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Mountain Duck is actual scam

2

2638se

macrumors member
Original poster
Apparently the developer of Mountain Duck decided to change the pricing model to subscription for the App Store version and instead of doing what every other developer did (change the name of the original app to *** (classic) or *** ‘version name’ and then delist it). They decided to just straight up revoke every single purchased license from every customer ever bought through App Store.

For example, I bought this app last year and when I opened the app for the first time in a while it prompted me this.

IMG_5774.jpeg


And then it actually quit with another prompt in 10 minutes.

Screenshot2.jpeg


Naturally I sent the developer an angry email and this is their response.

Screenshot 2026-07-27 at 11.55.11 PM.jpeg


LOL brother why do you talk like you are doing me a favor by turning my paid license to a 1 year trial? Also countless other developers release their apps as separate versions or transformed to another pricing strategy without removing the version people paid real money for (iStat Menus for one just off my head, there are many others, in fact on the contrary I didn’t even think about it before because this is the first time an app scammed me like this.). What are you even talking about? I’m not giving my email to a scammer. Screw you. (Edit: Want to add that there is nowhere in the app or their own website that suggests the existence of this option. The developer is only offering this to the people who are angry enough to manually email them and screw over everybody else.)

Have to advise against buying/using any app from the Mountain Duck developer. This person simply has no respect and I expect more stupid shenanigans coming out of this guy.

BTW This has to be against some rules of the App Store right? I saw many angry reviews under the app page. Is there some way to report this app to Apple?
 
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maflynn said:
How is this a scam, if the developer is offering to send out the stand alone license?
Click to expand...
There is nowhere in the app or their own website that suggests the existence of this option. I can only assume the developer is trying to only offer this to the people who are angry enough to contact them and scam everybody else to double dip by purchasing on their website or subscription.

I have no trust to *******s so I will not give them my real email.
 
2638se said:
There is nowhere in the app or their own website that suggests the existence of this option. I can only assume the developer is trying to only offer this to the people who are angry enough to contact them and scam everybody else to double dip by purchasing on their website or subscription.

I have no trust to *******s so I will not give them my real email.
Click to expand...
Don't make assumptions. Situation certainly annoying but not as melodramatic as you are making it out to be. Take the v4 license offered and move on.
 
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The root problem is Apple not allowing paid updates in the App Store.

Having to "constantly" pay for updates might feel a bit like a subscription, but you can't expect a developer to continue developing for free, it's how things were done in the pre-subscription-everywhere era, you still have a choice to update or keep using the old version forever, and it's clearer what you are paying for when you get an important update.
 
Basic75 said:
you still have a choice to update or keep using the old version forever
Click to expand...
That's the problem here. There is no choice...you can't keep using the old version forever! At least not very easily. One would have had to turn off automatic App Store updates before the app got updated (and leave that off forever now), and/or keep a backup of the app.

It used to be a paid app in the App Store. The developer updated the existing app listing to version 5, changed it to be a free download, and now requires an in-app subscription.

The problem here is that because the developer updated the existing app listing, there's no way for users to redownload version 4 so that they can continue using the version they paid for. The license essentially got revoked, which isn't allowed. The developer should have delisted the app listing for the old version (can still re-download it from the purchase history) and added version 5 as a new App Store listing.

@2638se, there are a few ways to get this reported to Apple.
  1. Go into your Purchase History and find the purchase. There should be a 'Report' or 'Report a Problem' button. (You may need to adjust your filters to show older purchases.)
  2. Go view the app listing in the App Store. There should be a 'Report a Problem' link under the Information section. (You will need to be logged into the App Store with the account that downloaded the app in order for this link to show up.)
  3. Go to https://reportaproblem.apple.com/.
 
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iStorm said:
That's the problem here. There is no choice...you can't keep using the old version forever! At least not very easily. One would have had to turn off automatic App Store updates before the app got updated (and leave that off forever now), and/or keep a backup of the app.

It used to be a paid app in the App Store. The developer updated the existing app listing to version 5, changed it to be a free download, and now requires an in-app subscription.

The problem here is that because the developer updated the existing app listing, there's no way for users to redownload version 4 so that they can continue using the version they paid for. The license essentially got revoked, which isn't allowed. The developer should have delisted the app listing for the old version (can still re-download it from the purchase history) and added version 5 as a new App Store listing.

@2638se, there are a few ways to get this reported to Apple.
  1. Go into your Purchase History and find the purchase. There should be a 'Report' or 'Report a Problem' button. (You may need to adjust your filters to show older purchases.)
  2. Go view the app listing in the App Store. There should be a 'Report a Problem' link under the Information section. (You will need to be logged into the App Store with the account that downloaded the app in order for this link to show up.)
  3. Go to https://reportaproblem.apple.com/.
Click to expand...
Thank you! Reported using 1 and 2. After the reporting Apple says I will not get a reply so the only thing left is hoping more people report I guess......
 
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It looks to me that the developer made a boo boo with the licensing part that they did not intent. However, the user, @2638se in this case, wasted work hour(s) because of the developer's mistake: the app was unavailable when needed, the user had to use brain energy to type an email to the developer etc. The developer should have offered more for the inconvenience they caused — perhaps an additional license, a pizza coupon, or something symbolic.
 
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