Apple may boast of the moderation applied to the App Store, sometimes malicious applications slip through the cracks. Two of them have made the headlines in recent days, and it is better to delete to avoid being scammed.
With over 2 million apps in the App Store, it’s inevitable that some of them are scams. Since the beginnings of the store in 2008, Apple has implemented and then reinforced technical and human verification mechanisms to identify and remove malicious apps, but vigilance is sometimes lacking.
$13 million in revenue
It’s the case for Fly-GPS, an app that promises the user to change their location (something technically impossible to do). She sells her services through a subscription set at $10 per week, or $520 per year. This is a complete scam do not use: if this application is present in your iPhone, you can delete it.
The Fly-GPS publisher pays fake comment specialists to inflate the rating of the app and release very favorable comments in order to deceive users. The worst is perhaps that Apple has validated updates to this application five times, without noticing the deception…
What’s the worst thing about this @AppStore app?
– Claims to spoof your physical location (not possible)
– $10/week ($520/year) subscription
– Hundreds of fake reviews
– Expired website certificate
– Approved by Apple FIVE timeshttps://t.co/DN6jk4AUkm pic.twitter.com/H9qExbaIYq— Kosta Eleftheriou (@keleftheriou) January 11, 2022
Developer Kosta Eleftheriou, who specializes in finding malicious apps on the App Store, recently gave another telling example. AmMe, an app that “boosts” the sound volume of his device and those of his friends, has extracted $13 million since it went live in 2018.
AmpMe charges a subscription of $10 per week ($520 per year, therefore) for services touted in the comments but which turn out to be completely false for most of them. Again, it is better to delete it from your iPhone if it is present.
