The Issue of Pirated Applications in Apple’s App Store and Solutions

Apple’s Pirate App Problem in the App Store

Apple establishes strict rules and requirements for developers to place their apps in the App Store. However, despite all these stringent measures, it has been observed that some developers manage to trick Apple’s systems to get their apps into the store. Recently, a pirate streaming app has emerged as a clear example of this situation.

Shortly after a news published by 9To5Google, Apple began reviewing pirate streaming apps and removed a large number of such apps from the App Store. However, it seems that some developers did not accept this situation and once again managed to bypass Apple’s app approval process. These new apps are referred to as “Collect Cards” and are published by different developers.

Among the remarkable features of these apps, all of them have similar functionalities, and their app descriptions and screenshots do not present any content related to movie streaming or TV series. After the app is installed, users are faced with a comprehensive catalog of movies and series belonging to popular streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, and even Apple TV+.

According to 9To5Google, these apps manage to bypass Apple’s App Store audits by hiding their true functionalities for users in the US and by implementing geographical restrictions. Apple states that it is detecting and removing pirate streaming apps that claim to offer the latest content from many popular streaming platforms currently listed in the App Store. These apps were accessible in various countries around the world and had received high user ratings for predictable reasons.