App store shenanigans

I’ve downloaded and tested a few hundred iPhone and iPad apps. One thing that I’ve noticed is that many of the top rated and ranked apps are pretty scammy. Take for example “Night Vision.”

It’s a top app in under Utilities for both paid and free iPhone apps.

If you actually download and test the app, you’ll find it doesn’t work at all. In fact, I found it made objects darker, not brighter. See these photos with and without the app of the exact same room in the exact same lighting.

The app tries to get you to download other apparently scammy apps. I’m guessing this kind of “cross selling” is how Night Vision got most of its downloads.

Another clever trick they play is when you look at the app customer ratings on the iPhone App Store you see that it has 4.5 stars:

But when you look on the desktop web you see the overall ratings are vastly lower and that they seem to game the system by releasing “new versions” to reset their ratings and then probably paying people to write positive reviews:

Companies like TapJoy let you pay to get in the Top 25, and then once you are there you can get “organic” downloads by being on the toplists.

Another platform, another way to game it.

http://twitter.com/MaxYoder Max Yoder

Why does Apple reset the star rating with each new version of an app? While it might be a good idea in theory, it makes gaming like this that much easier. Good ideas aren’t good ideas if they create more chaos than value.

http://www.cdixon.org chris dixon

i don’t know. i’m hoping if this gaming is more exposed they’ll fight back
against it.

http://blog.CascadeSoft.net @CascadeRam

I disagree with the resets and commented on this in 2009.

However, I understand the reasoning behind the resets. The theory is that a poor quality 1.0 version should be forgiven and that a new version/update should be judged on its own merit.

http://jackdempsey.me Jack Dempsey

It may not really be feasible, but would be nice to see either an average rating or something with historical value. While I agree it’s not fair to forever neg someone for a quick-to-market test, resetting for every new release is just too easy to game.

http://blog.CascadeSoft.net @CascadeRam

The overall average rating is maintained by Apple and can be seen on itunes (though it isn’t the default). So it is feasible to show that rating on the iPhone as well.

imo it is *not* unfair to include v1 ratings in the total average ratings.

http://jackdempsey.me Jack Dempsey

Oh very nice. I agree, show that on iPhone as well.

Perhaps they could do a sliding scale–weight more recent versions higher. If you’re 8 iterations in, your last update really should matter most, not what v1 said, right?

http://blog.CascadeSoft.net @CascadeRam

I disagree with the resets and commented on this in 2009.

However, I understand the reasoning behind the resets. The theory is that a poor quality 1.0 version should be forgiven and that a new version/update should be judged on its own merit.

http://profiles.google.com/mgkimsal Michael Kimsal

It’d be pretty simple to have an ‘overall star rating’ and a ‘star rating for this version’ distinction displayed, no?

http://joelaz.com Joe Lazarus

Apple does show the rating for both the “current version” and for “all versions” on the web page for every app:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/night-vision-free/id390867374

The rating for all versions of “Night Vision+ Free” is 1.5 stars.

http://www.cdixon.org chris dixon

yes but on my iphone it only showed the 4.5 stars on the main page (which is
what vast majority of users look at).

http://joelaz.com Joe Lazarus

Yep, totally agree it’s misleading. I was just replying to someone else’s
comment that Apple should calculate both.
http://www.giantrobotlasers.com Ivan Kirigin

the reason for this is that apps get low ranked because of a bug and then a new version fixes that bug. It isn’t fair to count ratings of different versions equally

http://twitter.com/amdev Amro Mousa

Cheating on the App Store is extremely frustrating. That said, there are legit ways to get a high star rating. Specifically, Appirater takes makes getting 4+ stars fairly easy.

Edit: Not suggesting this app is legit
http://twitter.com/amdev Amro Mousa

Cheating on the App Store is extremely frustrating. That said, there are legit ways to get a high star rating. Specifically, Appirater takes makes getting 4+ stars fairly easy.

Edit: Not suggesting this app is legit
http://twitter.com/iapps_in iApps In

It is a known problem and one way to address it is to consider the temporal distribution of the ratings, rankings and updates. However, that doesn’t guarantee all spammy apps would be detected because the statistical models are still emerging. Natural language processing and machine learning are helping us at http://iApps.in in understanding the App Store patterns better and improve the search and discovery for the users.
Anonymous

TapJoy reminds me of those companies that let you pay them for extra Twitter followers.

It’s apps and companies like these that ruin it for developers trying to make it “legitimately”. But I guess we live in a competitive world…

http://twitter.com/webwright Tony Wright

I don’t think that’s fair. It reminds ME of Google Adwords. “Buying” customers is a time honored tradition and there’s no shame in it. I know a lot of GREAT game companies that buy installs with TapJoy– why wouldn’t you if you’ve got a great/viral game and a good ARPU?

http://www.jeffreytalajic.com/blog jefftala

I just posted my reaction on my blog (shameless plug: http://www.jeffreytalajic.com/2011/04/app-store-junk/ ) but here’s a copy paste of my thoughts:

At what point do algorithms fail and humans need to come in and curate the kinds of “top” lists you find in the App store and other platforms? You can do this either by hiring a full-time top list checker who verifies that truly shitacular apps aren’t scamming their way to the top, or crowd-sourcing it by letting users flag sketchy apps that don’t seem to deserve the attention they’re getting. And by all means throw some engineering talent at the problem too.

http://www.cdixon.org chris dixon

Apple could probably improve things by 1) disallowing apps cross selling, 2)
making their review “reset” system smarter. I mean these are the people who
have revolutionized the entire computing world multiple times, they must be
able to figure out how to do a good raring system…

http://www.jeffreytalajic.com/blog jefftala

Investigating “fake” reviews and suspending Apple accounts might also stop, or slow down, the scammers as well. It might just be a few dozen rogue Apple accounts voting these apps up.
http://halfwaynerdy.com Ryan Hoover

You can’t be serious when you propose banning the cross-selling of apps? The web analog would be to ban banner ads to other websites.

http://www.cdixon.org chris dixon

yeah after thinking about it i don’t think app cross selling should be banned. i take that back. but definitely something needs to be done about totally scammy apps…

http://blog.nextblitz.com gzino

Agree. Apple could learn from Amazon here (which of course brings up another topic on Android app store for another day).

However currently (in the future, with zillions of apps and noise, this will change), don’t most folks make their app decisions on recommendations of their social nets, professional reviews, etc. (rather than these rankings)?

So the gaming aspect will always be there but I’m wondering if it is nearly as effective or important in apps as it has been in for example search, and I’m wondering if curation via social nets will ultimately mean Apple doesn’t invest too much here?
http://ouriel.typepad.com OurielOhayon

chris banning cross promotion is not the right thing to do. It is a legitimate way to gain new users if you are fair game. The problem has to do with the fact app stores are ecommerce catalogs based on download velocity. What you really want is a way to bring better context to rankings or apps in general. This is a long discussion but this is the job of a good recommendation engine…(which we built)

http://twitter.com/webwright Tony Wright

This is a really important post.

Another thing to zero in on is the games categories. Given the ability to “buy” installs (Tapjoy, etc), it’d seem that the Top Free Games list will soon be populated by the games that can manage the highest ARPU (those with virtual goods models). Of course, better games will have a lower effective cost-per-user. But unless Apple changes something, it’d be hard to imagine how free ad-supported games could manage to compete on those lists down the road as virtual-goods games continue to multiply.
http://halfwaynerdy.com Ryan Hoover

Services like http://appmagenta.com and http://gtekna.com are also commonly used to game the App Store rankings. With enough money, you can buy enough fake downloads to reach the #1 spot.
Anonymous

Good post & perfect example. I have an iPhone app with a minimal budget, and it is very difficult to compete in ratings with apps that do this. It’s particularly problematic because free trials aren’t supported in the App Store. That means that for a typical purchase flow, the _only_ thing a user has to go on before handing over money are gamed ratings.
http://www.kyledoherty.net Kyle

Benefits of being at the top of the rankings has a huge multiplicative effect on downloads, so the incentive to use TapJoy is pretty strong. I know of a few companies that have abandoned all other forms of paid advertising for their apps and exclusively use TapJoy.

But I worry more as the app store matures that there will be a pay-to-play effect and you *need* to use TapJoy or AppCircle to get in the top rankings, effectively creating a barrier to entry protecting those with the capital to maintain the ranking.

http://www.cdixon.org chris dixon

yes, also with so much $ being invested in app developers now I think it’s going to become almost mandatory to pay.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=206442 Josh Schwarzapel

Check out Apptitude on iOS. It was created by a few ex-Stanford/ex-Apple friends in Dogpatch and they just launched their v1 today (you can get it in the app store).

They show you the apps your friends are using, and want to make it really easy to see what apps are a) being used regularly by b) people in your social/interest graph. Much better set of criteria than who pumps the most money into TapJoy.
Anonymous

They show you the apps your friends are using, and want to make it really easy to see what apps are a) being used regularly by b) people in your social/interest graph. Much better set of criteria than who pumps the most money into TapJoy.

http://www.forumswindows8.com or http://www.win8forum.net
http://www.facebook.com/pettazz Nick Pettazzoni

“Another platform, another way to game it.”

Such is life.
http://www.extrafeet.com/eville Don Synstelien

I think the answer is in curation. Apple needs to put a “Czar” in place that manually oversees and reviews the app store rank pages and all apps that are found there. A Spammy app is clearly a spammy app when you use it, and even with user ratings that are good (gamed) a human touch is needed to distinguish between an app that deserves to be in teh list and one that does not.

This would mean a very “unfair” system for those who game the system and some “really good” apps might get caught in the net, but overall, if the “crime” of gaming the system stops paying, then we’ll have a better system overall.
http://ouriel.typepad.com OurielOhayon

Actually this has more to do with app rings that with tap joy. A dev create an app that somehow became successful and then cross promote other apps like those. There is nothing wrong in buying downloads. The problem is the promotion of crappy apps.
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http://twitter.com/WilhemPujar Wilhem Pujar

I think one of the main reasons why user-generated reviews are flawed in their current approach is that they are purely quantitative. Making a buying decision based on an “average rating” figure sounds weak to me. If high ratings drive coercive consumption then we should definitely work on ratings relevance through a proper algorithm-driven system.
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http://www.mobilecubix.com iPhone App Development

If few application are not working on iPhone so why Apple include the application on Top or free application categories.It is not fair to developer..Totally Spamming on Apple Store.
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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=4809942 Anu Nigam

I think that adding retention numbers are good, but it has to be done on a category basis. If you have a top calculator app vs a top social network, the retention of the social network will be way higher. Everything isn’t meant to be opened every day, but it adds value when you need it and it is something people want when they get a phone. I can see retention mattering a lot on search results.
http://www.wurkhappy.com Marcus Ellison

I’m late to this. But have you checked out http://www.signifyd.com?

They’re a brand new startup focused on building anti-virus like tools for abusive behavior in online communities.
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http://twitter.com/stagename stagename

This is natural Chris. Years ago the mobile app ecosystem was a mess. Carriers were frustrated with premium text campaigns and apps that tricked consumers to make transactions users were not aware they were making or didn’t intend to make. So carriers all came together to establish mobile marketing guidelines (MMA) and cascaded those guidelines down to various aggregators and facilitators to enforce. If your application didn’t meet a rigid set of guidelines, it wouldn’t ever reach the consumer. I think Apple and Tapjoy need to come together and establish similar guidelines. TapJoy will have to screen the apps better to align with Apple guidelines, and together they can crack down to ensure integrity in the ecosystem.
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BuyGiftsItems

This means that the typical buy-flow _only_ thing you have to go before the release of money gamed estimates.

a deal a day
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Chris Dixon