After getting criticized from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for not allowing Do Not Disturb app on App Store, Apple has finally reached out to the regulatory body to discuss and resolve this pesky issue.

“They (Apple) have written to us for a meeting on the issue saying that they have an approach on this which they want to discuss,” said TRAI Chairman RS Sharma in response to a query on the matter at India Mobile Congress on Thursday.

The pesky call or ‘Do not disturb (DND)’ application was developed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the app makes it easy for consumers to file complaints regarding uncalled-for commercial or promotional calls and SMS by simply selecting the call from their call log in the phone or the SMS from inbox. But for this to work, the app needs access to the messages on consumers’ Apple device, a request that is clearly in violation of Apple’s privacy policy.

According to Apple, if the app is given permission to read the messages, it could potentially read the device owners’ personal information like bank OTPs, private messages, etc. For this, Apple has been fighting with TRAI for over a year now.

Ram Sewak Sharma, Chairman, TRAI, has been choral about the issue and has said that the situation was “ridiculous” and that “no company can be allowed to be a guardian of a user’s data.”

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According to sources, the “development is in positive direction” for Apple at least appears to be interested to talk to TRAI and find a solution. Sharma told FE that the discussion is mainly that of ownership of the data. “Who has the final right on a user’s data?”, he quoted.
TRAI’s argument in favour of its DND app is that the app is already available on Android.

However, it must be noted that a one-star rating always outnumbers 5-star ratings two to one. And the average rating of TRAI’s app is 2.3. TRAI argues that if the users of the app don’t consider it as a pressing issue or as one at all, then why should Apple.

We now have to wait and see as to what conclusion the meeting brings.