Hacker News Reader

egocentricon How to spot a $5M/year scam on the App Store, in 5 minutes flat

I'm working on leveraging the entire public dataset of ratings & reviews to expose some of these scams in a systematic fashion.

I hope to announce more details soon.

egocentricon How to spot a $5M/year scam on the App Store, in 5 minutes flat

When you rate an app, leaving a comment is optional - and most people only bother to rate rather than also write a review.

For scammers to hide their tracks, they need to make sure they also leave a comment in some fraction of their submitted fake ratings. Apparently these scammers were too lazy, or too cheap (it costs more money to buy fake reviews, because coming up with the text requires extra effort). They just bought an insane number of positive ratings, and since the average displayed on the App Store is from all ratings & reviews, they can manipulate it to their liking using just fake ratings.

Most other scammers are more sophisticated and definitely include fake reviews to make things look more realistic.

egocentricon How to spot a $5M/year scam on the App Store, in 5 minutes flat

I've never thought Apple was a saint - they've always been a for-profit company.

But I've always thought they'd want to do the right thing with regards to this issue, because to do so is a win-win situation: they protect customers, and long-term generate more profit through increased consumer trust & spending on their brand.

This case, however, demonstrates to me that their policing system is so full of inexplicably large holes, that we have to go back to ask what it means to "want" to solve this problem.

It just doesn't seem they want to solve it that bad.

egocentricon How to spot a $5M/year scam on the App Store, in 5 minutes flat

> In general, this doesn't seem like a great use of the HN self-post feature. If you feel this strongly about it, maybe write a blog post that can be formatted properly?

Thanks, I'll do that. I originally posted this on Twitter: https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1357938977748078594

> How can you tell that? Seems hard to believe.

Tools like AppFigures can accurately estimate revenues from the official top grossing charts of the App Store. Here's a screenshot showing the app made ~ $211k this January alone: https://imgur.com/a/nTsePbX

The same developer has over 100 apps, although this one is their most "successful".

> I don't understand this part at all. It might be the case that a handful of normal users are getting scammed by this. But just what do "honest developers" have to do with this case?

I got tipped about this app by a small indie developer who has been severely impacted by this scam competitor. I have also experienced the same as a developer: https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1356011069395755009?...

Also see this for how poorly Apple has reacted: https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1356725674954788864?...

To better understand this, it helps to see how these people manipulate their ratings: https://boostyourapps.org

Screenshot of the above website: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtZjqbmUcAA9sB2?format=jpg&name=...

Apple's marketing has very effectively convinced people that things like that aren't happening on their store:

“A safe and trusted place to discover and download apps” “We want you to feel good about using every single one of them” “No surprise purchases” “Moderators review worldwide App Store charts for quality and accuracy” “Removed over 60M user reviews that were considered spam”

I'm just trying to shine a light on all of this, because people have no idea about the extent to which this is going on.

egocentricon How to spot a $5M/year scam on the App Store, in 5 minutes flat

Ratings over time link: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EthbbYYVIAEWK9I?format=jpg&name=...

App rankings link: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ethbx8jUYAEtDGB?format=jpg&name=...

The app: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/star-gazer/id1474038335

Their "website": http://textystories.com

egocentricon How to spot a $5M/year scam on the App Store in 5 minutes

Enough with this, let's do something.

My Twitter DMs are open.

egocentricon How to spot a $5M/year scam on the App Store in 5 minutes

Folks, if Apple won't do it for us, we got to do it ourselves.

My Twitter DMs are open if you're interested in helping.

Thanks - Kosta

egocentricon Apple urged to root out rating scams as developer highlights enforcement failure

$300k per MONTH.

egocentricon Apple urged to root out rating scams as developer highlights enforcement failure

Apple’s App Store grossed more than $64 billion in 2020, according to an analysis by CNBC:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/08/apples-app-store-had-gross-s...

egocentricon Fun with IP address parsing

You are a hero

egocentricon I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

I fully agree with the author, and "App Review is getting too powerful" was an extremely prescient thing to say back then - let alone today.

I've had my own share of similar experiences with Apple in the past, one of which was here on HN recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23585682

Apple currently has an unreasonable amount of control not only on what apps can be available on their devices, but also on how they look, work, and generate revenue. They allow 3rd-party innovation to occur only down specific paths that they deem beneficial.

On top of everything, Apple is also systematically erasing all App Review rejection communications [1] and keeping most of this abuse in the dark, thus buying themselves more time to stay in this dominant position.

Something definitely needs to change here, hopefully sooner than later.

[1] https://www.change.org/p/apple-let-us-browse-all-our-past-re...

egocentricon New EU Regulation Gives App Store Developers More Protection and Transparency

My 2 favorite highlights are:

- Apple will have to provide 30 days notice to publishers before removing content from stores, allowing them time to appeal or make changes to their software. So no immediate and opaque bans, except for malicious actors.

- Apple must have an accessible and transparent system for handling developer complaints, as well as an external mediator for disputes that can't be resolved by App Review. Currently, Resolution Center is neither "accessible" nor "transparent" - you can't even see your past messages!

Here's hoping to some change in the US too!

egocentricon Apple is systematically erasing our stories

I admire Apple, and I believe the world is a better place because of them. As a developer, I’ve made my career on their platform and I’m grateful for it. But I have some criticism. I’m not here to talk about my story, the 30% Apple developer cut, the App Review process, or to challenge any of their guidelines. I want to talk about transparency, and accountability.

For far too long, developers have been discouraged from being able to share their rejection stories with the world. "If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps", used to be the official guidance. The risk too great for most, the fear of retribution overwhelming. And so the stories have largely remained in the shadows, with only a few exceptions. But there’s another, critical reason why such stories rarely see the light of day, one that hasn’t received enough attention:

Apple is systematically erasing our stories.

Unless we’re talking about your most recent submission, all communication you have ever sent or received through the "Resolution Center" is inaccessible to you. Rejection notices, appeal results, anything you might want to reference to better understand previous about your product - it's all gone. Unless you have meticulously and manually kept copies of all correspondence, what happened in the past will forever stay in the past. But why should it?

It’s not hard to see why Apple is doing this. It is hard, however, to see a reason that benefits anyone but Apple. In doing so, they gain more peace of mind, less worry about consistency and correctness in applying the public guidelines. The appeal mechanism helps them improve, but only to the extent that Apple deems necessary. If we ever wanted to know how well Apple is enforcing the guidelines, we have to take their word for it. But who guards the guardians, when App Review’s accountability to the world has been intentionally reduced to the bare minimum?

Transparency is not always the solution. We can’t expect Apple to be open about their future product plans, for example. But when they communicate with developers, they should do so like everyone is watching - every time. And to get there, the possibility that everyone might find out needs to always be on the table.

So Apple, please help us see App Review as a reliable ally. Let us access our past communications with you - including phone call records if we choose to. Show us that you want to be accountable for what you communicate to developers. There may be some legal challenges, but transparency is a prerequisite to accountability. It’s only then that we can begin to have a fair and honest discussion with you about the actual process and guidelines. Because until then, we’re in the shadows.

Sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/apple-let-us-browse-all-our-past-re...

egocentricon “Upon re-evaluation, we found that your app is not in compliance”

Reposted with the correct link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23585682

egocentricon Show HN: Typing on an Apple Watch

SDK: https://www.flicktype.com/sdk/

public beta: https://testflight.apple.com/join/4DvMpMl2

egocentricon How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless?

"I have a high tolerance for pain"

I know you said "apparently", but how can you know this for a fact?

How can anyone's pain tolerance be objectively measured? I've always wondered about this...

egocentricon Neural Network Knows When Cat Wants to Go Outside

There’s always a reason...

egocentricon Show HN: An easy way to type messages on your Apple Watch

Developer here. FlickType is the keyboard app I’ve always felt was missing from my Apple Watch.

Why?

I’ve always thought Scribble is too slow, Siri doesn’t always work, and canned replies feel… canned. I asked myself, could a regular (QWERTY) keyboard somehow be not just bearable, but actually comfortable to type on?

How?

My solution uses two simple flick gestures and a unique correction algorithm, and it almost feels like you're typing on your phone with one hand - surprisingly comfortable!

Woot?

Yes! So you can now reply to messages straight from your wrist when the situation arises — and it might be more often than you think!

Take my $$$!

Oh, it's completely free. But if you love it so much, there's also a paid version that you can use on your iPhone :)

More?

This is just the first iteration of the watch app — expect a lot more to come. Tell me what you think and how I can make it better!

Thank you, Kosta

PS: For some more background, read my wife's recent post "Designing for Inherent Universal Gains": https://medium.com/@flicktype/designing-for-inherent-univers...

egocentricon Show HN: Blind and Low-Vision Keyboard App

Hi, I'm the developer of FlickType. I am not visually impaired myself, but I have a family member who is.

Apple's built-in VoiceOver technology has long made the iPhone the most accessible smartphone in the world for people who are visually impaired. But typing can still be enormously time-consuming and is often avoided, specially for longer writing. I've always thought there could be a better, software-only solution, and that's why I created FlickType.

If you're interested, you can also ready why FlickType is fast becoming a personal favorite of one of the experts at the National Federation of the Blind, in this very helpful and well-written guide by Karl Belanger: https://nfb.org/faster-typing-flicktype-ios

Cheers!

- Kosta

egocentricon Show HN: Somersault, a vlogging camera for your phone

That's cool. I wonder if face stabilization would also be helpful. This is one of the use cases I had in mind when I made Faceflix: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/faceflix-cinematic-movies/id...

egocentricon Improving the fast inverse square root (2010)

This "nobody needs a 32-bit anything in 2018" seems like a weird opposite of "640K should be enough for anyone".

https://www.wired.com/1997/01/did-gates-really-say-640k-is-e...

egocentricon Blind since birth, writing code at Amazon since 2013

For anyone interested:

How Blind People Type and Dial Numbers on a Touchscreen: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16897415

egocentricon The Forgotten Mystery of Inertia

I once built a simple mass-spring physics engine, and this exact effect what was causing the wheels of my car-like mass-spring blob to bend "funny". It was only after I slowly debugged it (by removing friction, then gravity, softer springs, slower timescale etc) that I felt I really got how these forces come about.

egocentricon The opposite of a bloom filter

Since we're on the topic of being pedantic, "well, you know, that's just, like... your opinion, man". I'd argue that there's nothing excessive about arguing if A may, in fact, be the opposite of A :)

egocentricon Show HN: Hacker News desktop application in Kotlin/Swing

Definitely got that swing feeling to it :)

Is there any way to customize the theme? I'd love something that's more clean and looks more modern.

egocentricon Show HN: A platform for sharing DIY solar projects

This is really cool.

  sunboxlabs.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

and

  Note: Ad-blockers hide the Amazon links you should be seeing here

Also thank you for being so upfront!

egocentricon It’s not ok for billion-dollar companies to crowdfund

I’m with you here. But I’m not sure how I’d actually articulate why this practice is unethical. There’s an at least theoretical risk that the more pressure (of any kind) we put on the expected launch quality of so called crowdfunded or pre-sales models, the less risky the industry is going to be in aggregate, in terms of taking on bolder steps. While I’m sure there are numerous instances where this gets abused, I’m not sure on which side of the sweet spot we are.

egocentricon It’s not ok for billion-dollar companies to crowdfund

This is very common, specially in longer content. I think a lot of people are in the habit of just skimming through too many articles, rather than fully reading fewer ones that they more selectively chose. In response, publishers try to do anything they can to catch your eye and keep your attention “here”, rather than you quickly moving on to something else. And probably as content becomes more “skimmable” this way, people in turn make even more use of these flashy bits, re-enforcing this vicious circle. I find them annoying because it reminds me that the content is simultaneously trying to appeal to both skimmers and focused readers but has no idea which kind I am at the moment I’m reading it (I might be either).