App Store Scam: “Update My Phone”
“Update My Phone & Apps: Guide” is an iOS app from developer Tair Olzhasev. By default, the only thing it does for free is give you a “Check for Updates” button that launches the system Settings app. It doesn’t even take you to the General → Software Update screen. It just takes you to the root level of Settings.
Everything else it purports to do requires a $15/week subscription. That’s $780 per year.
You can tell it's a scam without even downloading the app, because it has no website and hosts the privacy policy on sites.google.com, a dead giveaway.
The 3-day trial with auto-renewing subscription is also a huge red flag. By no coincidence, 3 days is the minimum subscription trial length allowed by Apple. All the scams use it.
Being part of a team with a successful App Store app opens my eyes for how weird the app store is.
This is not the Bear Notes the Shiny Frog team is working on :)
This one seems to not be a scam—and there’s only a one-time $3.99 IAP—but it sure is confusing.
Previously:
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If a slide surfaces where Apple intentionally let shit like this through to move the Overton Window, I for one wouldn't be the least bit surprised.
I mean, what's the alternative?
