
Apple Locks App Screenshots To Ward Off Scammers - iProject
http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/09/apple-locks-app-screenshots-to-ward-off-scammers/
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n9com
This is very worrying. Due to a small minority of scammers, the entire dev
community is being made to pay.

Right now, iTunes Connect is pretty much broken. Sometimes your screenshots
won't appear on the App Store, and you have to keep re-uploading them until
iTunes Connect decides it wants to properly sync with the Apple CDN servers -
even when that happens, often the screenshots order will not be the same as
what you set.

Also, this is going to increase review times. Now devs will have to submit
'updates' just to change their screenshots.

What Apple should have done is offered an alternative screenshot review
process, that does not require a new app binary to be submitted. Essentially,
this current implementation just wastes everyones time.

~~~
nicholassmith
If they had a screenshot review process then people would be annoyed they had
to wait for screenshots to go through review, same as they are now.

Basically, Apple is more interested in protecting their customers than they
are about making developer lives easier. As a developer, that's annoying, as
an Apple consumer the fact they're taking steps to block scammers is a net
positive.

~~~
n9com
I'd rather wait 1 to 2 days for a quick screenshot review process than 2 weeks
as it is now to submit a new binary (and waste the reviewers time for having
to review a binary that is actually the same as the previous version) just to
change my screenshots. Also, users will then see a pending update for the app,
which they will then have to waste time downloading.

~~~
nicholassmith
Who says it'd be 1 to 2 days for a screenshot review process? I can't see
Apple dedicating a team to it, they'd probably dump it in the same queue as
app submissions, and whilst a screenshot is significantly easier to test
("Does it look like the app? Yes. Done"), it's still going to not be a one day
turn around.

It's a crappy solution to a crappy situation basically.

~~~
n9com
Dedicating a team? They'd probably outsource it to some business services
company.

The real root of the issue is, why do apps called 'Pokemon Yellow' and 'Halo
4' get approved without Apple checking to see if they are published by the
rights holder?

~~~
nicholassmith
I can't say I know for certain, but I thought outsourcing things like that was
a bit outside the handbook for Apple?

~~~
n9com
they outsource the manufacturing of the iPhone don't they?

~~~
nicholassmith
True, but that's something that occurs at such scale that it'd be unfeasible
to try and implement internally.

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digitalengineer
It's time for a 'flag' button (like how you use to rate an App when you
deleted it). Perhaps right after you have opened a new app and closed it App
for the first time. If it's fake that's the moment you'll want to delete it
and tell Apple.

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ja27
I wonder why they haven't started automatically suspending new apps after they
start getting an abnormally high percentage of refund requests and one star
reviews especially if they have words like "scam", "refund", "money back",
etc.

Or make this new rule only apply to apps that are less than X months old.

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smackfu
The $100 membership fee just isn't that high a barrier, when each account can
create dozens of apps.

Just pay someone to create accounts and simple apps, put them through review,
and just leave them out there on sale. Not breaking any rules. You have tons
of potential scam apps just waiting, that look no different really than just
another failed app that no one buys. And heck, you can even fake buys, and it
only costs you 30%.

So the reason why is... there's always another scam app waiting.

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ricg
This puts an end to testing different variations of screenshots to increase
sales (for honest developers).

Now developers have to wait for a full review cycle (weeks) and create a new
version of their app only to test different screenshots. There must be a
better way.

~~~
cmdkeen
It would be nice if they allowed submitting many screenshots, approval of all
of those, and then choosing which ones to display. It wouldn't be quite as
useful but allow some change.

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rogerbinns
Based on the headline alone I thought this was going be some sort of attack on
a local device where the scammer app would go through screenshots you have
taken and then display them tricking you into believing you were running the
app the screenshot was of. If it had a pin or password field then you could
end up mistakenly typing it in!

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Pr0
Shortest TC article ever. Here's the source:
[http://www.macrumors.com/2013/01/09/apple-now-locking-
screen...](http://www.macrumors.com/2013/01/09/apple-now-locking-screenshots-
for-submitted-apps-shutting-down-popular-scam-tactic/)

~~~
upinsmoke
Actual source: <https://developer.apple.com/news/index.php?id=1092013a>

~~~
Someone
That is not the source of the 'To Ward of Scammers' part. Apple only tells you
what will change.

[http://www.macrumors.com/2013/01/09/apple-now-locking-
screen...](http://www.macrumors.com/2013/01/09/apple-now-locking-screenshots-
for-submitted-apps-shutting-down-popular-scam-tactic/) gives an explanation
for the 'why':

    
    
      "This small but important update shuts down a widely used scam tactic, where
       developers would upload game screenshots to get an app approved by Apple and
       then switch them out with screenshots from another popular app.
    
       The scam tricked people into buying fake apps with screenshots ripped from
       another, more popular game, or a game that has not been ported to iOS at all."

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joelthelion
Yeah, that will totally stop them, while not at all making legitimate use
harder.

~~~
jyap
No, it makes legitimate use harder. It makes things such as A/B testing of
screen shots and tweaking of screen shots for marketing purposes harder. For
example say you have an app which is a News aggregation app. You want to
update the screen shots every now and then to show up to date news articles.
Now you can't do that without a binary update.

What if Apple decides to lock down app Descriptions as well?

~~~
nicholassmith
I think the OP was being a tad sarcastic.

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abcd_f
I wonder if they accept GIFs.... :)

