While Apple claims to have one of the best and safest App Stores in the world, it seems to forget the fact that sometimes even a small mistake can ruin everything. It may be true that you can find any kind of app that you are looking for on the App Store, you may run into some apps that are created specially to fool users.
In a recent report, Apple released the figures as to how much they are paying their developers. Last year in 2021, the amount paid by them to their developers was around $60 billion. It is understandable because these devs work day and night to make sure the users get the best possible experience when they use their products. Since the release of the App store, Apple has paid around $260 billion to developers, adding 60 billion to the total of 200 billion from 2020.
Kosta Elftheriou, an app developer has revealed yet another app on the App Store that is solely made for the purpose of scamming people. He posted a tweet stating, "How to make $13,000,000 on the App Store". The eagle-eye critic has been conducting his research on finding apps that seem to be suspicious and highlights them so that they can be moderated or removed from the platform.
He highlighted an app called “AmpME- Speaker and Music Sync”. It is an app which says that it would enhance your sound system by connecting it with your speakers, desktops and laptops for free. It was seen that the app had a 4.3 rating with over 54,000 reviews which is really impressive as the app ranks at 18 in the music section.
While the app seems to be really authentic and justified, the problem starts where the app starts to charge a subscription fee weekly and users find it difficult to cancel the process. Apart from that, he says that the app has also bought most of its reviews because there was a time period where there were only negative or no reviews at all.
The app has been in the App Store for about 3 years now and well after having so many fake reviews, the old ones are now piled up beneath them. This is probably why no one really focuses on them and thus proceeds and becomes a victim of this app.
The biggest concern is that the app is available on the App Store globally and if more and more people would download the app, it would damage the credibility of the App Store because users would point their fingers towards Apple.
In conclusion, the App Store is said to have every kind of app and that really means “every” kind of app. From great apps to scam apps, the App Store is filled with a variety of them. It is the responsibility of Apple to verify each app so that these things don’t happen in the future.
Read next: Apple’s Tracking Transparency Doesn’t Reduce Third Party Tracking, New Study Reveals
In a recent report, Apple released the figures as to how much they are paying their developers. Last year in 2021, the amount paid by them to their developers was around $60 billion. It is understandable because these devs work day and night to make sure the users get the best possible experience when they use their products. Since the release of the App store, Apple has paid around $260 billion to developers, adding 60 billion to the total of 200 billion from 2020.
Kosta Elftheriou, an app developer has revealed yet another app on the App Store that is solely made for the purpose of scamming people. He posted a tweet stating, "How to make $13,000,000 on the App Store". The eagle-eye critic has been conducting his research on finding apps that seem to be suspicious and highlights them so that they can be moderated or removed from the platform.
He highlighted an app called “AmpME- Speaker and Music Sync”. It is an app which says that it would enhance your sound system by connecting it with your speakers, desktops and laptops for free. It was seen that the app had a 4.3 rating with over 54,000 reviews which is really impressive as the app ranks at 18 in the music section.
2. Charge an absurd $10/week (~$520/year) auto-renewing subscription that’s easy to sign up for, but much harder to cancel: pic.twitter.com/XxBiLTlNZ3
— Kosta Eleftheriou (@keleftheriou) January 10, 2022
While the app seems to be really authentic and justified, the problem starts where the app starts to charge a subscription fee weekly and users find it difficult to cancel the process. Apart from that, he says that the app has also bought most of its reviews because there was a time period where there were only negative or no reviews at all.
4. Profit!
— Kosta Eleftheriou (@keleftheriou) January 10, 2022
Your app becomes the #135 highest-grossing app on the App Store, bringing in over $13 million since 2018: pic.twitter.com/s3QNhKm32L
The app has been in the App Store for about 3 years now and well after having so many fake reviews, the old ones are now piled up beneath them. This is probably why no one really focuses on them and thus proceeds and becomes a victim of this app.
The biggest concern is that the app is available on the App Store globally and if more and more people would download the app, it would damage the credibility of the App Store because users would point their fingers towards Apple.
In conclusion, the App Store is said to have every kind of app and that really means “every” kind of app. From great apps to scam apps, the App Store is filled with a variety of them. It is the responsibility of Apple to verify each app so that these things don’t happen in the future.
Read next: Apple’s Tracking Transparency Doesn’t Reduce Third Party Tracking, New Study Reveals