Hackulous Shuts Down, Taking Down Popular Pirated App Source Installous

[MacRumors]

As noted by iDownloadBlog, popular iOS pirated app community Hackulous has announced that it is shutting down, taking down the Installous jailbreak tool used to install pirated apps on iOS devices. A statement from Hackulous reads:

We are very sad to announce that Hackulous is shutting down. After many years, our community has become stagnant and our forums are a bit of a ghost town. It has become difficult to keep them online and well-moderated, despite the devotion of our staff. We're incredibly thankful for the support we've had over the years and hope that new, greater communities blossom out of our absence.

As iDownloadBlog observes, it is almost certain that other piracy tools, both existing and new, will rise in prominence to fill the void left by the removal of Installous, as there is certainly no shortage of users seeking to cheat developers out of their app fees.

Piracy is a major problem for many iOS app developers, and there have been several instances of piracy forcing developers to remove their apps from the App Store. One such case earlier this month saw Hunted Cow shut down its multiplayer title Battle Dungeon after piracy rates of roughly 90% made it impossible to handle the game's server load based on the revenue generated through legitimate sales.

Article Link: Hackulous Shuts Down, Taking Down Popular Pirated App Source Installous

[WildCowboy]

Admin Note: MacRumors does not permit discussion of specific instructions for obtaining cracked and/or pirated apps. Posts asking for or sharing information on ways to install pirated apps will be deleted.

General discussion of piracy and the role of Hackulous/Installous in it is of course allowed.

[dlewis23]

Good. The rest need to go with them and hopefully in iOS7 there will be some improvements to help stop pirated apps.

[Icculus]

Hackulous...you will not be missed.

Pay the developers for the apps you use.

[Kissaragi]

Sounds like a good thing, but no doubt they are just pirating from elsewhere instead.

[yakapo]

Bye.

[drakestan]

It won't make a jailbreak come any faster.

[GeekLawyer]

Good riddance. Jailbreaking shouldn't be about pirating.

[blueroom]

I never understood the kiddies who could afford an iPhone but couldn't afford $1 apps. Guess they'll flock to Android and crush that platforms app programmers.

Good news for developers.

[Unggoy Murderer]

Excellent news! Hopefully others will follow suit, rather than attempting to "fill the void".

[alphaod]

Never used Hackulous, so it won't be missed.

However, I do wish some developers kept their apps more up-to-date than they do now.

[Simplicated]

At long last.

But I'm pretty sure someone else would come up with something similar sooner or later.

[nfl46]

The days of jailbreaking are coming to an end. By iOS 8, we probably won't even have a jailbreak anymore. We'll be lucky if we get iOS 6 jailbreak.

[Simplicated]

Originally Posted by nfl46

The days of jailbreaking are coming to an end. By iOS 8, we probably won't even have a jailbreak anymore. We'll be lucky if we get iOS 6 jailbreak.

Congratulations on being one of the people who equate jailbreaking to cracking apps (or cracking apps to jailbreaking). Android is for you because it's extremely easy to crack apps.

[jacobss]

It has begun.

[adder7712]

Originally Posted by Simplicated

At long last.

But I'm pretty sure someone else would come up with something similar sooner or later.

Nice avatar.

--

Anyway, good riddance.

[ArtOfWarfare]

Developers the world over rejoice.

[jonnysods]

Piracy makes me mad. I'm glad these guys shut down.

[Compile 'em all]

Great news for developers, specially if you develop games that rely on your own server.

[bb426]

Originally Posted by dlewis23

Good. The rest need to go with them and hopefully in iOS7 there will be some improvements to help stop pirated apps.

I agree with you, but there's not much more Apple can do other than close other loopholes, which won't necessarily stop apps from being pirated at all; and because the iOS platform is only getting bigger, so is the pirating platform.

[julescilib]

Originally Posted by jacobss

It has begun.

apple paying big $$$ to erase these guys

[Shadow%20Mac]

Originally Posted by Simplicated

Congratulations on being one of the people who equate jailbreaking to cracking apps (or cracking apps to jailbreaking). Android is for you because it's extremely easy to crack apps.

I don't think this person was equating jailbreaking to piracy; per say. Merely that, as iOS advances, the need to jailbreak to add features decreases. When iOS 3 was the current major release, I couldn't imagine using my phone without jailbreaking. No custom wallpapers? No multitasking? It was absurd. Now a days, more and more people jailbreak their phones in order to pirate apps. True, not ALL of them do it, but the percentage is increasing with every major release of iOS. Those users who wanted more flexibility from their phones either became satisfied with later iterations of iOS or moved to Android phones where they could tweak away to their hearts content.

I think then, that after a few more iOS releases, we wont have jailbreaks released as frequently with as ample access. Jailbreaking used to be necessity; now it is merely an option, competing with other platforms, iOS, JBiOS, Android, WP8, etc.

[hoits2000]

Screw developers, is what the pirateers say.

"Charge a fair price and I'll buy it. My max is $1 for iPhone/iPad games/apps - if higher, I'll pirate it. Blu-ray/DVD max ill pay is 14.99 - if higher I'll pirate it. Once an app I pirate goes on sale for a dollar I buy it. I have purchased more apps than most of you and my DVD/bluray collection is second to none. I'm not paying for any companies mismanagement or poor planning or forecasting. Give me a fair price and I'll buy it."

Says the pirates.

*I in no way condone pirating apps or movies

[Greg.]

Originally Posted by Simplicated

Congratulations on being one of the people who equate jailbreaking to cracking apps (or cracking apps to jailbreaking). Android is for you because it's extremely easy to crack apps.

Congratulations on being on the people who infer something on no evidence...

[KylePowers]

Not that there were many (if any) moral uses for Installous, but the idea of trying an app before you buy it would be a great feature for the App Store. Like a one hour or one day trial period.

Yes, many developers have free versions, but many don't. Just an idea