Apple watch keyboard developer put off by app store scammers • Hacker News Board

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

#241

Post by reaperducer » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:31 PM UTC

LockAndLol wrote: post #238

matsemann wrote: post #9

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

Apple users will defend its behavior to the bitter. No matter what you post about Apple, it will either be excused or praised. Does anybody know of a firefox addon or monkeyscript to filter articles on Hackernews? At this point I just want to hide any article with "M1" or "Apple" in it.

There's a guy who made a script that downvotes any comment that starts with "I mean" or ends with "so..." I wonder if he's worked something up like this.

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

#242

Post by nanidin » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:33 PM UTC

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #129

jiofih wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would be the morally compromised part? He owns the copyright.

yes, that is doing it for good, the morally compromised part is that the DMCA is a solution created to allow big content owners to shut down whoever they want without any culpability. Most often things are morally neutral, and can be used for good or bad, some things are morally bad and it is difficult to use them for morally good things, and some things are morally good and it is difficult to use for morally bad. Bu…

The DMCA was created to allow websites like Youtube to exist without existential threat from rights holders due to users uploading content that they do not hold the rights to.

Your view is Stallman-esque, but the world is not so clear cut in terms of good/evil. At best, I would say the abuse of the DMCA by large entities is an unintended consequence of the existence of the DMCA, and it could be patched up by lawmakers if there weren't already a remedy for DMCA requests made in bad faith.

The problem is that places like Youtube have implemented policies more strict than the DMCA that do enable big content owners to bypass the DMCA process and remove user content without much recourse.

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

#243

Post by Shivetya » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:36 PM UTC

Really wish Apple would limit unlocks to no more than the App cost in the store. As in, if the developer wants to sell you $39 dollars of features, game play items, or such, after you obtain the app they are limited per year to the cost of the app from the initial purchase off the store.

The number of apps with obscene monthly and yearly charges that snag people is too numerous to count and Apple doesn't even police this aspect

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

#244

Post by Someone » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:39 PM UTC

“Tap to "unlock", and you're now 1 step away from confirming a $416/year subscription.”

I would think that “1 step” involves accepting a dialog that shows you this will cost $8 a week.

If so, that doesn’t put Apple off the hook (it certainly is a major change from early App Store, when they removed the “I am Rich” app, which was totally honest in what functionality it provided (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Rich)), but does move some blame to the user.

As I said, it doesn’t put Apple off the hook. Even if they think selling such apps is a good idea, I think that, for subscriptions, Apple should mention price per year, too (I guess they don’t, but am not willing to try with such an app). That might prevent many users who scan the dialog, see “$8”, find that reasonable for buying a feature, and click “subscribe” from clicking on that button.

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

#245

Post by ulrikrasmussen » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:41 PM UTC

zepto wrote: post #239

matsemann wrote: post #9

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

So the alternative is a free for all?

Or multiple markets with actual human curation that can compete for quality.

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

#246

Post by bredren » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

valuearb wrote: post #147

hmottestad wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hits extra close to home when Apple enforces some arbitrary rule for one app (like Amphetamine) and then doesn't even bother to test other apps.

It tests every app, including this one. Think about what really happened here. Edit: Apparently my downvoters can’t think about what really happened here so I’ll explain it. In App Review this app worked fine. Oh, the keyboard was likely lame and not useful, but the scam screens were no where to be seen. Then the app is approved and placed on the store. Now the scam screens appear. It’s trivial to do, is done all the…

I wonder if it is trivially hard to detect or not.

For example, if the app reviewer’s touch interaction with an app were recorded and the resulting screens diffed with the same pattern after publishing, there should be no changes.

This is a method used as part of some UI testing with selenium.

There could be apps this does not work for, such as when content changes or conversion type UI is shown.

But I imagine there is some amount of low hanging fruit here. And even that once a “scam” app like this one is reported, Apple should want to review past diffs to look for the example of the violation.

I also agree that for the price, this is what apple should be preventing on behalf honest developers

It is also worth noting that DMCA is embraced ITT whereas with Github’s response to DMCA recently it did not get the same treatment.

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

#247

Post by hctaw » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

valuearb wrote: post #210

hctaw wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the binary users download isn't the binary you sign and send to app review, what's the point of signing or reviewing anything?

The binary is never changed. Apps can behave differently based on a flag set in the cloud, that’s only triggered after approval. They can behave differently based on geofencing areas, such as Cupertino. As to the point of whether review matters, can you imagine the dreck the store would be filled with without review?

I mean the app store is filled with garbage already because review, much like DRM, only solves a few surface problems while punishing good-actors more than clever bad-actors.

Geofencing seems easy enough to spoof if you're Apple and have internal tools down to the hardware. Not to mention, Apple is global business.

The issue of only working during review is solved by doing a two-pronged approach, testing pre-production and proactively testing the released applications after publication. They obviously have manual ways of revoking apps.

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

#248

Post by paulie_a » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:47 PM UTC

panic wrote: post #135

xwdv wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then enforce your copyright. No one will do it for you.

YouTube automatically enforces copyright on behalf of the recording industry. Why shouldn’t Apple do it on behalf of their app developers?

Youtube does an incredibly poor kids b at it and screws over content creators legitimately and legally using something under fair use

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

#249

Post by dawnerd » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:50 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #183

newscracker wrote: post #179

A scammy subscription of $400+ a year?! And this gets to the top of the charts because Apple makes more money from it! These are the instances where the 30% commission (or even the recently announced 15% commission for those earning less than $1M in revenue a year) seems like extortion. Apple really needs to step up on app reviews in terms of false positives (banning legitimate apps for frivolous reasons and reinstat…

One thing I'd like to see instituted is more extensive review for apps with purchases/subscriptions over a certain value. "If you wanna charge more than $100/year, we're gonna vet it more carefully".

I wonder how much of the app store is purely automated at this point. Any human reviewing this should have spotted that it's a scam very quickly.

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

#250

Post by TomSwirly » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 5:58 PM UTC

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #108

andix wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vienna for example. Although it is possible to survive with around 700-900€ per month, eat, live and study. But if you also want to go out, go to restaurants/bars regularly and live in a nice place (not a shared dorm room), 1500-2000€ are way better.

I think we have two very distinct student lives in mind: The one I know most students have, is living very frugally, cooking at home, counting every penny to not go into more debt, studying hard to get a head start in life and partying hard on a budget, mostly house parties with booze bought from the supermarket with the occasional club or restaurant outing being a treat. The other one is the Instagram lifestyle stud…

> The other one is the Instagram lifestyle student, travelling to fancy places, practicing expensive sports and hobbies, eating out a lot, going bars and clubbing all the time.

This idea that €2000 a month to live and study and pay for materials is some sort of "Instagram lifestyle" is ridiculous.