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Having your app pirated - what do you do?

Even posting about your app being pirated has given others the idea of going out and looking for it. I found your battery app in about 15 minutes on the same exact site that you didn't mention but gave hints about. It was in Spanish and it was not hard to figure out how to download it.

If these websites do get shut down, there are 10 more to replace it.

Another idea for you to try is to offer a 7 day trial with no limitations on features. Not sure how hard that would be to do or if Apple would even allow it.
 
There are clever tricks to detect piracy. I'll say that the code posted earlier in this thread is easily circumvented so don't bother. There are other, more clever tricks, that work. Crackers are clever folks too, though, so nothing is 100%. It's more fun to play with pirates than to just close your app. In BillMinder, we just display a friendly alert that takes them to the App Store. We have a little more fun w/ PlaceTagger, though. 😉 It's one of those things you can't change. If it makes you feel better, chances are most folks who pirate would not have bought the app anyway so there isn't as much lost revenue as you think.
 
I believe you have to think about it like this:

Out of the people who download a cracked app, they are people who if they could not get it for free, then they would just do without.

Meaning, your 4000 potential sales is probably closer to 0 than anything. If anything it may even give your app more exposure to people actually willing to buy them and improve your sales. Yes there are some people who "try" and app and then evenually buy it, but I think that is far less than you think.

With the additional exposure it may even end up being a wash.


Either way, bottom line is cracked apps will always be there, its been there on every handheld console (look at the PSP). Best thing to do is not really worry about it.
 
MadGoat said:
If it must it must. I could see activations tied to one device (or like itunes does with being able to register 5 devices for DRM music)
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And what happens when your iPhone breaks and gets replaced, or you upgrade phones when a new one comes out? If the app is tied to one device, it won't work.
 
yg17 said:
And what happens when your iPhone breaks and gets replaced, or you upgrade phones when a new one comes out? If the app is tied to one device, it won't work.
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That's the reason I brought up the iTunes model. With iTunes you can register up to 5 devices per year for DRM protected items under one account.

So if you replace your phone or your spouse gets one you can register the device under your account.
 
That is a total bummer, but of those 4000+ pirate downloads, I will guess that maybe 10 people would have paid, total. Maybe. People who pirate usually never have the intention of buying anyway.
 
MadGoat said:
If it must it must. I could see activations tied to one device (or like itunes does with being able to register 5 devices for DRM music)
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But crackers will break it, and then paying customers will have to deal with the consequences. DRM was never a good idea.
 
Just as an FYI - I checked out your app (on iTunes) and decided to purchase it. Pretty sweet idea! Don't let the "pirates" dissuade you, keep doing what you are doing as it appears you have good insight into what people are looking for. There will always be pirating and you cant' change that. Just let things shake out how they will and don't loose sleep over it.

Again - nice job with the app 🙂 With all of the anal battery discussions, it's cool to see if my phone stacks up to the Apple specs
 
The insights so far into this conversation have been amazing, can't wait to see what others say as well.

My primary concern and point, which I should have probably made more clear, isn't necesarily that I was missing out on $900 for myself. I understand that not everyone who pirates the app will buy it, that's a given. However, it's an interesting argument for me now that I'm sitting on the developer side of the fence for once and have to deal with piracy as an attack on me.

Again, my more important point here is that with the App Store, it's not huge companies with billions in revenues who are seeing these losses. Instead, it's the college kid like me who really misses the $100 if it's stolen by piracy. Obviously the 4000 units wouldn't result in that many missed sales, but that's only in 5 hours. Throughout the app life time how many pirate copies will get passed around? 10,000? 20,000? 50,000? I mean, I'm no expert on what it will be, but it's important still to note that maybe 1 out of 100 people who pirate would have thought about giving a dollar and at that super super small fraction of potential customers, I still lose out on $500 which would go along way toward providing school books, car insurance, etc.

Anyways, that's just part of my argument. Thanks again guys for comments and can't wait to read more. If you haven't checked out the article, here's a link <snip> If you could consider a digg, it would be greatly greatly appreciated so that hopefully we can get the word out about how this hurts guys like myself, you, or any other indie developer who lurks on these forums.
 
CBanga said:
I must agree with Messedkid. While it's wrong to look at every possible pirated copy of your software as a missed dollar, in the same light, you have to think that with all the jailbroken phones there are, one or two of those is being done for the sole purpose of pirating software.
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So because a technology can be used in an inappropriate manor, we shouldn't allow it?

Cars, Planes, Nuclear Power Plants are all going to have to go away...
 
jasonnorm said:
Just as an FYI - I checked out your app (on iTunes) and decided to purchase it. Pretty sweet idea! Don't let the "pirates" dissuade you, keep doing what you are doing as it appears you have good insight into what people are looking for. There will always be pirating and you cant' change that. Just let things shake out how they will and don't loose sleep over it.

Again - nice job with the app 🙂 With all of the anal battery discussions, it's cool to see if my phone stacks up to the Apple specs
Click to expand...

Hey man, thanks for the download. Hope you enjoy using it and get your $0.99 worth haha. If you have any ideas for updates, etc, e-mail me at Cameron@CollegeKidApp.com. Send me a review or something in a week for, when you get a chance to use it a bit, so I can know what you think.
 
CBanga said:
Hey man, thanks for the download. Hope you enjoy using it and get your $0.99 worth haha. If you have any ideas for updates, etc, e-mail me at Cameron@CollegeKidApp.com. Send me a review or something in a week for, when you get a chance to use it a bit, so I can know what you think.
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I will admit I pirated your app, used it for 5 minutes and then bought it. I do it for all my apps, actually. I use it for no more than 5 minutes and either delete it forever or buy it. I have been doing this since I bought Gazette and got screwed over. Why do I do it? It's the solution to a flawed app store policy. I have saved a few hundred dollars by not paying for apps that look great on screenshot but run like crap.

While your app is cheap, this goes more for expensive apps. Sygic for example. I tried it and it worked horribly for me. I would have lost nearly a hundred dollars with no chance of recovery.
 
strike1555 said:
I will admit I pirated your app, used it for 5 minutes and then bought it. I do it for all my apps, actually. I use it for no more than 5 minutes and either delete it forever or buy it. I have been doing this since I bought Gazette and got screwed over. Why do I do it? It's the solution to a flawed app store policy. I have saved a few hundred dollars by not paying for apps that look great on screenshot but run like crap.

While your app is cheap, this goes more for expensive apps. Sygic for example. I tried it and it worked horribly for me. I would have lost nearly a hundred dollars with no chance of recovery.
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Thanks a bunch strike, and I definitely understand the viewpoint of a user like yourself. Unfortunately, I worry that all are not as honest as yourself.

I don't necessarily not see the pirate point of view on this, but am more curious as to what other developers are doing to combat the problem. Obviously, a more elaborate demo system would be useful, but with that not seeming to happen I fear we must instead just find ways to take down piracy on a developer by developer basis.
 
yeah im the same way there are to many buged/crap apps and ive learned my lesson with beejive that i do it more but only to try out apps than decide what i wanna do
 
Spending any more than a few minutes worrying about piracy is a waste of time. Your time is better spent improving the app to entice potential paying customers to buy it. Very few people who pirate an app will even use it more than once (if that)- never mind consider paying for it.

I'm sure my app has been pirated tens of thousands of times by this point, but I haven't spent any time trying to deal with it, and my app has remained at or near the top of its category since the store opened. What I have done is put in all of my effort towards adding new features and releasing updates.

Wil Shipley has a good blog post about piracy:

http://wilshipley.com/blog/2005/06/piracy.html
 
CBanga
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I feel for you, I do see that every app pirated is money out your pocket. There is a but, if your app is good, the more popular it becomes the more people will buy it (i am not saying you app is bad, hell, 4000 people stole it, must be good). that 4000 would of purchased some sweet toys.

most of all it is the time you took to develop.

I think lite version for people to test drive is the key, I am doing my first app, and I will offer a lite version when it is ready.

Thanks for sharing, you have help at least one other person by posting.
 
CBanga said:
Thanks a bunch strike, and I definitely understand the viewpoint of a user like yourself. Unfortunately, I worry that all are not as honest as yourself.

I don't necessarily not see the pirate point of view on this, but am more curious as to what other developers are doing to combat the problem. Obviously, a more elaborate demo system would be useful, but with that not seeming to happen I fear we must instead just find ways to take down piracy on a developer by developer basis.
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CBanga, no offense and I mean no disrespect. If your in college how much software is readily available that may not be on the most legal side of the line?
There are people hacking their way into the security Apple establishes to prevent jailbreaking and unlocking. I think that is a little more intensive than what can be done to prevent the apps from piracy.

My friends use Appshopper to see whats new in the appstore. then they download dozens of apps at a time. Very rarely do they even use the apps they pirate but they feel compelled to download them like they are sticking it to the man.
As another poster mentioned, all those downloads don't necessarily equate to an actual sale.
Some actually use it at your expense.
What can you do? As some suggested a lite version.

I wish you the very best and hope there is some resolution Apple can implement.
 
spamdumpster said:
Can we have more info about what you do? I'm so curious, I may have to install the cracked version just to find out.
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Well, if you do, download version 1.1 so you can see what happens. 😛

I can't share the details. We use some stuff that's publicly known (google it) and a bunch of things that are specific to our own software. 😀 😉
 
It Is nothing you can do but deal with it. If you got something people want people will find away to get it for free. My motto is dont worry about the people that dont pay worry about the people that do pay.
 
I also try before i buy I downloaded weight bot and then paid for it on the app store there are so many crap apps out there, I do it but always buy or delete in a day or two.
 
Beware putting too much functionality in the lite version. Also, you might consider a free, ad-supported version. That way, wouldn't you make money even off pirated copies?
 
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