Apple continues to interrupt financial knowledge, nevertheless – following shock revelation after revelation after revelation after revelation – concerns are mounting about one principal provide of that income: the Apple App Store. And now crucial bombshell however has been dropped on iPhone householders.
Having garnered worldwide consideration following his present exposés of excessive-profile App Store fleece are, casinos hidden inside kids video video games and a ‘factory’ of iOS VPN rip-off apps, developer Kosta Eleftheriou has launched a brand new software program program which he believes has uncovered App Store fraud in opposition to iPhone and iPad householders that “is measured in BILLIONS, not millions”.
“I have so far found hundreds of scam apps, including several multimillion-dollar scams that go unchecked for months or even years, while Apple collects their 30% cut,” talked about Eleftheriou, speaking to me about his new software program program.
The developer had teased the software program program earlier this month, quoting a 2015 request from Apple Fellow and former Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, Phil Schiller, to his workforce to “PLEASE develop a system to automatically find low rated apps and purge them!!”. No such software program program was made, until Eleftheriou took it upon himself to assemble it.
Notably, Eleftheriou shared one screenshot (beneath) specializing in a single developer, Dragon Game Studio, which has over 40 rip-off apps in the meanwhile keep on the App Store with combined revenues of over $3.5M.
For his half, Eleftheriou has pores and pores and skin inside the sport. He developed the favored Apple Watch app FlickType, solely to see its success marred by a group of rip-off apps that traded beneath associated names. Eleftheriou says he complained to Apple, nevertheless talked about movement was not taken in an attempt to drive an reasonably priced sale of his app to the company. He is subsequently suing Apple.
Of course, irrespective of motivation, Eleftheriou is approach from alone in his criticism and publicity of App Store malpractice. Epic Games (maker of Fortnite), Spotify, Match Group (proprietor of Tinder) and many additional haven’t too way back attacked Apple for unfair and exploitative App Store practices. Senior Apple anti-fraud engineer Eric Friedman was moreover quoted in approved paperwork remaining month, saying App Store defenses had been like “bringing a plastic butter knife to a gunfight”.
“The App Store is not a trustworthy place to download apps, but unfortunately it’s the only place,” Eleftheriou suggested me, in a warning to iPad and iPhone householders. “So be diligent and do your own research outside the App Store before downloading any app. Don’t fall for Apple’s marketing claims, and don’t trust any of the ratings or reviews. Don’t assume Apple will refund you or even notify you if you’ve fallen victim to a scam app.”
Eleftheriou talked about he plans to “share more scams and numbers soon”. In the meantime, I’ve contacted Apple and may change this put up if I acquire a response.
