The app “Collect Cards: Store box” fooled Apple for over a year!
Apple’s review team works hard to ensure that only apps that comply with the rules are distributed. However, it is not a foolproof protocol, as has been proven in the past. This week it has proven this claim again, discovering that A pirated streaming app managed to sneak into the App Store for several months.
“Collect Cards: Store box” hit the App Store over a year ago with a vague description and screenshots that portrayed it as a simple app for managing photos and videos. But actually It functioned as a pirate streaming platform which offered content from Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and even Apple TV+.
A dual-purpose app bypassed App Store security
“Collect Cards: Store box” bypassed the verification process and revealed its true nature thanks to geolocation. Depending on the user’s location, the corresponding interface was displayed. For users in the United States, for example, the basic photo management interface was activated, while in other countries, such as Brazil, where it reached the number 2 spot of the most downloaded free applicationspirated content was unlocked.
This is not the first case of apps using geolocation to trick the App Store review system. In 2017, Uber was accused of disabling tracking features as it approached Apple’s headquarters in Cupertinoand in 2021 it emerged that the review team, while staffed by more than 500 human experts, relies heavily on automated processes for initial application review.
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Incidents like this put into highlights the need to strengthen the App Store review mechanisms. Combining more thorough human reviews with more sophisticated detection tools may be the key to preventing these types of apps from sneaking into the store and affecting users.
While this is not the case this time, security breaches generate high economic losses for technology companies. In 2024 alone, the real cost of security breaches is expected to rise to 9.5 trillion dollars.
Although Apple did not offer any comments to the media that reported the discovery, it did take action. A few hours ago, The company removed “Collect Cards: Store box” from the App Store.
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