Apple’s App Store isn’t a paradise by any stretch of the imagination, but now, developer Kosta Elftheriou has exposed one app in particular that Apple has been oblivious to since 2018. The app has all the red flags a scam would, but it continues to entrap users on the App Store.
In a Twitter thread that starts with “How to make $13,000,000 on the App Store,” Elftheriou highlights an app called “AmpME – Speaker & Music Sync.” The app’s listing claims that it can boost the volume of music you play by “syncing it with all of your friends’ phones, Bluetooth speakers, desktops, and laptops for FREE.” The app has accrued around 100,000 downloads and a 4.3-star rating based on 54,000+ reviews—statistics that would put some stock Apple apps to shame.
However, contrary to the attractive claims, AmpME exhibits several traits characteristic of a scam app. For starters, Elftheriou mentions that the app packs an auto-renewing $10/week subscription that is “easy to sign up for but hard to cancel.” Apple has somehow allowed it to stay on the App Store since 2018.
The saga doesn’t end there. A quick glance at the app’s review trends reveals sharp spikes in highly positive reviews with intermittent lulls of few and negative reviews. The former is typical of paid reviews generated with usernames that are impossible to pronounce. The pauses and negative reviews could be reviews from real disgruntled AmpME users. The app appears to have maintained its enviable rating by drowning honest user feedback in paid positive reviews.
2. Charge an absurd $10/week (~$520/year) auto-renewing subscription that’s easy to sign up for, but much harder to cancel: pic.twitter.com/XxBiLTlNZ3
— Kosta Eleftheriou (@keleftheriou) January 10, 2022
Like previous instances, the App Store even went ahead and featured AmpME several times to “make millions”. Ironically, Apple’s taglines for the App Store say: “The apps you love. From a place you can trust. Every day, moderators review worldwide App Store chars for quality and accuracy (sic).”
To add to the irony, just yesterday, Apple released a report highlighting the App Store’s stellar business performance.
Our Take
While the tweet thread casts Apple’s App Store review process in poor light, it is worth a visit for the comic value alone. Apple prohibits other app stores from distributing apps for iOS and macOS. Perhaps healthy competition would compel Apple to ensure scam apps are promptly booted off the App Store.
How do you think Apple can step up the battle against scam apps? Tell us in the comments section below.
