Apple going after the pirate site AppTrackr

[alexalex]

Creators Of AppTrackr (Cracked iOS Applications) Feeling Apple?s Wrath

The creators Apptrackr, the most popular cracked iOS application download site, have recently mentioned in a blog post (through Installous) that Apple has been severely scrapingApptrackr for links and sending huge takedown notices for a lot of content. With this statement made by Apptrackr it finally looks like Apple is addressing the increasingly large problem of cracked iOS applications and how it is effecting developers....

http://www.ijailbreak.com/applications/apptrackr-feeling-apples-wrath/

[neo1911]

Apple is right on money there. Piracy has no place in the world of $0.99 apps.

[protocol7]

Apple is right on money there. Piracy has no place in the world of $0.99 apps.

Having just joined the iOS world I'd have to agree. Apart from a few pricey apps and games, the cost is very low. Plus there's apps and games going for free every day.

[Hollow.Droid]

Firstly, affect not effect ijailbreak!!! Secondly, why don't they have a solid refund policy in place? I'm surprised the iTunes store made it this far without one.

[evo0o]

I understand that apps are cheap but I still prefer to test out my apps before I purchase them.

What I find useful today, may turn out to be intrusive and trashy the next.

[vanx]

Made me laugh when I read it over this past holiday break :)

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

^ The Oatmeal hitting the nail on the head. It's grotesque how people have no problem spending hundreds on hardware (be it smartphones or PC components), yet feel entitled to pirate all kinds of software.

[c3ntury]

Made me laugh when I read it over this past holiday break :)

Gotta love The Oatmeal.

[Vice]

As an iPhone owner and a developer I say ****ing good. I hope Apple makes a captcha solving bot to bypass the sites meagre link security too.

[The_Observer]

Apple is right on money there. Piracy has no place in the world of $0.99 apps.

SO true, if you can spend 1167NZD on a iPhone4s then you can spend $0.99 on a app!

[Technique]

Firstly, affect not effect ijailbreak!!! Secondly, why don't they have a solid refund policy in place? I'm surprised the iTunes store made it this far without one.

I think a lot of you are missing the deal here. Only Hollow.Droid seems to have addressed it.

I use installous - to trial apps. If i like an app then i'll go buy it. I paid out ?49.99 for TomTom UK for christs sake!! So ?0.99 to me is nothing.

What i don't like is developers who charge a fee for tat - something that doesn't even work.

A few times i've downloaded an app that costs ?0.99 or ?1.49 or ?1.99 whatever, and the app either plain old doesn't work, or only sections of it works.

So what do you do? You get in touch through iTunes saying "pretty please can i have a refund".

Do you know how many times i've had a refund out of about 10 faulty apps? ONCE!

I'm not a big time app downloader, but if i was then these ?0.99 (i.e. small amounts) could soon add up to a very large amount - all because there's a lot of crap on there. And then the user is out of pocket because Apple don't feel like giving a refund today.

It works both ways i'm afraid. Both sides should have protection - developer AND consumer!!

[Rudy]

It's a bit late but I guess it's better than never

[timster]

of course, by going after AppTrackr, Apple will definitely hurt or cripple app piracy /s

I could go on a torrent site and get any iOS app i want, from TomTom and Navigon all the way down to Angry Birds and TapTap Revenge. not saying I will or do, just pointing out that going after a site that only puts up links won't have any effect or the bottom line.

for every site that gets taken down, many more pop up to take it's place. piracy will always exist

[Joshie]

for every site that gets taken down, many more pop up to take it's place.

This line again? I swear, I've been hearing this since the 90s. It's one of the most stubbornly antiquated opinions on piracy I've ever come across, and it's every torrenter's first.

Piracy relies heavily on the fact that international borders are a roadblock to taking action against sites. Even if SOPA itself fails, it shows that the leading problem has been outlined (borders) and eventually legislation WILL come along that passes and addresses this limitation. Once that happens, I'd like to see this cute little opinion stick around. Will there still be piracy? Yeah, sure, but it'll have to find a new way to travel, and its next presentation may not be as fast and convenient as bittorrent-style tracker sites.

[DeadEndAccount]

^ The Oatmeal hitting the nail on the head. It's grotesque how people have no problem spending hundreds on hardware (be it smartphones or PC components), yet feel entitled to pirate all kinds of software.

There is this idea that because they're not receiving a physical product then it is open season to piracy.

To a certain extent I could understand for example a engineering university student pirating Solidworks so that he or she can do their assignment at home but it boggles the mind when I see people pirate 99cent applications let alone $24.99 ones from the Mac Appstore.

[TheLegendOfMart]

They tried with Appulous which closed and AppTrackr sprung up, AppTrackr will close and another site will pop up. 'You cant stop the signal'.

[Vice]

They tried with Appulous which closed and AppTrackr sprung up, AppTrackr will close and another site will pop up. 'You cant stop the signal'.

Whist what you've said is 100% true, taking out each site as they pop up takes away the connivence that pirates enjoy. Each time the site goes down a few pirates will give up on it. And it also makes it more difficult for the people running these services. If you look at the news this current site is having financial issues and have had to move their servers frequently as each home eventually becomes hostile to their existence.

So although some may see what Apple is doing as a waste of time it is their time to waste and I believe it does have an effect. I mean can you imagine if the RIAA just said gee we'll never stop P2P so lets not go after Napster. Everyone and their dog would be using it right now to get music, it would be a word in everyones vocabulary but by shutting that service down it divided people between a lot of different services and some of those services were legal avenues like iTunes and Rhapsody. This to me shows fighting piracy can pay off, not absolutely but it does stop some piracy.

[TheLegendOfMart]

Completely agree. But until they have some sort of automated refund functionality like the Android Marketplace I will continue to use sites like these to try out apps.

[Scorcho]

Completely agree. But until they have some sort of automated refund functionality like the Android Marketplace I will continue to use sites like these to try out apps.

You mean steal. You don't need to defend yourself and the $0.99 that you worked hard for.

[Vice]

Completely agree. But until they have some sort of automated refund functionality like the Android Marketplace I will continue to use sites like these to try out apps.

I understand the frustration of not being able to try an app before you buy it and I do think Apple will fix this eventually but until then I can't really condone piracy as an alternative. To me developing software is like an art and the artist should be the one deciding how people experience their creation, I don't think the user should be abusing that relationship. So in this situation I air on the side of the developers rights over the users. Again I think there should be trials for all apps in the store I'm just saying whilst there isn't I don't think it's right to ignore the developers wishes by stealing the software to try it as that is not what the developer wanted.

Apps with lite ad-supported versions ftw, support those developers by only buying and only using apps that have trials.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Completely agree. But until they have some sort of automated refund functionality like the Android Marketplace I will continue to use sites like these to try out apps.

You mean steal. You don't need to defend yourself and the $0.99 that you worked hard for.

Exactly. The 'I want to try out apps/games, so I jailbreak my phone/console' excuse is getting old.

[TheLegendOfMart]

You mean steal. You don't need to defend yourself and the $0.99 that you worked hard for.

I'm not going to get into an argument about semantics.

I try out apps I think I might like, if they are crap they get deleted, if they are good they get deleted and I buy it from iTunes, whether you think that's morally wrong or not I don't give a toss.

Exactly. The 'I want to try out apps/games, so I jailbreak my phone/console' excuse is getting old.

So I'm supposed to buy the App and give the developer money for something i dont like just for the sake of trying it out?

With Android you have 15 mins from purchasing it where you can go back to the store and press refund for an automated no quibble refund.

With Apple i have to go through some convoluted process and wait a week to get my money back, if i do it too many times they might stop refunding me.

Get off your high horse, not everything is so black and white.

[Scorcho]

You won't get into an argument because it's largely indefensible. You're not going to win an abstracted argument on why you shouldn't be conned out of your $0.99. The iOS model vastly undercut the pricing for mobile games and allows individuals to install and redownload their purchases to multiple devices. It's been a massive win for consumers, but we still have pirates like yourself who feel entitled to free software just because.

The large majority of these apps are cheaper than buying a coffee at a cafe. You know what I've done when I didn't like a dollar or $5 program I didn't like? Shrugged and deleted it. Then again, I usually don't purchase apps till I go online and do some research first.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

I'm not going to get into an argument about semantics.

I try out apps I think I might like, if they are crap they get deleted, if they are good they get deleted and I buy it from iTunes, whether you think that's morally wrong or not I don't give a toss.

So I'm supposed to buy the App and give the developer money for something i dont like just for the sake of trying it out?

With Android you have 15 mins from purchasing it where you can go back to the store and press refund for an automated no quibble refund.

With Apple i have to go through some convoluted process and wait a week to get my money back, if i do it too many times they might stop refunding me.

Get off your high horse, not everything is so black and white.

1. As pointed out by Vice: There are a lot of apps offering an ad-supported version you can try before buying the full version.

2. You could just, you know, read reviews or look at screenshots before deciding to buy an app.

Both options are better than pirating apps to 'try them out'. My comment above isn't so much about me being on the high horse. It's more about pointing out that you're full of **** when you attempt to justify the use of shady tools.

[Vice]

I do have to echo other peoples statements about doing research. Before I buy any game or app on the app store I read the reviews inside the store page itself and if that isn't a clear indicator of quality I google the app and look for either youtube videos or general information. I never buy any app that I can't find feedback on and I certainly wouldn't then just pirate it to find out.

Which by the way is kind of dangerous to your device as many of the app releasers change the apps. I've seen apps where game mechanics have been modified to make the games easier / enable cheats basically. And I've also seen apps where the release group has altered the loading graphic. If they have made these changes it would be possible to make other more malicious alterations or just to post an App that says it is one thing but in reality it is something else entirely and as soon as you run it they've screwed your phone over.

I just don't think it's worth the risks for 99 cents when there are so many more safe ways to check out an app before buying.