August 9, 2021

Developers have openly accused Apple of failing to stop fraudulent apps from working in its App Store.

The developers also criticized Apple for promoting some of these apps, which are known to charge users unusual fees while stealing revenue from legitimate or higher-quality apps on the App Store.

Aside from its inability to throw scam apps out of its platform, developers also accused Apple of taking too long to heed complaints from developers following reports of these scam apps.

Apple’s Australian App Store published a story called “Slime relaxations” highlighting a certain category of apps. According to some developers, many of these apps have very high subscription fees with little functionality. 

A clear example of one of these fraud apps as published by MacRumors is the “Jelly: Slime Simulator, ASMR.”

Unless users subscribe to the app, it will be filled with ads. MacRumors said the app “features a $13 per week subscription” to remove ads.

MacRumors also noted that while Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines say that Apple will “reject expensive apps that try to cheat users with irrationally high prices,” it remains subjective.

Many developers argue that the “Jelly: Slime Simulator, ASMR” app and other apps featured in the “Slime relaxations” story have undoubtedly crossed the line.

For more information, read the original story in Arstechnica.