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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

#121

Post by Mathnerd314 »

Someone wrote: post #58
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? Reasons could be: - nobody uses that button - people use the button, but mostly not for its intended purpose. I would guess a fairly generic “report a problem” button would attract lots of messages of type 2. I can see people complain there about missing features, ask support questions, etc. I would bet that, to many, it wasn’t clear that button le…

If the issue was UI they could have changed the text to something like "Report scam" or "Flag app".

It's probably a cost thing, they didn't want to pay a team to go through the reports.

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

#122

Post by jjcm »

In my eyes the trouble with the App Store is discovery is purely via curated lists and search. The problem with surfacing via each of these two methods is the user has to put trust into the system that what is being displayed is reputable and trustworthy. Apple unfortunately has shown that they prioritize monetary return over best-fit for content, which leads to scams like this. Let’s deep dive into the issues with the two formats they display info in.

Curated-list discovery (versus algorithmic discovery such as “top of the week”) tell the user that these apps have been hand selected by Apple for being quality apps. In general though it turns out that these lists are more often lists of apps that make Apple significant amounts of money, changing what Apple is incentivized to display. Take for example the only way they allow discovery of highly rated apps - the “Everyone’s Favorites (highly rated apps)” list: https://i.imgur.com/7D2hvwO.jpg. The top spot is held by Tinder, which currently has a 3.8/5 rating. This list very clearly isn’t a list of highly rated apps, only highly used / large money makers for Apple. We see clearly that Apple prioritizes monetary return over accurate results.

Search is another example of this. Most search algorithms are black boxes - inputs go in, results come out that we expect to be able to trust. Searching for “Samsung” should bring up apps from Samsung, but instead they return mostly free third party apps with IAP up sells rather than the official apps.

Overall the App Store is designed for monetary return, not safety or user trust. Until Apple decides that the long term image / trustworthiness of the App Store is more important than short term gain, I don’t see these issues changing.

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

#123

Post by WalterBright »

rawtxapp wrote: post #100
SavantIdiot wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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]. There's a lot more wrong in this scenario than just the app store. If someone is going to be so amazingly careless with half a million dollars...

If someone technical enough to have a hardware wallet and "smart" enough to have amassed half a million dollars falls for this scam, I think it tells you more about how much (misplaced) trust they put in Apple rather than how careless they were, but that's just my opinion.

If I had half a million in bitcoin, I'd divide it up into multiple wallets.

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

#124

Post by toast0 »

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."

How we use your data:

Your private key is used to sign a transaction transfering your bitcoin to our account. We do not share your private key with anyone and it does not leave your phone.

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

#125

Post by sixstringtheory »

rchaud wrote: post #85
tedunangst wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? He's clearly blaming Apple for violating his trust. He never trusted Samsung.

Clearly he did, because he spent several hundred dollars buying their smart TV.

> His mistake, he says, was an “assumption that the App Store review process was good

He said it was a mistake to think the app store review process was good. How is that blaming Samsung?

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

#127

Post by egocentric »

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

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

#128

Post by ButtSpark69 »

rawtxapp wrote: post #100
SavantIdiot wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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]. There's a lot more wrong in this scenario than just the app store. If someone is going to be so amazingly careless with half a million dollars...

If someone technical enough to have a hardware wallet and "smart" enough to have amassed half a million dollars falls for this scam, I think it tells you more about how much (misplaced) trust they put in Apple rather than how careless they were, but that's just my opinion.

I don't think this is a good argument at all. They'd have to be "technical" enough to write down 13 words when instructed, and they'd have to be "smart" enough to happen to be early.

So basically no technical or smarts are needed to get to this situation. If anything this suggests the person is your fairly average "dumb" user.

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

#129

Post by Ericson2314 »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #6
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…

I have sympathy for the person in this story, but I think shifting the blame to Apple in this case is ludicrous. I'm still somewhat shaking my head that someone went through all of the trouble of using a hardware wallet, and then entered his key words into the first app he downloaded. If anything I think this story is just a prime example of why irreversible crypto transactions are an absolute nightmare for the gener…

The problem isn't that Apple should be responsible and isn't, the problem is Apple is extremely paternalistic but in a way where it gets all the powers but skirts all the responsibilities.

If the responsibility is too impossible (and I'm fine saying that it is), then their paternalism shouldn't be called out and their reputation knocked down a rung or two. Instead, they get to keep a reputation which is far better than the other megacorps'.

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

#130

Post by efitz »

It sounds to me as if Apple is doing a relatively good job.

The article didn’t give total volume numbers, but 48M USD seems like a drop in the bucket. Only 2% of top 1000 apps? I’d love to see the numbers but I doubt the Play store is even in that ballpark.

Like everyone, I would love to see a world where no one gets scammed. Unfortunately there are humans involved so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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