More and more malicious parties try to fool you with iOS apps that masquerade as web stores. Don’t fall for these rogue iOS counterfeit apps and expose them before installing them on your iPhone or iPad with these tips.
Discover iOS counterfeit apps, 7 tips
Research shows that the App Store is increasingly becoming a platform where criminals present counterfeit apps. In the hope that people unwittingly install the app, they hope to steal personal data that way. Many of these apps are so credible that users enter their payment details without noticing.
This can be very dangerous, and because the problem has only gotten worse in recent weeks, it is useful to be aware of this in advance. There are plenty of things you can check to expose these counterfeit apps.
1. Is the developer’s name correct?
The name of the developer is always listed under the name of the app. Does it match the name of the app? Or is there a company here that you have never heard of? If in doubt, it often pays to Google the name of the company. If you get crazy results or things that don’t match the app, then something is probably wrong. Spelling is important here, for example, there was a fake Foot Locker app in the App Store that was made by ‘Foot Locke Sports Co.’
2. Click through to the developer’s website
In the App Store you can always click through to a website of the developer. If you do this with WhatsApp, for example, you will end up on the official WhatsApp website, as well as Twitter and Facebook. So be careful if you are redirected to a crazy website here.
3. Look at the (credibility of) app reviews
If you download an app from a popular online store or fashion brand, you can assume that multiple App Store user reviews are available. This is a great place to check whether people are using the app and what their experiences are. You can also check the previous versions of the app here.
4. Check the previous versions of an app
In the App Store you can always view the older versions of an app in the version overview. Here you can see what has been added in updates, which is a great way to check the reliability of an app. Are the update descriptions vague and spelling errors? Or are there no updates to the app at all? Then you could be dealing with a counterfeit app. After all, the App Store is so old that most popular stores and brands have already made an app for it, which has undoubtedly been updated before.
5. Pay attention to the spelling and language use
Research shows that most counterfeit apps come from China, which means that a crazy language or translation error can slip through here and there. So pay close attention to the spelling used in update texts, but also in the screenshots in the App Store. These can of course also appear in the menus of the app itself.
6. Search through the App Store instead of Google
Apple’s algorithms do their best to put the most reliable app at the top of the App Store. But to find it, it is important that you search for the app via the App Store itself. For example, a rogue app via Google or a website can easily refer you to the fake app in the App Store, so that Apple’s algorithms can be circumvented.
7. Never enter your iCloud login name and password
If you do have the app installed, you should especially watch out for notifications that appear on the screen. For example, the app can try to steal your iCloud information by asking you to enter it. However, the notifications from Apple itself are almost always different from these fake notifications. For example, your e-mail address is already entered in the real report, so that you only have to enter your password. With the fake notification you have to enter both, which is always reason enough to remove the app as soon as possible.
Do you have any more tips to expose fake apps in the App Store? Share them with us in the comments!