iPhone Developer Introduces Anti-Piracy Feature; Turns Cracked Apps into Demos
iPhone Developer Introduces Anti-Piracy Feature; Turns Cracked Apps into Demos
Developer of iPhone app, Full-Screen Web Browser has figured out a way to turn cracked versions of his iPhone app into demos. This is the latest attempt by an iPhone developer to fight piracy of their iPhone app after Crackulous was released; a jailbreak app which strips copy protection from...
Comments
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It's cool that they are finding creative ways to attempt to stop piracy, but someone will always find a way around these things. My theory has always been "try-before-you-buy", which I actually have been doing. There are tons of apps that I wish I'm glad I downloaded first, because many aren't with even 1 cent.
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"The only concern that I have with this story is that Apple should have ideally released a firmware patch to prevent" iphone developers from releasing crappy apps without demos.
no doubt we'd all benefit from it.
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Yes, but has he thought about the legality of his approach? As far as I know, sending "customer" data e.g the UDID to his product server is illigal in the EU, because the server itself provides no functionality which is needed in his web browser app.
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Well, looks like I need to implement the info.plist check into my AppStore software, but I think I'll take the fun approach and make the software semi unusable if cracked, like make game logic stop working, display bad tip calculations. It would be easy to find where I make the program quit, but the the logic is harder to crack and would make the loser think twice, after all its only $0.99 and I offer lite versions for almost everything, except for tip software which is self explanatory, what would a lite tip calculator do, round up?
And there is a way to crack down against the evil app website, since it was used against my test site, and it sounds weird at first, but just start click farming ads, the ad people will step out due to click fraud, evil site loses money, problem solved.
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It looks like a certain bad web site doesn't have ads anymore, at least I don't see them.
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yeah, do make apps that go "semi-unusable" when cracked. 90% of people won't connect the two and will think those apps are simply non functional, not because they were cracked but because they were just crap. instead of buying them they will give you a bad rep. way to go.
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I really wouldn't worry about bad rep from folks who stole your software, they didn't buy it from the AppStore, so they can't leave a review, the other app store review sites are still kind of lame, who actually posts reviews to them, except for the devs and their wife's/parents. Also I don't think thief's they would have enough sway personally to have an active blog following, unless they were say an iPhone App reviewer, but if they had that position then dev's would just send them promotional codes for free.
I don't see any issues, other software products use this method, but they have to be careful about the release platform, the iPhone is still a bit of a walled garden when compared to PC software, where anyone can leave a forum post, but other then hardcore fans my forums will be limited to spam and users. And on forum posts, if anyone posts a comment about, "my defense towers aren't working, your software is lame" (English it too good for real l33t users) then I known instantly that they stole my software, delete all their posts, mock them publicly and release their IP address on a post of shame.
Currently I'm working on a two prong solution to piracy, I like the one above, but in my case the software will never truly expire, mostly due to the fact that I can't figure how to end the program by code, and its more fun to do it this way, or to mess with the thief. If its a game then the logic will start to fail, like cannons will not fire, enemies will never lose health or you can't finish the puzzle. For applications that work on files then bytes will start to scramble, broken PDF's anyone or write STOLEN on things. For e-mail software add a line to mention "This software was written on my expensive iPhone with Stolen software, (Add lines about their mom here)". For TIP software the amounts will be always be off by 13.37%.
I would rather have "Worst game ever" reviews on piracy websites and "decent" reviews on the AppStore where they actually count.
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The fact that people are stealing also to get $0.79 and $0.99 apps is pathetic and disgusting. Thanks to all the idiots for giving a headache to small developers that have given us the most refreshing stuff we have seen in the past 12 months on any platforms, at all advantage of the big ones of the industry that will once again take control of the platform.
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I found this funny video regarding piracy. I like the Chris Hansen character, gets it spot on:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVHhuTUp_30
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this is bull, because you can always ask apple for a refund.
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developers are forbidden of doing so by Apple. Its on the contract.
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agree totally. Forums are full of promo codes. People should move their asses and search. The small developer is the first to fall and the assholes will have to stick to the big names, always producing the same kind of games: first-person shooters, car racing, bike racing... etc.
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No, you can only get a refund if the app doesn't work, or crashes. Not because "you didn't like it."
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You seem to think you know a lot about this subject. Seriously, read the contract rather than spout sensationalized things from other sources.
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All of you complaining about people who steal apps are hypocrites.You've all been gladly downloading music and movies for the last ten years but as soon as apps come along its all like "oh, they're just indie developers living on pizza". Well screw you hypocrites! MP3s are 79 cents!
