Apple makes it easier to report bad apps and scams
Following reports that revealed that a significant percentage of top App Store apps were scams, Apple is allowing users to report such behavior, according to The Verge. As part of iOS 15, the latest App Store update lets you “report a scam or fraud” for both free, in-app purchase (IAP) and paid apps, provided you’ve installed the app in question.
The feature, detailed by Kosta Eleftheriou and Richard Mazkewich on Twitter, goes even farther than the previous “Report a Problem” feature. You can now signal a scam or a fraud and not just “Report suspicious activity,” “Report a quality issue,” “Request a refund” or “Find my content” as before. Previously, you would have also needed to make an in-app purchase before you could highlight a scam or fraud, but that’s no longer the case.
The “Report a problem” feature itself returned to individual app listings for the first time in years, as The Verge pointed out. Prior to that, it was located at the bottom of the Apps or Games tabs and would send you to a separate website.
Apple essentially foreshadowed the changes when it released new App Store Review Guidelines in June. Several sections included changes that saw Apple taking a tougher stance on fraud, scams and developer misconduct, TechCrunch noted at the time.
Bad apps found on the Store included VPNs that duped customers into buying unneeded software, bad dating apps, QR readers and apps fraudulently claiming to be from major brands, the Washington Post revealed earlier this year. The apps may have defrauded users out of an estimated $48 million, according to the Post‘s estimates.
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