After a litany of complaints on social media, Phil Schiller, the head of Apple’s app store, has officially responded. The issue with spam and “rip-off” apps up for grabs in the app store has been a long-term complaint — and Schiller affirmed it ought to not be happening before resolving to look into it.
The issue seems specifically to do with the app store’s algorithm, which seems to be susceptible to copy-cat versions of popular apps that mimic things that are trending in the app store. Though this particular issue had been written off to an old bug in the app store — and been reported as fixed — it seems to keep recurring, particularly when it comes to popular games.
That the clones get into the app store is annoying, but what really frosts the flakes of users is that the app goes an extra step and recommends and features them to buyers. Developers are livid and have noted this is not a one off issue in the Apple app store — and that is emblematic of several ranking and discoverability issues with the marketplace that have persisted over time.
Schiller’s response on Twitter was in reply to a tweet from Screenshot++ developer Wesley Dyson, who highlighted another tweet from Mozilla’s Lisa Brewster about the issue with the comment, “I believe this is your department now. Rip-off apps should never be showcased by Apple.”
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