New “Report a Problem” link on product pages
developer.apple.com
developer.apple.com
This is a welcome change, but what’s most important is what Apple actually does with the reports - which I’m definitely going to be keeping a close eye on.
Of note, this “New” Report-a-Problem button is not actually new: it used to be there but Apple decided to remove it years ago, while App Store scams were - and still are - running rampant: https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/06/with-return-of-report-a-pr...
It appears that reports are going to be attributed to actual accounts, which should enable Apple to identify abusers more easily.
I don't feel X == Y in this case. Account creation is not a high enough bar to block abusers IMHO. Amazon reviews require accounts too, but that obviously doesn't stop the negative review attacks which GP mentioned.
Possibly negated with some form of (even Apple-internal) web-of-trust measurement of account validity.
I also expect they'll link this system to a human review queue. If you send abusive reports for something that isn't scammy, it will probably not be considered scammy during human review, especially if you're responsive to questions asked by Apple during that review. There will, of course, be a 'first post' false positive someday when a reviewer makes the wrong call, but it's a safe bet that they have not implemented a Google/Facebook/Yelp system where your life and livelihood can be destroyed by an algorithm without human participation.
Software can't actually poison people in a physical sense, so generally the software marketplaces care less about signals from reviews like those.
It's not non obvious if you bribe someone who uses an American shipping address to do it.
‘This software broke my phone’
‘This software wasted my battery’
‘This software invaded my privacy’
‘This software is a scam’
App Store review can be random, AND this can be a good policy. (Well, good for consumers. I could see it causing developers some issues if competitors weaponize it.)
When I download a package from f-droid repository, I know the folks at f-droid have the source code of the bits I downloaded. Same thing with Debian and Fedora. Why can't Apple do the same thing? Require developers to submit machine-readable source code along with build instructions. Build them directly on Apple servers. Sign them with Apple's certificates.
I am not an Apple developer. As a consumer, I would welcome such a change.
Now, it is true that you could have a web view that fetches application chrome/content from a web server but I would argue Apple should disallow such apps anyway.
This is essentially an admission that their review process has problems.
I'm sure you're aware but, as an app developer, the review process seems random at many times.
Depending upon the phase of the moon certain features or metadata may be accepted or rejected in apps. Even when the exact same features have been accepted in prior app versions and app reviews (without changes to the actual guidelines).
In such cases, perhaps Apple's interpretation of the guidelines have changed. If so, there's no way for app developers to know this until they get hit with a rejection. Rejections rarely include explanation of the interpretation so it's up to the developer to try and interpret what the real issue is.
This is on top of the fact that, in many cases, Apple deliberately uses the guidelines and shifting interpretations to delay or destroy competitors. This occurs even if competitors are acting within the guidelines and all prior known interpretations of those guidelines.
"I clicked on this ad on facebook and bought something that never arrived!" Help i've been scammed!
"Why is this amazon product late??" Amazon App is a scam!
"They messed up my chipotle order and the app doesn't allow me to report the order as missing something".
I know none of these are really apple's fault/responsibility. But ask anyone who works in customer support - there is a really long tail of people who actually thinks all apps are by apple and apple should offer support.
You do not need to work in customer support to know that: just read reviews on trustpilot.com
The mobile carrier that I use has an app on the App Store that subscribers can install in order to view their subscription, change subscription plan, and view past and present bills/invoices. The app itself is pretty good, it's snappy and easy to use. Only shortcoming is that they have a widget that comes with the app but the widget doesn't work and they have been aware of this for a long time without fixing it.
Anyways, I was looking at the reviews and most were positive. But then there was one review that stood out. A one star review, and get this – the review was complaining about something totally orthogonal to the app itself. They were complaining about the prices of the plans the carrier is offering. The pricing of the plans that your carrier is offering is not relevant to managing your plan through this app.
These kinds of irrelevant complaints are sure to show up in reports too, like you say. But let's hope that the amount of those will stay relatively low.
The mods do their best to keep the discussions on topic, but I sure do wish more of us would agreed with you even when a given topic brings up intense feelings.
If you include 3rd party software in your app, and that 3rd party software does something bad, then that's totally your fault.
Apps in stores are 3rd party software as well, so it's Apple and Google's fault?
Apple and Google do not automatically install or run 3rd party apps from the store. If they did, then yes, obviously it would be their fault, but they don't.
I miss worthwhile reviews.
That's not a bad thing. Maybe it'll force ad-supported products to actually review & moderate their ads.
And Somehow I don’t believe apple will spend real money (aka hiring people to process the reports) on this.
I wonder what it was. Maybe someone realized that Apple should be considered complicit if they pocket 30% of the proceeds of the crime and continue to enable it?
- Aesop’s Fables (circa 260 BC).
This will probably not affect the big incumbent apps at all with all their resources and legal teams.
This can and probably will be used as a blunt instrument and weapon on the honest indie hacker. Another unnecessary high bar put in front of them.
The scamsters will probably be unaffected in the long run while the costs will be borne by the small guys. They are pros at gaming the system and will always figure out workarounds.
I hope I am wrong but the unintended consequences of penalties is always selectively applied to the weak and honest.
We already see similar results play out everywhere else and we never seem to learn.
And Apple being apple they might even be successful.
It has always been difficult to do this.
There's a particularly nasty type of scam that is the "Gazillion bucks a month subscription" app, that I have encountered a few times, but have been unable to report.
You can report frauds against an app's signature, and centralized command and control can disable apps that attempt to harm users. (With opt-out if you care.)
The only new thing here is that you can opt-out.
Fraud/Scam is a real issue, and controlling your device is a real issue. But they're two issues.