Its founder, Sid Ahmed Mekhiche (who goes by the nickname Sidox), is a young developer with a degree in web engineering. He himself embodies videos on public transport news in the Ile-de-France region on the Akha Instagram account.

With Akha, users can report the presence of controllers on public transport. A shortfall for Île-de-France Mobilités which, through the voice of its regional president, announced that it had put the young developer on notice, accused of committing “criminal offense”. But is Akha really illegal?

Valérie Pécresse publicly attacks Akha

According to the president of the Île-de-France region, Akha “ facilitates transport fraud by locating controllers and security forces”. Valérie Pécresse accuses the application of providing help “to delinquents and criminals”while making a shortcut between the application name and “the drug dealers’ warning signal”. She announces that Île-de-France Mobilités intends to file a complaint against Sid Ahmed Mekhiche, who has received a formal notice.

Akha, which is based on a community model, is a map on which users can report the presence of a controller. Some users may be insulting, but others simply point out the presence of a police officer or controller.

In principle, Akha is inspired by Waze, which is also based on a community model to signal the presence of work or a police officer. The problem is that fraud in public transport would cost the RATP 700 million euros per year, which encourages the public body to be very vigilant against these initiatives.

One question remains to be answered: Is Akha illegal? Number 1 in downloads in the “Transport” category, the application suddenly went from shadow to light, which annoys the authorities. Some influencers are encouraging people to no longer pay for the metro using the application, as spotted by BFM Tech & Co.

Article L2242-10 of the Transport Code stipulates that reporting the presence of controllers or security agents in public transport is punishable by criminal sanctions, more precisely two months' imprisonment and a fine of 3,750 euros. . There remains the question of responsibility, while the developer of Akha has never indicated that its application serves this role (he cites delays or pickpockets on his site). Can he really be considered guilty of a criminal offense committed by users of his community network?

Numerama contacted Sidox in hopes of discussing the future of the project, but had not yet received a response at the time of publication of this article.