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Ask HN: My iOS app got pirated, what to do now? Raging? Nothing? Partying?

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Ask HN: My iOS app got pirated, what to do now? Raging? Nothing? Partying?

#1
Hi today I've discovered that my iPad app watchlater (checkout the website here: http://watchlaterapp.com/ - basically it's InstaPaper for Video) got pirated: http://goo.gl/xM05Q

What to do now? Raging? Nothing? Partying? Is it an accolade? Would you contact the filehoster to take it down? Can I technically detect within the app that I'm running on a jailbroken device?

Re: Ask HN: My iOS app got pirated, what to do now? Raging? Nothing? Partying?

#4
post #3

You can't stop pirates and converting users of the piratery is not worth the effort. I hope this doesn't drain your revenue, but if you can just push forward and make paying customers happy and find new ones, that's where I'd spend my time.

Probably yes. I'm just curios. I've seen people probing for files outside the sandbox to detect if someone runs on a jailbroken device. Wonder if Apple would reject those because of "hacking".

Re: Ask HN: My iOS app got pirated, what to do now? Raging? Nothing? Partying?

#5
If you want, you can try sending a DMCA notice to the file hosts to try and get the software taken down.

Here's the page for FileSonic: http://www.filesonic.com/report-abuse

Wupload: http://www.wupload.com/dmca

BitShare: http://www.bitshare.com/abuse.html

That won't stop the pirating, but it's something...

Re: Ask HN: My iOS app got pirated, what to do now? Raging? Nothing? Partying?

#7
post #6

I would say "party". It's one more user to add to your user base. One more user who (if your app doesn't suck) will end up showing it to someone who doesn't want to bother with the immense fuss of pirating and will just purchase it.

Hehe... yes that's what I'm thinking too.

Re: Ask HN: My iOS app got pirated, what to do now? Raging? Nothing? Partying?

#8
As you already have the link to one site spreading your pirated app, I'd contact them and ask them to remove the link. Sure, this won't stop the pirates (or other folks sharing the file on other platforms), but it's worth a try.

Of cause, it would be interesting to see how many people are using the pirated version of your app, if it can be achieved with little effort.

Re: Ask HN: My iOS app got pirated, what to do now? Raging? Nothing? Partying?

#9
Maybe some people just want to test your app. I heard of plenty of people who download a pirated copy first, to see if it's worth buying. You could release a test version of the app, so these people don't need to download it illegally. Otherwise, people who pirate software wouldn't buy it otherwise also. So, consider this as an indirect PR for your awesome app.
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