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Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams

#41

Post by echelon »

Griffinsauce wrote: post #35
dkarras wrote: post #24

The article's premise does not make sense. This stuff happens despite the tight control, not because of it. If it was uncurated, it would be a cesspool like the Google play store (or ...shudder... the "competing" stores). Having a paid app that reads QR codes is not necessarily a scam. The article admits that 2/3 of the apps they reported were taken down. The article claims: "If consumers were to have access to alter…

> Play store apps, unless proven otherwise, are generally malware you carry with yourself every day, with potential access to everything in your device because the OS is nowhere near locked down compared to Apple counterpart. I'm sorry but this is complete bullshit. Your data on Android appears to be about a decade old.

Must. Defend. Apple.

But seriously, Apple postures for control. They have a death grip on our industry, and it's up to the DOJ and legal system to rend it asunder.

Apple does not deserve to have a singular App store with tight controls. It's not their right. And they've proven the sort of anticompetitive antics they choose to take when they have such power.

Break them open.

Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams

#42

Post by mod50ack »

dkarras wrote: post #24

The article's premise does not make sense. This stuff happens despite the tight control, not because of it. If it was uncurated, it would be a cesspool like the Google play store (or ...shudder... the "competing" stores). Having a paid app that reads QR codes is not necessarily a scam. The article admits that 2/3 of the apps they reported were taken down. The article claims: "If consumers were to have access to alter…

To be honest, there is not really competition to Google Play in its own niche, but within the FOSS sphere, stuff on F-Droid/IzzyOnDroid is on the whole almost always good quality.

Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams

#43

Post by defaultname »

smoldesu wrote: post #38
defaultname wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When has Apple made that promise? Where do they make that promise? No system is perfect, and when you get the realm of people submitting privileged information to third parties, all bets are always off. There is absolutely no way Apple could make guarantees about that. And they don't. Anywhere. And no, saying that they review apps isn't a promise that it is "completely secure". That is absurd. Trying for some securit…

> When has Apple made that promise? Where do they make that promise? From apple.com/privacy: "Every one of the more than 1.8 million apps on the App Store is required to follow strict privacy guidelines and report how it uses your data. And every app is rigorously reviewed by a team of experts at Apple."

Which doesn't say or claim that it's "completely secure". The notion is preposterous if third parties are involved.

Only a Sith deals in absolutes. Then again, so do people making disingenuous arguments online.

Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams

#44

Post by granzymes »

amaBasics wrote: post #34

Apple themselves seem to be intentionally breaking the App Store at times. From the article: > Apple used to have a button [1], just under the ratings and reviews section in the App Store, that said “report a problem,” which allowed users to report inappropriate apps. Based on discussions among Apple customers on Apple’s own website [2], the feature was removed some time around 2016. Why would they remove the ability…

>Why would they remove the ability for people to easily report apps?

Presumably for a reason. I don't work at Apple, so to spitball some possibilities:

* The "report a problem" button was being misused and had worse signal than other metrics Apple added.

* Legal or Public Relations pressed to remove the button because only a portion of reports were actioned (possibly because of the above point) and it was causing legal/reputational damage.

Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams

#45

Post by rchaud »

> Simon Willison, a software engineer and a former iOS developer [...] owns a Samsung television and went to the App Store on his phone to install the accompanying Samsung remote control app called “SmartThings.” An app called “Smart Things” popped up, claiming to be a remote for Samsung televisions. Willison paid $19 for the app. It turns out the app was pretending to the be the genuine Samsung product. His mistake, he says, was an “assumption that the App Store review process was good,” he said. “I held Apple in higher regard than I did Samsung.”

A iOS developer pays $19 for a remote control app on the App Store and defaults to blaming Samsung. Steve Jobs should get a posthumous award for how well his reality distortion field has held up after his death.

Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams

#46

Post by smoldesu »

katbyte wrote: post #37
smoldesu wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple model is broken, but it is the least broken out there. This would almost be true if users weren't forced to use the App Store to install native apps in the first place. If I had a choice to use a store like F-Droid on my iPhone, I wouldn't be complaining. However, being forced to use a broken system is still a complaint, even if it's marginally more secure than it's competitors.

Then go use android? apple isn't the only phone & store combo out there and allowing 2rd party app stores takes away a lot of the value prop - there is a reason i like having the non tech literate and susceptible to scams in my life use iphones. its not perfect but it's sure better than the play store.

That's a strawman. I'm not criticizing Android here, we're talking about Apple's responsibility to the consumer. As someone who owns several Apple devices, I can truly and honestly say that my life would be unequivocally better if I could install custom IPAs to my phone.

Furthermore, Apple trusts the user to decide if Facebook can steal their data: why can't they trust the user to install third party apps? If they don't effectively communicate the danger beforehand, that's their failure. Otherwise, Apple is just locking off functionality to me, which is insulting considering I pay a premium for their devices that I expect to be recouped on the software side of things. That's their business model, if you don't like it then you should argue with them, not me.

Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams

#47

Post by echelon »

katbyte wrote: post #37
smoldesu wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple model is broken, but it is the least broken out there. This would almost be true if users weren't forced to use the App Store to install native apps in the first place. If I had a choice to use a store like F-Droid on my iPhone, I wouldn't be complaining. However, being forced to use a broken system is still a complaint, even if it's marginally more secure than it's competitors.

Then go use android? apple isn't the only phone & store combo out there and allowing 2rd party app stores takes away a lot of the value prop - there is a reason i like having the non tech literate and susceptible to scams in my life use iphones. its not perfect but it's sure better than the play store.

I'm glad the choice you're giving me suddenly opens up all Apple consumers to my business.

I'm glad I don't have to pay a 30% tax on revenue. Or jump though insane hurdles to deploy my software.

It sure feels free.

Thankfully, it's only 50% of Americans, or half the market, that's locked up behind this protection racket.

Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams

#48

Post by SigmundA »

rawtxapp wrote: post #2

The worst thing is, people have this belief that Apple is somehow protecting them, so they offload the critical thinking to Apple and lower their own guards. For example, a person thought he was getting a legitimate Bitcoin wallet app, but turns out it was a fake and he lost his life savings [1]. edit: to be clear, I'm not blaming Apple for not stopping these scams, at their scale, it's just practically impossible to…

What unrealistic promise did Apple make? I am curious when they said the app store is "completely secure" because obviously nothing can be completely secure.

I know they claim it is "the most secure" app store, which I am not sure what they use to back that up, it does seem to be one of the most secure platforms, it has my highest trust but I don't completely trust it.

As others have said I do believe a curated app is is more secure than an un curated one or no app store, but nothing is perfect and there is a trade off for that curation and tight control.

Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams

#49

Post by TaupeRanger »

dkarras wrote: post #24

The article's premise does not make sense. This stuff happens despite the tight control, not because of it. If it was uncurated, it would be a cesspool like the Google play store (or ...shudder... the "competing" stores). Having a paid app that reads QR codes is not necessarily a scam. The article admits that 2/3 of the apps they reported were taken down. The article claims: "If consumers were to have access to alter…

The article is arguing that the veneer of safety implied by Apple (above and beyond other stores) might make users more susceptible to fraud because they are more likely to believe the apps are all safe. They might be more cautious with other stores that don't offer that protection. Whether this leads to more actual cases of fraud would require a real study to be done.

Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams

#50

Post by [deleted] »

Griffinsauce wrote: post #35
dkarras wrote: post #24

The article's premise does not make sense. This stuff happens despite the tight control, not because of it. If it was uncurated, it would be a cesspool like the Google play store (or ...shudder... the "competing" stores). Having a paid app that reads QR codes is not necessarily a scam. The article admits that 2/3 of the apps they reported were taken down. The article claims: "If consumers were to have access to alter…

> Play store apps, unless proven otherwise, are generally malware you carry with yourself every day, with potential access to everything in your device because the OS is nowhere near locked down compared to Apple counterpart. I'm sorry but this is complete bullshit. Your data on Android appears to be about a decade old.

[deleted]
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