The country’s telecom regulator TRAI had earlier this year issued a warning to Apple saying that if the technology giant didn’t approve the government developed Do Not Disturb app by January 2019, it will lead a to a ban of iPhones in India. Seems like Apple did take the warning seriously as just a month before the deadline, the company has approved the spam filtering app.
An Apple spokesperson confirmed the development and further added that the app is now available on App Store starting today.
The name of the app that has been made available to iPhone users today is TRAI DND – Do Not Disturb. As the name suggests, the app basically attempts to help people avoid unwanted phone calls and messages – something that can be a big problem for some. There are reports that claim that an average person receives up to 10 unwanted calls and messages in a single day.
It is worth noticing that the functions of the app are similar to that of Truecaller, which enjoys a lot of popularity in India. However, we should point out that not all the features of Truecaller that run on its Android version are available for the iOS version. This is primarily because Apple places a lot of importance on the privacy of its customers.
Coming back to TRAI’s DND app, it has been available for Android users on Google Play Store since 2016. But Apple denied carrying the initial version of the application on App Store citing privacy concerns. The app by TRAI allegedly shared user’s call and message logs with authorities in India. And we all know that this is something that violates Apple’s rules.
The update that has been kicked in today may be using Apple’s SMS/Call reporting APIs. For those who are unaware, this only allows limited access to call and SMS data of the users. But then, it doesn’t fix any potential privacy issues.
If you have an Apple device and you wish to use the app, you can head to App Store and download it for free.
We are not exactly surprised by Apple’s move as India is an extremely important market for the company and it would do the necessary to avoid an iPhone ban here.
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