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Apple watch keyboard developer put off by app store scammers

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Re: Apple watch keyboard developer put off by app store scammers

#191

Post by m45t3r »

valuearb wrote: post #146
matsemann wrote: post #9

" But I like Apple's walled garden because they verify and quality check everything on there "

And this is just an example of how hard it is to do well, when determined scammers even scam the review process. If this happens on iOS, what do you think happens on Google play?

At least I don't need to pay 99 USD a year for some "review" that clearly only works in favor of Apple (they mostly seems to approve anything from smaller developers like shown in this post, while using draconian and arbitrary rules for competitor apps like Spotify).

Re: Apple watch keyboard developer put off by app store scammers

#192

Post by curryst »

foepys wrote: post #6

I think it's time for freelance developers to behave like companies. Write big tech support once, wait a week and if the issue isn't solved, contact a lawyer and let them handle it. Otherwise you will be eternally bouncing around customer support departments until you write a tweet in the hope of getting noticed by somebody afraid of a PR disaster.

Isn't it just going to end up in arbitration anyways?

I'm a little wary of the viability of suing Apple until they comply. I hope that it works, but the cynic in me says it's far more likely to trigger a ToS update than it is any kind of change.

Re: Apple watch keyboard developer put off by app store scammers

#193

Post by shawnz »

valuearb wrote: post #189
shawnz wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the "keyboard" wasn't usable for practical purposes then why did it pass review? A stronger review process could refuse such apps. And if the "keyboard" was usable for practical purposes then why would the scammer waste the chance to monetize those practical, working features which they sunk their own time developing?

It’s not the reviewers job to decide if you created a “good” keyboard, just that your app generally does what it says it does. Doing specific feature testing would not be trivial. Your description may say you have the worlds only AI keyboard driven by machine learning. No way the reviewers will be able to test that, so they will accept it at face value. A few years ago Apple substantially decreased the App Review tim…

I don't think it's necessary to do specific feature testing or verify marketing claims to solve this particular issue.

For example, whether or not the app is lying in its description about using AI techniques is irrelevant. Even if it were lying about using AI techniques, it still might be a useful and functional keyboard app. And even if it really did use AI techniques, it still might be a useless impractical app.

> It’s not the reviewers job to decide if you created a “good” keyboard

Don't the app store guidelines say that the app needs to deliver a "great" experience?

> But that means reviewers only have minutes to review each app, not hours.

To me, that eliminates a big part of the value proposition of having a "highly curated" app store.

Re: Apple watch keyboard developer put off by app store scammers

#194

Post by raverbashing »

valuearb wrote: post #148
raverbashing wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I wonder how come an "unlock app" paywall with that amount of money goes through the Apple review process unquestioned Or for some reason if it's a Chinese app Apple will just not bother?

Or perhaps the app worked entirely differently during review?

Apple takes extra steps for that not to happen, and even then in this case it should suspend the app

Re: Apple watch keyboard developer put off by app store scammers

#195

Post by heeen2 »

cfontes wrote: post #75
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>about 2000€ a month, enough to pay for a students living expenses Just out of pure curiosity, where did you live/study that 2000 Euros are student living expenses? In my neck of the woods in central-western Europe (Austria), 1000 Euros per month is already really good money for most students and 2000 is what you make as a junior full time employee in a good tech company.

Try Amsterdam, for example. €1000 is your rent.

For a room or a whole apartment?

Re: Apple watch keyboard developer put off by app store scammers

#196

Post by shawnz »

jessaustin wrote: post #144
shawnz wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe an "app store developers union" wouldn't be such a terrible idea

Yeah I'm sure Apple would love this idea and wouldn't try to penalize union developers in the least...

Sure, but that's par for the course in any unionization effort

Re: Apple watch keyboard developer put off by app store scammers

#197

Post by JKCalhoun »

arrrg wrote: post #60
pjc50 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fortunately making an app that does the same thing as an existing app isn't copyright infringement - that would be far worse than the Amazon "one click" patent, as there would only be one company allowed to make a web browser, word processor, spreadsheet, etc.

Copying texts is potentially copyright infringement, though.

Like the icon though, complain and they'll just tweak the text and you're back to square 0.

Re: Apple watch keyboard developer put off by app store scammers

#199

Post by kharak »

I'm late to the party. But this seems to be a policy problem, no? There needs to be a real incentive for Apple and other platforms to prevent this scams.

Off the top of my head, I wonder if you couldn't make Apple have to pay a flat fee and all revenue made from the scam to the lawyer proving that this is a scam. That would create a merket for anti-scam lawyers, resulting in quickly hunting down all scammers on the platform.

Re: Apple watch keyboard developer put off by app store scammers

#200

Post by thesuitonym »

valuearb wrote: post #149
paxys wrote: post #47

It's funny that these scam apps and fake reviews can exist in the app store en masse, while everyone on forums like this one will praise Apple for every heavy-handed decision against legitimate apps (which coincidentally were all in Apple's own interests) because hey the walled garden keeps us safe.

App Review is hard. Apple does a better job at it than Google, so imagine what is happening on the play store.

Google doesn't lock you into the Play Store, though.
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