Dec 23, 2024 | Updated: 11:35 AM EDT
May 26, 2017 04:11 AM EDT
iPhone and iPad owners can download now for free from the App Store the utility app Dash. Apple approved the new account application of Bogdan Popescu, developer of Dash, which was removed from the App Store in October because of 1,000 fake reviews related to the account.
Before Apple approved his new account application for Dash, Popescu worked with Apple to remove the knock-off versions of the app that suddenly appeared on Apple Store, 9TO5Mac reports. After the account was made, there were different explanations and counterclaims made. Popescu accepted Apple’s decision to remove the app by Kapeli, which provides offline access to developer APIs, and instead made Dash for iOS open source.
The almost 1,000 fraudulent reviews were found across two accounts and 25 apps for the developer, according to Tom Neumayr, the spokesperson of Apple, Daring Fireball reports. He says Apple made an advanced warning to the developer of the account termination. Neumayr explains that the Cupertino-based tech giant terminates developer accounts for ratings and review fraud. It includes actions that were designed to hurt other developers. He adds it was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but the decision to close the account came two years after sent a warning to the developer.
Popescu also transferred the distribution of the Mac version of Dash to the web. In creating a personal developer account with Apple, the developer said he hopes it will stave off the appearance of pirated copies of the app on the App Store, MacRumors reports. When he made it open source, some “developers” added the pirated copy of Dash to the App Store.
He points out that adding pirated copies of Dash breaches the GNU GPL license. Although Apple was very responsive in removing the apps, the “developers” kept on adding it back in various forms and shapes that Popescu admits he got tired of filling the same copyright forms over and over again.
