Comments on: Warning! App Store Scams – Artistic Typography Photo FX and a Bunch of Others

By: Noel Chenier

Noel Chenier — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:52:14 +0000

Happy to report that Apple appears to have taken note of this and removed the offending apps and developers from the store.
+1 to Apple for helping out honest developers trying to produce great apps.

For now…..
No doubt these scumbags will try again, so keep your eyes peeled and report any that reappear.

Thanks
Noel Chenier
http://www.learnphoto.ca/apps

By: Noel Chenier

Noel Chenier — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:10:15 +0000

Thanks Marty I will!
btw, I had sent you an email with some questions about posting on the forum in relation to my apps, but hadnt recieved a reply.
Sorry to be a pain, but I just want to make sure I’m following the rules of the site and want some guidance.

Thanks again
Noel

By: Marty Yawnick

Marty Yawnick — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:20:31 +0000

Hi, Noel,

Please do. Feel free to use the list on this post when you do. Perhaps having specific app names will get something done this time. Keep us posted on any progress. And good luck.

=M=

By: Noel Chenier

Noel Chenier — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 22:41:21 +0000

Ai Qing Zhang
Art Portrait FX HD
Released Jan 20th
Artistic Camera Effect HD
Released Jan 17th

Abigails Enigma HD (NOT EVEN A PHOTO APP)
Release January 18th

Cai Xia Bao
Art Painting Effect HD
Released Jan 18th

i dont think it will matter, but I think I’ll be contacting apple.

By: Marty Yawnick

Marty Yawnick — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:01:33 +0000

I share your frustration, but Apple seems to be doing nothing in this specific instance. Thanks for sharing the new apps, Noel. I’ll add them to the post. =M=

By: Noel Chenier

Noel Chenier — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:47:22 +0000

Shu Mei Ling is at it again…
new app on the app store Artistic Typography Effect HD released Jan 12th…along with good old Ai Qing’s Art Vintage Photo FX HD…
as I have just released my iPad versions of my photo assignment apps, this really angers me.
I wish apple would not let these guys get away with this.
Both of their “SUPPORT” page are unfinished wordpress sites…
Seriously!!! They should be rejected for that alone! I have my app rejected TWICE because I used “for iPad” in the bundle name the first time, the second time it was for wrong capitalization of “iPad”
I spent hours developing a support page that would make sure my customers could get help for any problems, or contact me if they couldn’t.

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Sorry…rant over.

Noel

By: Noel Chenier

Noel Chenier — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 13:33:16 +0000

Wow…so I guess I should have been switching out my app screenshots for instagram ones all along? No wonder I haven’t made millions with my apps yet!!

Thanks for posting Jason.
I had to scramble to upload my screenshots for my apps currently under review as I wasn’t aware of this!!!!
Should be interesting to see what happens and the effect it has…I hope it doesnt start a flood of new binary uploads, which will slow the review process down for legitimate developers…

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:13:54 +0000

Hope this change in Apples policy will help
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple-locking-app-store-screenshots-after-approval-to-fight-scam

By: =M=

=M= — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 06:40:41 +0000

Ahhh, Zhong. A fine purveyor of low res crap apps. I remember his diatribe. I mentioned it in my review of the app. I remember you from that. He’s got another low res POC that he’s been playing the App Store pricing game with lately, Fish Eye Lens. I reviewed that one also a while back. I hope it turns up in search engines as a warning. =M=

By: Mulvaney

Mulvaney — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 06:17:38 +0000

One of the few problem apps that I bought (before researching it) was Large Aperture Pro by zhong. It is a typical low resolution app except that it actually distorts photos and does not save the intended blur effects. There were a few updates that made it even worse.

I posted an honest review but almost immediately there were a number of five star reviews talking about how “muche fun” and amazing it was. When I updated the review to bring mine to the top, the process repeated again. I even sent the developers examples of the distorted photos without a reply.

I noticed that a couple of his apps were temporarily free and tried them out. After I posted reviews noting similar problems, the developer mentioned my user name on the app descriptions, accused me of being part of a conspiracy, getting his apps illegally and slandering him — threatening legal action. I contacted Apple about it and was told there was nothing they could do.

Eventually, he decided that mentioning critics on the app page was bad for business. He also got tired of seeding the app with fake reviews as more people posted. Perhaps he had moved on to other things.

By: Noel Chenier

Noel Chenier — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 05:28:14 +0000

Hi Ginger
So far I’ve only had one person ask for a refund(because she hadn’t read the full description for the app and thought it would work full screen on her ipad when it was stated it wouldnt) but she was able to get it pretty quick. You should get a refund obviously because of this scam.

Trying to do my best to do things right!
Always willing to listen…feedback is the only way to improve.

Noel

By: Ginger

Ginger — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 04:27:20 +0000

Noel,
What a very generous offer of you to make!! That is very kind of you! I honestly can’t take any credit for compiling the list, that was all Marty! All I did was pass along what I found and Marty do the rest…he’s awesome that way!

As far as these scams are concerned. I must admit that I’m really pissed to see people being taken advantage of. It really is sad too because not everyone knows about these types of scams or the fake reviews either. I just hope Apple will look into this further. I did ask for a refund for this app, as I did buy it. We’ll see how it goes.

Again thank you for taking the time to read this. As an app consumer, it please me to know there are good Devs out there, willing to listen and get involved!!

Thanks again,
Ginger

By: Noel Chenier

Noel Chenier — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 01:42:23 +0000

Hi Marty

Thanks for the reply. I can imagine it being frustrating for you as well, it would be a waste of your time and money to review crappy apps like these.
This has been quite a journey for me developing my apps, and quite the eye opener!
I am happy to see someone like yourself who does honest and unbiased reviews, unlike many sites out there.

Keep up the great work, and happy shooting!
Thanks

Noel

By: Marty Yawnick

Marty Yawnick — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 23:54:37 +0000

Hi, Noel,

Thank you for stopping by. You make many excellent points. I understand your frustration. As a blogger who spends a lot of time researching photo apps, it’s very frustrating to see these guys A) take money from developers like you (which is what they’re doing) and B) through cheating, get higher App Store chart ranking (see A).

=M=

By: Noel Chenier

Noel Chenier — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 23:04:27 +0000

Thank you for you work on this list Ginger. If you send me an email, I’ll gladly gift you one of my apps as thanks.
As an app developer myself, this really angers me.
I’ve worked hard developing my unique apps, releasing them, and trying to market them the right and ethical way. I’m following all the rules apple puts in front of me.
And scumbags like these are the ones that get downloads and are more popular than mine on the app store.
And don’t get me started on the others who pay for fake reviews and downloads, fake postings online, etc, to manipulate the rankings.
I wish apple would do more to prevent this…
It’s frustrating to say the least. but maybe it’s the only way to be successful, i don’t know. I’m beginning to think this is like the tour de france…you want to win because you have trained hard and are a good cyclist…but everyone else is doping.

Thanks again for the list Ginger. unfortunately these guys will just start over again I’m sure.

And thanks Marty and Glyn for the great resources for iPhoneography.
Noel Chenier
noel@noelchenier.ca

By: Lanie

Lanie — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 20:04:09 +0000

Haha yes indeedy!!

By: Marty Yawnick

Marty Yawnick — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:12:29 +0000

Not cheap, Lanie…. Thrifty!

=M=

By: Lanie

Lanie — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:52:14 +0000

Luckily I’m too cheap to buy $2.99 apps or any “art overlay” type apps. I prefer to create my own textures with my photos. Lol. No seriously though Marty, thanks for this! ~Lanie

By: =M=

=M= — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 21:20:36 +0000

An excellent suggestion, Jason. Thank you!

=M=

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 20:32:51 +0000

It helps sometimes to click on “App Support” or “Developer Website”. These “developers” have mostly no or skeleton (WordPress) websites.
I pesonally don’t buy any up where the developer has no “trust worthy” website.

By: Marty Yawnick

Marty Yawnick — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 08:32:33 +0000

Thank you.

=M=

By: Hassan

Hassan — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 08:19:40 +0000

Thanks for hard working and sharing this lis of scams apps and developers. We all should support this

By: Marty Yawnick

Marty Yawnick — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 09:11:51 +0000

Thanks, Mig. I think both developers are definitely questionable.

=M=

By: Mig

Mig — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 05:04:36 +0000

Thank you so much…. I also think “ying ni nie” and “shu mei ling” are same group of people or person. I was going to buy their app, I spot an odd similarity from both of then and start searching. This is how i come across your post here. I totally agree with you that this scam must be stop it make people start to doubt that the apps they they are going to buy really is working or as describe.

By: Link: The App Scams continue

Link: The App Scams continue — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 01:11:25 +0000

[...] Yawnick over at Life in LoFi has just written an excellent article, titled: “Warning! App Store Scams – Artistic Typography Photo FX and a Bunch of Others”. This article about the current crop of App Store scams is a must read, and is an extension of the [...]