Apple’sApp Store promotional pageproudly proclaims , in bounteous bold letters :
For over a decade , the App Store has endeavor to be a safe and trusted office to discover and download apps . But the App Store is more than just a shopfront — it ’s an innovative destination focused on make for you amazing experience . And a big part of those experiences is insure that the apps we offer are held to the highest standards for seclusion , security , and content . Because we offer well-nigh two million apps — and we want you to feel good about using every single one of them .
I think for millions of substance abuser , that statement is kind of a antic . The App Store is dead rife with scam apps , knockoffs , deceptive and exploitative subscription fee , and imitation review that prop it all up . You require to look no further thanthis hebdomad ’s Wordle kerfufflefor an example .
The problems are obvious to anyone familiar with the App Store and broader app ecosystem , but perhaps less obvious to the insouciant user . And that ’s worse — that ’s why iPhone users are getting lead by the nose into download apps that are n’t what they reckon they are and make up monthly subscription fee for trash that often does n’t work .
It does n’t have to be this way , and it ’s way retiring sentence for Apple to clean house .
Wordle was just the most recent example
A lot of noise was made about the late skin rash of Wordle apps come along the App Store . Theweb - ground gamehas become a big bang , it ’s devoid , and it ’s andonlyavailable on the WWW . So several enterprising hucksters decide to copy it entirely , include the name , and sell it on the app store . One of them even had the impertinence to charge a $ 30 per yr subscription fee !
It got a lot of press , largely because so many in the tech press are playing and enjoying Wordle , and it did n’t take prospicient forApple to do the right affair and take out them . ( If you want the tangible Wordle as an “ app ” on your home screen , we’ll tell you the easy manner to do that . )
But Apple appears to have made this move only because it was getting a lot of disconfirming public press . Copycat apps are uncouth in the app store , and have been for geezerhood . They ’re not even laborious to happen . The same locomote for apps that seek to trick you into thinking they ’re something else .
IDG
If you corrupt a Samsung voguish gizmo or television , you will probably be encouraged to download Samsung’sSmartThings app , which lets you control your TV and other sassy habitation devices .
If you search for it on the App Store , you ’ll see rafts of apps explicitly design to trick you into downloading them instead . One is called “ Smartthings boob tube remote command , ” another is “ Smart Things for Smart TV . ” They are free to download but have in - app purchases , and generally require a subscription to actually use as specify .
You ca n’t even rely on the first search resultant being the authentic loose Samsung app , because Apple jubilantly sell an add to one of these other apps to look on that search event . “ Smart TV Things for Sam TV App ” is loose but requires a $ 30 annual subscription to unlock all its feature , and it ’s the first thing a soul would see if they research for “ chic things . ”
We ’re not talk about a small individual developer with a wide-eyed word of honor game , we ’re verbalise about the smart home platform for one of the human race ’s large electronics manufacturers with copyrights and trademarks galore . If Apple wo n’t prevent cozenage apps from targeting them , what choice does the average developer have ?
Knockoff apps are one job , but exploitive “ trash apps ” are another . Arecent Twitter thread from Kosta Eleftheriougives just one real - world example of the breed . Make a simple app that does something really basic ( in this case , a simple loudness relay link ) . corrupt thousands upon thousands of fake five - star app recapitulation . Make the app have a huge subscription cost ( $ 10 a week for mass boosting ! ) that is super hard to scratch . Then sit around back and scan in the money .
AppMe has responded to the literary criticism by lour its subscription costs and vow to look into its “ outside consultant , ” agree toan e-mail sent to The scepter . But if a high - profile Twitter thread is what ’s needed to bring tending to the outcome , the problem is intelligibly much bigger than one app .
Apple could fix this
Of course , the fact that these are so easy for homo to spot makes it all the more frustrating that Apple , who always advertises the App Store as “ good and trust , ” seems unwilling or ineffectual to do anything about the job .
This is the big tech troupe in the human race , worth some $ 3 trillion dollars . If I can find several apps desecrate Samsung ’s SmartThings trademark in under an hr , sure enough a trained group of just a duet hundred the great unwashed could findthousandsof bad apps every week ? Funding for a radical like this , even if they were well - make up employee and not third - political party contractors , would be a rounding mistake on Apple ’s win .
If humans can quickly notice that the same “ substance abuser ” with ridiculous names give multiple five - star reviews to several unlike apps in a day , day after daylight , sure enough an algorithm could very easily detect and flag fake reviews ? Or that just - created history are dead review dozens of apps that they ’ve used for mere mo each ?
Apple does n’t tell developers on the dot what they can or ca n’t bear down for apps , but theApp Store Review Guidelinesseem to forbid copycats in discussion section 4.1 , stating , “ Come up with your own ideas . We roll in the hay you have them , so make yours come in to life . Do n’t simply copy the late popular app on the App Store , or make some minor changes to another app ’s name or UI and happen it off as your own . In plus to risking an rational place infringement claim , it makes the App Store harder to navigate and just is n’t bonny to your fellow developer . ”
But if that ’s anything other than a aristocratic suggestion , I can get hold little evidence of Apple actually apply it systemically .
Apple is incentivized to do nothing
Fixing these obvious App Store problem is n’t all that hard for the world ’s most valuable caller . A consecrated team to find postiche and hallmark infraction , some algorithmic examination of app reviews … the only matter that would require some real examination ( and perhaps a variety to the App Store Guidelines ) would be forestall super basic apps from charging exorbitant subscription fees , but that sort of thing relies on fake reviews to thrive , so fix that problem and the other one is greatly diminished .
Apple should also not leave app store ads at all ( the 30 % baseball swing is n’t enough ? ) , but as long as it does , it could at least require advertizing to target general term rather of the accurate names of contend apps .
Sara Kurfeß / Unsplash
But Apple has no economic incentive to fix this problem . Quite the opponent . Nobody is going to cease corrupt iPhones just because they got play tricks into corrupt a cozenage app . A caboodle of exploiter plausibly wo n’t even be disturbed at Apple , though they should : the company take on responsibility the moment it decides to be the only , heavily - curated distributer of apps for its political program .
It ’s would be a trivially small amount of money for Apple to create an internal radical commit toproactivelyfinding and eliminating scam , copycat , infringing , exploitive apps . But every one it findscosts Apple money . And doing nothing is n’t hurting sales , not when it ’s so much cheaper to just market the App Store as so secure and trustworthy . Apple seems to reckon App Store reliance and quality as amarketingactivity more than a realtechnicalorserviceproblem .
Because if Apple took any of this gravely , surely , one would n’t so easily be able to find so many spoilt examples ? It ’s easy for a company to do the correct thing when it ’s economically advantageous . But does the world ’s most valuable troupe have the gut to do the right affair when itcoststhem money ?
