This is particularly bad and I'm sure it will be corrected, but how annoying is that pop-up even when used correctly? If I want to review an app or otherwise provide feedback, I will. When I'm trying to use an app, I don't need to be hounded to do something for the developer.
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App Store Scam App Required a Good Review to Function at All
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You think Epic is doing what it's doing to save you money? No, it's so that they can make more money off you instead of Apple. And they want to do that in the form of 3rd party App Stores and sideloading which will undoubtably increase the amount of scams like this. Imagine if now scammers can put fake versions of major apps on other stores or if a malicious link immediately downloads an app to your phone. There's no such thing as perfect security so pointing out to the cases where Apple doesn't catch things ignores the vast majority that they do.
Apple's review cannot detect that. It's very easy to disable features of an app while the App is under review. Guess how Epic got their payment into the app. Or how Uber got hidden user tracking into their app and hid it from the review by adding a geofence into the app around the review locations.
But: If Apple would require Code level review, that would a) not comply with certain company rules of their properites and b) review would take years for some apps. Understanding code from someone else (maybe even undocumented) is time consuming. And even then you might not catch everything.
But: If Apple would require Code level review, that would a) not comply with certain company rules of their properites and b) review would take years for some apps. Understanding code from someone else (maybe even undocumented) is time consuming. And even then you might not catch everything.
Sounds to me like developers should not really be in control of the ratings popup. If I were Apple, I'd have something baked into iOS itself that pops up when an unrated app is opened, say, 30 days after installation.
That's already more or less the case. The current rate-me popup is controlled by iOS and is not guaranteed to be shown. It's also rate limited.
But you're not forced to use it.
Ad Tracking was a start but Apple need to spend a lot more time and money routing out scam apps and fake reviews if they really want to make the App Store a safe place. They should start by agreeing to compensate anyone scammed by an app in the AppStore.
They don’t follow up every report but I’ve had plenty where engineering does communicate.
One of Apple's best practices documents states that developers should "avoid showing a request for a review immediately when a user launches your app."
I suggest that the developer should have no control whatsoever. There would then be nothing to avoid in the above.
That makes for a lousy user experience. On the previous app I worked on, we took great pains to avoid popping the review prompt when we thought it was inconvenient for the user. In that case it was a streaming app, and we didn't want the prompt to happen while you were in the middle of watching something. Instead, we called the API when the user was switching tabs to one that didn't involve streaming.
The review prompt API is fine. It's the AppStore review and Apple's opaque and arbitrary process that are the problem.
Ive reported over 10 bugs in xcode and only 1 was addressed almost 2 years later.
I don't really know what they don't. I've sent several tips to Kosta after following his methods. It's not that hard to find fake reviews or apps tricking you to pay for something
You just go to Sensor Tower's top grossing apps and a good amount of those have questionable practices of varying degrees. But that also means Apple needs to penalize it's biggest sellers
I’m curious to know how this is easy for a developer to to do?
Apple say you can’t put that review prompt behind a button action because it isn’t guaranteed to present itself to the user.
And if the developer doesn’t know of it’s been presented, how can it be manipulated? Is there an invisible view blocking the the 1 star area?
Apple say you can’t put that review prompt behind a button action because it isn’t guaranteed to present itself to the user.
And if the developer doesn’t know of it’s been presented, how can it be manipulated? Is there an invisible view blocking the the 1 star area?
The Pages team in particular, in my experience, is really on the ball when it comes to bug reports. I've gotten multiple emails to clarify issues, requests for examples, etc., and I think they've fixed every bug I've ever reported by the next release.
The Farms that typically scam like this have no end of aliases they will use for new developer accounts.
Doesn’t matter. Apple needs to find a middle ground here. Why waste time testing beta software and submitting bug feedback if most of it is ignored??
Besides being able to try new features before the public, there’s no benefit to trying beta software for the general public.
So I stopped. I might play around with a major new release (played with iOS 14h on a secondary device, but if bugs stop me from being able to use it, I put the regular software back on. I don’t even report bugs anymore since it doesn’t make a difference.
Have Apple actually been transparent at any point in the past or through the trial as to how their app vetting procedure is performed and what internal company mechanisms are in place once a problem has been located? Is the scruteny just at the app functional level by an employee or are there automated scripts looking at the code and then highlighting anything that looks suspicious? I think Apple would serve the development community a lot better if their nebulous criteria were in black and white, plus it would build confidence in the consumer that things like this were being addressed proactively by Apple.
Relatively speaking the safest place to download apps for various mobile platforms is from the Apple App Store and Google Play and these dodgy applications are more the exception than the rule by a large margin, but it must be acknowledged that they occasionally do get though.
Personally speaking I don't want an Epic store (China's Tencent) on my iPhone or anywhere near it, but if they can display they would employ security measures equal to those of Apple why should they be denied? I've often heard the argument here and elsewhere "if you don't like the way Apple does things then just use Android", but surely the counter to that is "if you don't like having an Epic store on your iPhone then don't use it and keep using Apple's app store"? Or am I missing something?
Relatively speaking the safest place to download apps for various mobile platforms is from the Apple App Store and Google Play and these dodgy applications are more the exception than the rule by a large margin, but it must be acknowledged that they occasionally do get though.
Personally speaking I don't want an Epic store (China's Tencent) on my iPhone or anywhere near it, but if they can display they would employ security measures equal to those of Apple why should they be denied? I've often heard the argument here and elsewhere "if you don't like the way Apple does things then just use Android", but surely the counter to that is "if you don't like having an Epic store on your iPhone then don't use it and keep using Apple's app store"? Or am I missing something?
Scam app proves nothing of the sort.
Saving customers money is laughable. Epic is just trying to increase its income.
Conclusion: They need to bump it up to 40% so they can devote more staff time to weeding out practices like this, or to develop an automated process to detect it.
There were emails published during trial where Schiller was pushing for more automated code review to help weed out clunkers.
Your “similar to Apple” proposal is unworkable as the similar target is always moving and evolving.