Apple Sends 'Take Down' Notices to AppTrackr, Cracked iOS Apps Indexer - iPhoneHeat

Apple Sends ‘Take Down’ Notices to AppTrackr, Cracked iOS Apps Indexer

Apple is sending ‘take down’ notices to AppTrackr, the most popular cracked iOS apps market place. AppTrackr announced in a blog post, via Installous, that Apple has been sending huge “take down” notices over cracked apps and aggressively scrapping AppTrackr’s links.

For those unfamiliar, AppTrackr is not a direct distributor of cracked iOS apps, however, it indexes the .ipa of any popular app or game. AppTrackr provides a cracked apps market app named Insallous where user can search, download and even update their installed cracked apps. AppSync is the main utility which allows these cracked apps to be trasferred via iTunes sync

Over the last several months, Apple has been scraping apptrackr for links and sending huge takedown notices for a ton of content. We’ve been working to keep apptrackr up-to-date, but the only (effective) way to prevent automated takedowns was to add a CAPTCHA to outbound links. In addition, we finished moving our servers to several different countries earlier this week. This has raised our costs far beyond what we can afford with declining donations, meaning that we will have to place an advertisement on that CAPTCHA page…

This statement made by Apptrackr, via Installous, clearly shows that Apple is serious to address the iOS apps piracy issue.

To counter Apple’s stance against cracked apps for iOS, AppTrackr has moved several of their servers to countries with no copyright laws. They have also added CAPATCHA to all outbound links. This move has resulted in higher oprating cost, so AppTrackr is placing an ad on the CAPATCHA page to keep the server up and running.

It will be interesting to see how long Apptrackr/Installous will be able to operate whilst feeling Apple’s Wrath. Let us know your views on this issue in the comments section below…

[iJailbreak]

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21 comments… add one
lockmote December 31, 2011, 11:10 pm

wow -.-
what a surprise !
after Steve Job’s gone . They take it seriously

noname January 1, 2012, 2:54 am

Fuck you Apple, long liv the piracy (sharing)!!!

James November 9, 2013, 4:43 am

Would you still say that if your children depend on earnings made by selling apps? You silly silly boy.

you! January 1, 2012, 4:39 am

Agree! Fuck you Apple

About Time January 1, 2012, 9:11 am

If you can’t afford .99 for the majority of paid apps out there, you don’t deserve an iPhone. It is like buying a Porsche and putting 87 octane in it, if you can provide for what you want to buy, don’t buy it. Maybe if Apple can get rid of App piracy, they will not fight jailbreaking so strongly considering that they get a lot of major advancements to there OS from the JB community.

And by the way most apps are free anyway and periodically have One Day Free App sales.

Flooto January 1, 2012, 10:49 am

Even if apple takes apptrakr down thers some body out ther who will bust apple’s a** down by just creatin a new installous. Btw, apple wont take apptrackr down!!

Sir Queefs Alot January 1, 2012, 5:04 pm

WTF?

taogenix January 1, 2012, 9:47 pm

i dont really get it. to be able to use install0us, you have to be jailbroken, and statisticly speaking, Jay Freeman (saurik) said only about 10% iOS users jailbreak their iDevice, and how many from these 10% use Install0us??? Apple should stop wasting time on useless things like this

Fartarse January 2, 2012, 4:20 am

Some of the apps I have downloaded are utter shite. I am glad that I can f get an app from Intallous and check to see if it is shite. If its not then I buy it if not I take a big poo and delete it. I fancy an extra big poo right now but thats another story.

Shahbaz Khan January 2, 2012, 9:57 am

If the Installous down then I will leave apple and go with Android and I think millions of people will do the same.

Astral January 2, 2012, 10:59 am

If anyone goes to Android because you can’t hack Apps, you deserve that crap.

dhrumil india January 2, 2012, 11:10 am

apple iPhone knows as its crack apps so don’t do that plzzz…

applocious January 2, 2012, 2:05 pm

Apple, please realize that because of Installous, many android users switched to idevices. They are also helping u sell ur products u moron..

iBarf January 2, 2012, 9:39 pm

Funny how piracy issues always arise and everybody goes “Fuck you Apple/Sony/Microsoft/[Insert Company Name]”.
They are doing what they should be doing and that is ENFORCING copyright laws.
It is true apptrackr and the likes are more meant for the trial of applications that doesn’t exist in the AppStore (unlike the Android Market), but 95% of users of a service like that will use it for piracy purposes only.
Excusing piracy is no different from being a child who doesn’t take responsability for his actions. So STOP acting like a 10 year old, you know what you’re doing.
And guess what, if apptrackr is taken down and other services like it, there still will be millions of iOS users, some of who download apps legally from the appStore.

If you were a developer struggling to make a living out of it, would you like the users of your applications to be 90% illegal downloaders aka pirates? Think again.
And it’s not like apps are THAT expensive, I can understand from an economic point of view piracy for console/PC games or even music CDs or movie Blurays… but AppStore apps? Most of them are 2 USD TOPS (although yeah, there are some really expensive $50 USD apps out there).

noname January 4, 2012, 11:46 pm

Note that iPhone isn’t cheap in all countrys like in USA, and not all users can’t aford to buy apps!

Trcx January 5, 2012, 8:02 pm

I have to completely agree with you iBarf. Even though developing for me is only a hobby it still is a lot of work, and I think it is reasonable that if a developer attaches a price tag to software then people should pay for it.

Honestly I can not believe the lack of logic some people have applied here. And @noname to quote About Time “If you can’t afford .99 for the majority of paid apps out there, you don’t deserve an iPhone. ” I will not deny having pirated software in the past but it’s funny how your perspective changes when you realize just how much time and effort go into app development.

And I know that even if apple manages to take down app trackr there will be another “company” that replaces them. It is because of things like installous and app trackr that companies impose ridiculous DRM which hurts everyone BUT the pirates…..

As I’m sure you can tell I can ramble on, but you get the point. I think this is a good thing, but it is not a final solution by any means. The biggest problem is the lack of respect for the developers, and a lack of maturity on the pirate’s end.

/rant

Jessica May 5, 2012, 2:53 pm

Who cares about all this? Who cares about app piracy & stealing apps? So Fuck u apple! If I want 2 steal apps I will steal apps, no bones about it bitch!

Simon32 July 18, 2012, 4:13 am

Looks like apple might have finally got their way! Installous/Apptrackr have stopped working from what I can see.

nicko-67 September 24, 2012, 9:57 pm

The problem with paid apps, is onece you buy them, even if they are crap, or not what you where expecting you cant get a refund, so you are basically buying on faith, most apps are crap, so cracked apps are a good way to evaluate, before buying, I have wasted so much on worthless crappy apps. IE, Iphoto was a total waste of money, and made by APPLE no refund available!!!

JohnnyAPPleseed January 1, 2013, 7:56 am

I’ve noticed for now that apptrackr is down! There is an old version of installuous out there that allows you to set the home page. Also, using safari download manager and copying the files into var/mobile/documents/installuous/downloads can bypass using apptrackr all together. visit IPA Planet for a replacement if Apptrackr is down!

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