I've heard about this happening, but I didn't expect it to happen to me. Granted, it's not really hurting me that much, but it's still frustrating that somebody actually has the nerve to think they can get away with it I created a walkthrough for the popular free app "Can You Escape". The app has been doing well and is still hanging around #20 in the free reference category. I fully expected some more walkthroughs to pop up, but I wasn't expecting to see a clone of my own app. Here's my app - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cheats-for-can-you-escape/id668165412?mt=8&uo=4 And here is the rip off - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/walkthrough-for-can-you-escape/id671763647?mt=8&uo=4 As you can see, save for a few changes, the layout is exactly the same. The walkthroughs are different, but that's probably only because he was unable to copy and paste them (they load from the data url). He put a few of his own questions into the elevator quiz as if he's trying to cover it up, but the majority of questions are identical copies. Further research reveals that Gyokeres Vilmos is the name of the culprit - https://www.facebook.com/gyokeres.vilmos - I don't know if he is a member on these forums or not, but people like this deserve to be outed publicly

Wow.. I mean come on and at least make an attempt to switch some stuff around and not blatantly make look exactly the same way with only a different font style. Is there anything you can do to bring this up to apple?

Jeeze!! And it didn’t take him long either. You published on July 1st, right? And he had his up by the 17th… What can be done?

And to think he's charging $0.99 for your free app. Shameful. Cheers! -- Smug

Interesting...always wondered what you could do to stop this. They say imitating is the sincerest form of flattery, but this takes the cake :-) Hopefully, you can get it resolved soon, maybe with Apple?

How many ratings and comments need to be posted on an app review before Apple starts to publish the comments? Isn’t it about 10? Would it be worth it for a bunch of us to buy the app a number of times so everyone could tell potential buyers not to buy it, that it’s a copy and they can get it for free under the name “Cheats for can you escape”?

Wow I didn't even see that he was charging .99 for your free app, that is just ridiculous.

Well, conveniently I just recently formed an LLC and I now have a lawyer that I pay $100 a month for simple services such as this. I wrote him an email requesting a cease and desist letter to be written up on behalf of my company The weird thing is, the guy has a pretty professional looking website - http://paintitpurple.info So it's kind of strange that he would do something so cheesy

Yeah but if you look at most of his apps, the majority of them are based on the same concepts/ideas of some of the top downloaded games.

The week of hackers ....oh I mean security breaches ......people looking for shortcuts sent you a PM -Sheri

Instead of buying the app, another option is to send emails to Apple support :-)

I'm not interested in buying the app..I just want it taken down. I could go to Apple support..the ideal resolutiion would be for the punk to get booted from the dev program, but I hear that Apple is pretty slow to respond to such complaints.

this happen to me with my app call of duty and worst the guy came on the forums and even said he did some good money

That's pretty blatant! Hope you get a resolution. If you know what you're doing, it's not hard to copy an app. One of the reasons why I don't rely on the App Store to make money.

@Chris1. You'll have to share your monetization methods :-) I've decided to make free apps, with either in-app purchase and/or by using 3rd party SDK's for app monetization...harder to copy those features. I was listening to some podcasts where they talk about users not wanting to pay for apps as much, unless the app is a super-duper must-have app. But if the app is good and used a lot, then users are willing to pay once they start using the app, via in-app purchase or indirectly via interstitials/banners. Cheers

Just like I thought, his walkthroughs are copied word for word from this site - http://www.freeappgg.com/can-you-escape-level-5-walkthrough.html

I'm just wondering how they got access to your code (or is it just a straight copy of features/content - that top left REFRESH does make it look like a Buzztouch app)? Looks like they got rid of the iAds at the bottom of the screens (I guess since he's charging for app) and GameCenter (since that requires more coding work). It would be good to get to the bottom of it, but doubt he will have many sales when someone can get yours for free, with GameCenter.

The elevator quiz on their app is unmistakably from Buzztouch. I don't think the quiz is a real big draw anyway (really, who wants to take an elevator quiz anyway haha) - I just added it in there to help get through the review process

wow.. that sucks. it surely is buzztouch made. :( hopefully you can get it removed but it could be difficult. i wonder what was the result in the same situation as @AlexTm? have your downloads gone down? good luck with contacting Apple!

This sucks. It's actually very easy to be a thief by extracting the files from the IPA package. I have explained the technique on these forums several times. This fellow must have a BuzzTouch Lite framework for table-based apps. He can extract, reuse and deploy in a moment. Please do report this guy to Apple. I hear you can do it via a DMCA filing. -- Niraj

These types of posts are the sorts that ruin all of our days. We've begun looking into this to see if we can figure out a solution. As @Absentia mentions, it's an obvious rip-off and the name of the person is easy to figure out. Apple: For sure they should know about this and take the app down. Us: If this person is a part of our community we will take swift action to make sure this doesn't continue. If this person is not part of our community we'll have a harder time doing much about it? Hackers - the good kind, we love them. Hackers - the theif kind, we all work twice as hard because of them! d.

Gutting, just gutting :( I guess we can expect more and more of these posts. Farcat

Maybe we need an option to encrypt our BT_config data with a password we hard-code in our projects if we choose? Not sure what the rules are with that at Apple. I know they ask you if you're using encryption techniques. But it might be s nice option for some people have.

Is there a plugin for that chris1? <wink> Customer here if there is ;) Sheri

I sent a content dispute to Apple and they passed it on to the developer - for future reference, if anybody else has this happen, here is the link to file a content dispute - http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/appstorenotices/

Thanks for the update! Best of luck! Sheri

update: haven't heard back from the developer, but the apps are no longer available so it looks like the dispute was effective :)

@Absentia. Doubt you'll hear from the "developer" (air quotes) :-) Glad you got it resolved. Wonder if the "developer" decided to take them off or whether it was Apple? Would be good to hear what Apple says. Cheers

excellent news my friend! glad you found your voice! Great example of sticking to your guns ;)