Apple’s Refusal to Approve India’s Anti-Spam App Angers Regulators

Looks like TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has an Android version of the app as well (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=trai.gov.in.dn...). Permissions requested by the Android app seem to be very broad (Reading call log, Sending & Receiving SMS etc.) If they tried the same thing with Apple, I am not surprised that Apple has blocked their app. Such permissions can be used to easily snoop on a user's activity by Government entities.

What Mr.Sharma does not seem to get is Apple is very particular about user privacy. In the past users have been tricked into giving out their private data or scammed into subscribing to really expensive subscriptions by scammy apps (http://thehackernews.com/2017/06/apple-subscription-scam.htm...)

I am not saying TRAI's app is going to scam users but Apple's concern is genuine. TRAI can work around it by changing the away the app collects the spam call data from a user's phone. They certainly don't need the entire call history.

Here's where things get odd. TRAI has a tough job on its hands too. They cannot simply allow users to report any phone numbers as spam callers without verifying it. The reason is simple. It opens up the possibility of misuse via fraudulent reports. Those who have dealt with the Indian market will recall that fraud is rampant in the system - both by users as well as businesses.