Unfair marketing of applications in the AppStore and how to protect yourself from it

Recently, in the top paid applications of the Russian AppStore, you can increasingly find applications that, quite simply, can be called fraudulent.

Here are three examples of such applications (on 07/09/12):

9th place - “Fingerprint blocking”

41st place - “Blacklist”

85th place - “Name the blacklist” (all the same as in the previous application, only the application icon is different).

How to determine that the application is fraudulent?

1. As a rule, the description of the application is too verbose , with many different sub-points. But that would be nothing - but - attention: this is a mechanical translation using Google Translate (well, or Chinese Russian):

“Preventing unauthorized access and keeping your personal items in safe mode on your product.”

2. Do not look at the number of stars in reviews. But if you paid attention to them - look at the proportion of five-star and one-star reviews. As a rule, fraudulent applications have positive reviews - purchased (ratings and reviews are left with fake accounts, which, we hope, Apple fights with). The illustration clearly shows the ratio of dishonest positive reviews and negative reviews of angry users; mid in reviews is not observed.



3. Be sure to read reviews before downloading paid applications. And of course, write them yourself. In the world of digital content, this is important.

A few words about why it is generally possible to get fraudulent applications to the top AppStore ...

The fact is that with an attentive look, these applications are not “completely” fraudulent. Due to the imperfection of the procedure for approving and updating applications, developers have the opportunity to approve applications with different descriptions and different contents for individual countries. In Singapore, the application can be approved, for example, with the name "Secret Folder - Photo, Video, Note, Todo" , and in the Russian AppStore it is announced under the name "Blacklist Name " ; with other screenshots.



As you can see, the fraud lies in the fact that Russian users are offered an application with the wrong functionality, which is “wired” into the original code sent for review in the AppStore. The review is sent to a completely harmless "comic" application, placed in the Entertainment / Entertainment category, which does not cause suspicion among the AppStore Review team.

UPD from 07/10/2012:
These programs have disappeared from the TOP. Really Apple moderators read Habr ?!