This is my whole point. I'm just saying you've got to watch the language. Calling somebody a thief = not good. Pointing out their app doesn't work in iOS4 should be fine.
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Fraudulent App Store applications
- Thread starter Arnold Rimmer
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This is my whole point. I'm just saying you've got to watch the language. Calling somebody a thief = not good. Pointing out their app doesn't work in iOS4 should be fine.
Right. The language used is important. And not just because of any "threat" of legal recourse. But because unless you know or have evidence - you shouldn't state as a "fact" that a developer is scamming or refuses to update their app.
They might have submitted a fix and it hasn't been approved. They might be working on several projects. It might be a sole developer who's in school or is away on a vacation.
So again - my concern over these types of posts is genuine in that several people on this forum like to jump up and down and scream because they have no patience of BELIEVE they know what's going on when in fact - they don't. And then make false claims or assumptions.
For example - I know of a photo app that only works on the iPhone because it uses the gyroscope. It clearly states that in the description. Yet there are a bunch of bad reviews and "rants" from people who have the 3GS or 3G who are giving no stars and saying the app is broken, buggy, was a scam since it doesn't work, etc.
The developer in this scenario was upfront and honest. But some people are stupid and can't read before clicking buy. At some point, the BUYER has to be accountable for their actions too.
If you pay for an app, the developer should make time to make it work on each iOS update. At the end of the day, the consumer has paid for something, and if it no longer works, and the developer has no intention of fixing it, then they are cheating you.
Developers should make good apps and sell them because they are good, not make apps solely to make money from it. That's the way the App Store is.. there's a fair chunk of paid apps where the developers are just wanting money and not looking at investing into their app to make it work better.
Developers should make good apps and sell them because they are good, not make apps solely to make money from it. That's the way the App Store is.. there's a fair chunk of paid apps where the developers are just wanting money and not looking at investing into their app to make it work better.
This happens all the time. People do not read iTunes description. And many times they don't bother to ask help to support. I had many bad reviews on my apps for what are not issues of the app, because the user hadn't read the description or tapped the help button on the app or asked help to support.
I think that this is mainly caused by the ridiculous prices we have to sell our apps. If an app costs 20$ then one probably will contact support if something is not working. If it costs 2$ why bother ?
I agree about the idiotic reviews.. but not about contacting the developer. There is no official way to contact the developer or report bugs, which is something Apple could do with. I'd imagine it'd be good info for a developer too if they could see a crash percentage too, so they can see how many users are affected.
There is a link on iTunes on the app page. Apple should add the link on the AppStore app too. And many developer add a button into the app (I do).
We have this info in our private interface to iTunes. But the real problem is that most of the times issues are related to configuration or misunderstanding not to crashes.
Yeah.. if it was built into the App Store then it'd be far more useful.
We have this info in our private interface to iTunes. But the real problem is that most of the times issues are related to configuration or misunderstanding not to crashes.[/QUOTE]
Ah, wasn't aware of that. Could it be improved more..?
At the moment we can download crash reports for the most common crash causes. It's useful to find bugs but having an user with the issue that can tell us a bit more is a lot more useful
As an iPhone developer with a published app, I think I can explain how people do this. Obviously having fraudulent apps which claim to do something but really cannot is a huge issue. It is bad for users, and it is bad for trustworthy & honest developers since it degrades users' confidence and trust in the app store. If a user is defrauded by a false app description, why should they believe any other app's description? I myself am very careful that everything that I claim my app can do -- it can actually do.
Unfortunately, it's very easy to defraud users by lying to them about what an app can do. Once Apple approves the app and puts it up for sale on the App store, the developer can change pretty much any of the description information about the app except for the name & the screenshots. In other words, a developer can submit his or her app with one description explaining what it actually does, and then when it is approved the developer can change the description to say something completely different. I don't know if Apple polices this, obviously some fraudulent apps slip through the cracks.
Unfortunately, it's very easy to defraud users by lying to them about what an app can do. Once Apple approves the app and puts it up for sale on the App store, the developer can change pretty much any of the description information about the app except for the name & the screenshots. In other words, a developer can submit his or her app with one description explaining what it actually does, and then when it is approved the developer can change the description to say something completely different. I don't know if Apple polices this, obviously some fraudulent apps slip through the cracks.
A FaceBook group on fraudalent Apps does me no good. When I am looking at buying an app I read the descriptions and the reviews. I can tell if someone is complaining about something that isn't supported by the description. I can also guess after several reviews on whether some are complaining about a user issue. The best part is it is all there in one place for that app. A separate group that I have to hunt for then wade through to find if the app I am interested in seems like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Put it in the reviews.
Put it in the reviews.
May I ask everyone to think twice and try to contact support BEFORE leaving a review ?
The problem with reviews is that you don't know if the reviewer is honest, smart, etc. Since developers can't reply to reviews they can contain false statements.
Some time ago a user gave my app 1 star because it was not working. Since I hate having false reviews I tried to contact the user looking his name on google, found it, contacted him, solved the issue (a phone configuration issue).
The review is still there even if I asked him to correct it. This happened many times.
Now imagine that you have a company and I'm just outside the door of your office with a big sign that says your company sucks. What would you do? You try to talk with me to understand why and if I'm wrong you'll call the police.
Developers cannot.
I'll add that you also don't know whether or not the reviewer has jailbroken his phone or not. Not that I would expect someone to reveal that in a review. But it's important to know if whatever they are criticizing is 100 percent app related or, again, user error.
I will say that there have been a few occasions where I've emailed the developer BEFORE buying an app I was interested in because some reviews pointed to an issue and I wanted to see if a fix was in the works or if they knew about the error/etc. That's been helpful to me and I've never had a developer ignore my questions.
Let's look at this maybe from a different angle:
I bought the 'Shopper' app about 2 years ago, when it was $2.99. It did everything I needed, and then some. It was great.
Well before iOS4 came out, they dropped the price on the 'Shopper' app to .99, and now mandate that if you want to get rid of advertisements AND their oh-so-helpful (read the last with sarcasm) TIPS, I have to shell out an additional $1.99 PER YEAR for a subscription.
If I'd paid .99 for the app to begin with, sure I could see shelling out an additional $1 for getting rid of the ads, but TIPS on how to use the program? Are you kidding me? If I hadn't paid money for it, I'd delete it off my phone.
So yeah, I feel a bit ripped off & let down by the developers - enough so that I revised my earlier rating of their program from 5 stars down to 2. Unfortunately, that's all I can do.
I bought the 'Shopper' app about 2 years ago, when it was $2.99. It did everything I needed, and then some. It was great.
Well before iOS4 came out, they dropped the price on the 'Shopper' app to .99, and now mandate that if you want to get rid of advertisements AND their oh-so-helpful (read the last with sarcasm) TIPS, I have to shell out an additional $1.99 PER YEAR for a subscription.
If I'd paid .99 for the app to begin with, sure I could see shelling out an additional $1 for getting rid of the ads, but TIPS on how to use the program? Are you kidding me? If I hadn't paid money for it, I'd delete it off my phone.
So yeah, I feel a bit ripped off & let down by the developers - enough so that I revised my earlier rating of their program from 5 stars down to 2. Unfortunately, that's all I can do.
I think your complaint is completely valid. Quick question though - is the money/time you save with the app worth $2 bucks? If so - it's just a question of actual value to you. Not to say you should be getting ads, etc and whatnot. Just saying that sometimes - even if I don't like what an app has or doesn't have but it definitely "solves" something for me that either adds functionality to the iPhone or allows me to do something quickly - then I weight the good with the bad.
I can see clearly that with the app you mentioned that a lot of people are PISSED... and rightfully so. I would encourage people (everyone upset) to contact the developers with their complaint. And if that doesn't help, then contact Apple and post fair reviews. IE - a review that states what you do and DON'T like about the app.
I am not advocating what the developer did. At the same time - if it's a great app then it doesn't deserve to be trashed just because you don't like the new pricing model. It's possible to convey BOTH sentiments. Hey - I hate the new pricing model and the inclusion of ads, etc and I feel really let down by the developers at being forced into the new model without warning. At the same time, it's an app that does exactly what it says it does and is of value.
But to each their own.
6 weeks and 2 updates, with a .1 version out on beta? obviously its been out long enough for the developer to write a version 2.
do you know how long it might take to update/debug an app with a new OS? Or what their schedule is? How many people are working on the app? Whether or not there are other apps they are also trying to update?
6 weeks isn't that long unless you have ADD or are extremely impatient.
I shouldn't comment on other developers but have to say this wasn't a fair move.
I think this is also a consequence of the pricing model of the AppStore. App prices are simply too low. We are constantly fighting to keep a position on the store using price drops, paying review sites (there are too many apps so you have to pay to be reviewed) and all sort of other tricks.
Add that we can't easily apply a new "pricing system" only to new customers.
So even if I think I would never do such a move with pricing I totally understand that they may had to do something to maintain the app revenue.