egocentric

Announcement and link to the new form: https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=dovxb62h

Please use it, and help make the App Store better for everyone!

Of note, the ability for users to report apps from their App Store page was removed years ago, and remains unavailable:

https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1381002562782908417?...

My point is for that to also be in the downloaded app, since the new rule requires account creation and deletion to both be in the same place - which I think is a natural place to look for it as a user, savvy or not.

“If your app supports account creation, you must also offer account deletion within the app.”

Separately, they should also do this for subscriptions.

Now do subscriptions.

For all the people who fall prey to misleading tactics and don’t know how to cancel.

Apple employee:

> the Files app was manually boosted on the top for the query “Dropbox”

Whoops!

Some relevant Apple marketing statements [1]:

"The apps you love. From a place you can trust."

"For over a decade, the App Store has proved to be a safe and trusted place to discover and download apps."

"Every day, moderators review worldwide App Store charts for quality and accuracy.”

"Dedicated to trust and safety.”

"Apps must adhere to our guidelines.”

"From more videos to rankings and reviews, there are loads of ways to help you pick the app that’s right for you.”

"ensuring that the apps we offer are held to the highest standards for privacy, security, and content. Because we offer nearly two million apps — and we want you to feel good about using every single one of them."

"When you download an app, it should work as promised. Which is why human App Reviewers ensure that the apps on the App Store adhere to our strict app review standards. Our App Store Review Guidelines require apps to be safe, provide a good user experience, comply with our privacy rules, secure devices from malware and threats, and use approved business models."

1: https://www.apple.com/app-store

What is not?

You’d think!

This is not just possible, it's actually extremely easy to do.

Hoping to share a proof of concept soon.

If you could please elaborate, what did the tweet say and who exactly was it by?

I’d love to know more about this, mind sharing some more details over DM? Thanks! https://twitter.com/keleftheriou

Android and Windows devices don’t necessarily have the same OS-level security provisions, so this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison. It’s probably true that iOS as an operating system has had stronger security from the start, but that’s not related to the app distribution channel.

If Apple is so concerned about user security & privacy when it comes to alternative app stores, they should adjust their policies so that the apps most users want will see no reason not to be on the App Store.

Apple doesn’t let developers tell their users what Apple’s rules are, including the fact that up to 30% of their payment goes straight to Apple.

And of course people don’t know of all the good apps that never get to be on the App Store because of unwarranted rejections.

So people generally have no idea about most of the problems with the status quo.

Your parents and non-techie friends and family won’t have to use alternative stores, no one will be forcing them to.

And if Apple is so concerned about user security & privacy when it comes to alternative app stores, they should adjust their policies so that the apps most users want will see no reason not to be on the App Store.

You will also have a choice: don’t use alternative stores

And if Apple is so concerned about user security & privacy when it comes to alternative app stores, they should adjust their policies so that the apps most users want will see no reason not to be on the App Store.

That's because of system-level protections like the sandbox, not App Review or the App Store.

Thank you for being open-minded.

Since the article you posted, I’ve uncovered a lot more about the prevalence of fraudulent apps on the App Store: https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/21/22385859/apple-app-store-...

> drop in the ocean

cough

Yesterday’s thread of a different scam: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26794228

Today’s thread is about a VPN scam (!)

Also, from my other comment, Apple could let us sideload notarized apps. This means:

- Automated scan for malware

- Remote kill switch, just in case

They already do this for macOS [1]:

> “Notarization is not App Review. The Apple notary service is an automated system that scans your software for malicious content, checks for code-signing issues, and returns the results to you quickly.”

They could give users a choice, much like they're doing with the new App Tracking Transparency prompt. But when pressed on why Apple should have control, Cook said "Somebody has to."

That's… not a very convincing argument.

[1]: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/notarizing_m...

“Sideloading Apps Would ‘Break’ the Security and Privacy of iPhone”, said Tim Cook.

But instead of gaslighting us, Apple could let us sideload notarized apps. This means:

- Automated scan for malware

- Remote kill switch, just in case

They already do this for macOS [1]:

> “Notarization is not App Review. The Apple notary service is an automated system that scans your software for malicious content, checks for code-signing issues, and returns the results to you quickly.”

They could give users a choice, much like they're doing with the new App Tracking Transparency prompt. But when pressed on why Apple should have control, Cook said "Somebody has to."

That's… not a very convincing argument.

[1]: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/notarizing_m...

Apple removed the “Report a Problem” button they used to have on the App Store for each app: https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1381463249749565440?...

I’m the developer mentioned in the article. Send me the details at bunco.squad@hey.com and I’ll do my best to expose them.

"We applied our fake review classifier to the full official Apple App Store dataset. As a results, 22,207,782 (35,5%) of all 62,617,037 reviews were classified as fake."

Original post had paywalled source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26638131

Reposted here since the original source is paywalled: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26640047

And executioner.

In case anyone's wondering, the egregious scam I exposed 2 weeks ago is still up: https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1361340737212669963?...

The rating of my reviews matches the overall rating of my app.

That is not the case - at all - for the app(s) I mention in my Twitter thread.

OP here. My app's rating is 3.4. I'm not gaming the rating system to my advantage, and I encourage you to check out my app, as well as competing apps with 4.5 or so stars.

Something that will never allow me or any watch keyboard to have stellar ratings is the fact that Apple does not support keyboards system-wide on watchOS, like they do on iOS. Yet my competitors casually had 4.5 stars - and one of them is still up.

As for some of the particular claims, there were a couple of days where the app was paid, and had an IAP - as part of my transition to a free app. Still, the initial paid download let you use the keyboard as long as you want on the watch, but without swipe, themes and other premium features. It was an awkward transition, unfortunately, and those are the battle scars.

Anyway, my point is that my rating truly reflects how people feel about my product - as it should. A 3.4 rating is currently preventing most people from even checking out the app, and I'm fine with that.