Being an iPhone user for the last 10 years, I used to feel that while buying a Smartphone, Laptop or a Tablet, the only brand I’d trust is Apple. But today when I heard about the TRAI vs Apple conflict, it seems like this belief is about to shatter. The reason behind this is the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) & Apple have met each other face to face on crossroads regarding the issue of using DND 2.0 app on iPhones. The DND 2.0 App has been developed by TRAI.
TRAI claims that this application will help users to block spam messages & report them by accessing the Messages on the device. The purpose seems to be helpful but for Apple, it looks like compromising on the security aspect of their devices. The DND 2.0 app seems to be running on the Android Platform for a long time now. But since this app is a third party app, Apple has kept it away from its App Store. This is because Apple usually doesn’t prefer to mingle a lot with third-party applications.
Timeline of the events – ‘TRAI vs Apple’
TRAI has introduced ‘Telecom commercial communications customer preference regulations, 2018’ earlier this week. It has made it clear that it will no longer identify the phones which prohibit installation of the Government’s DND 2.0 app. Since then the ‘TRAI vs Apple’ war is seen in the news very often.
On what basis TRAI has made this statement?
In the list of regulations, a law has been framed which says “Provided that where such devices do not permit functioning of such Apps as prescribed in regulations 6(2)(e) and regulations 23(2)(d), Access Providers shall, on the order or direction of the Authority, derecognize such devices from their telecom networks”.
This is why TRAI has been looking forward to shutting down the Apple iPhones. If they don’t comply with the DND 2.0 app to work on them & deny access to the messages, iPhones might go down soon.
What’s next?
In such a scenario, the Company which is in the conflict gets 6 months of time to settle this issue before the Authority brings down its devices. So Apple now has a window of 6 months in which it has to make required changes in its iOS or roll out new iOS, most probably iOS 12. If they are successful in doing the same, DND 2.0 might feature on the App store & your iPhone will continue to work.
If Apple fails to do so, TRAI might get into the action & go by the rules. All of the Apple community lets keep our fingers crossed & hope that Apple resolves this deadlock in its next iOS update. A solution to this problem will help the millions iPhone user’s in India to use their iPhones without any discontinuity.
A timely update on all the happenings in this conflict, ‘TRAI vs Apple’ will be provided in upcoming blogs.