Jeff Johnson:

Several of these apps have a link to a privacy policy web page that’s hosted on a generic free site such as sites.google.com, docs.google.com, github.io, wixsite.com, or vercel.app, which is always a bad sign. A couple of the apps use URL shorteners for the privacy policy link: bit.ly and shorturl.at. Why is that even allowed?!? And some of the privacy policy links are broken, returning HTTP 404 Not Found. Does Apple App Store review even look at the privacy policies?

[…]

I don’t know whether this surfeit of YouTube apps was the product of multiple developers acting independently or one developer hiding behind multiple Apple accounts, an App Store scam that I’ve seen before. I’ve never heard of any of these developers, and I doubt that you have either, not even AdBlocker LLC, the developer of App for YouTube ℠, who is not to be confused with Adblock Inc, the developer of AdBlock, who is to be confused with Eyeo GmbH, the developer of Adblock Plus, who acquired Adblock Inc in 2021. Got that? In any case, many duplicate app names with random symbols at the end is clearly a perverse experience for App Store users, and Apple’s so-called curation is primarily to blame. Moreover, almost all of these apps have pricey subscriptions, another App Store red flag that I’ve discussed before.

Previously:

• Iris Rejected From the App Store
• Inkwell Rejected From the App Store
• The App Store Scammer Strikes Back

App Review App Store Scams Mac Mac App Mac App Store Trademark YouTube

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