Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone, App Store, Jailbreak/pwnage
Crackulous is released, chaos imminent
iPhone developers who already have to fight for app approval, exposure and marketing techniques now have a new hurdle to overcome: instantaneous app-cracking. Although cracking iPhone applications for use on a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch is not new, the method has never been so easy or so accessible.
Crackulous, an application developed on the Hackulous forums (Hackulous is a community dedicated to cracking iPhone apps; back in my day we called these warez boards), makes it possible to "crack" any purchased App Store application. That app can then be transferred for use on other devices.
Although the larger discussion of intellectual property, DRM, peer-to-peer transfers and what constitutes "piracy" is filled with large gray areas, Crackulous strikes me as about as black and white as you can get. Any way you slice it, this is piracy. This isn't about fighting DRM or fighting what some see as a draconian application platform, this is theft.
While pirated applications are hardly a new phenomenon, we still have relatively unsullied ground in the world of mobile applications. The Symbian platform appears to have a warez community, but BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Android (though Android is currently not selling any pay apps at this time) are relatively piracy free.
What makes App Store piracy different from other types of software piracy (mobile or otherwise) is that developers don't have the opportunity to strengthen or change the protection scheme that ties an application to a user account. Because all applications must go through Apple in order to reach the App Store (which is equally controlled by Apple), developers can't fight back, they can only wait for Apple to try to strengthen the protection scheme or introduce other counter-piracy measures.
What are developers supposed to do, other than lobby Apple to make changes to make this sort of decryption more complex? Because devices must be jailbroken in order to run cracked applications, an obvious answer could be for Apple to try to make devices more difficult to jailbreak.
To be clear, jailbreaking does not equal piracy, but to deny that there are many users who jailbreak for the sole purpose of running cracked applications is just naive. By taking potential sales away from the App Store, Crackulous takes potential money away from Apple. Apple will respond. How successful the cat and mouse game will ultimately be, only time will tell, but Apple will respond.
The defenders of applications like Crackulous say that if Apple offered a trial period on apps, this wouldn't be necessary. Perhaps. But I think it is far more likely that developments like this will only make trial periods less and less likely.
Think about it: Right now the only way to crack an application is to buy it. What happens when you can download apps for a "trial" without paying anything? Not even the initial purchase has to be made before the application is cracked and ready to be downloaded by the masses.
I agree that Apple needs to develop a better way for users to either try apps, or conversely, have the ability to request a refund for apps that don't work as promised, but cracking the apps hardly seems to be the solution. All applications like Crackulous really seem to do is undermine the legitimate uses for jailbreaking that may exist, and encourage Apple to make its process more closed, rather than more open.
[Editor's Note: This is a thorny issue on a lot of levels and we know reader response will be passionate in both directions. While we're open to discussing the issue of piracy, ethics and jailbreaking in the comments, please know that any comments containing torrent links to warez or direct downloads for cracked apps will be removed. Repeated infractions will force us to block the offending users and/or close comments to the post.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
TylersPage.net said 6:14PM on 2-02-2009
Yay!!! New App Store policy or iPhone update coming soon, then!! Apple won't let this stand for long without majorly changing the App Store or issuing a major update to the iPhone... there, Apple, that's your chance to add a useful feature in an update, rather than just bug fixes.
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Sam said 10:04PM on 2-03-2009
I think the opposite... the more these jerks try to steal stuff, the more effort Apple has to put into bolstering the DRM the less effort they can expend on new features.
This isn't even defensible as a way to stick it to those big record labels... the App Store is just developers and you. They're stealing directly from us.
Keil Miller said 6:39PM on 2-02-2009
Should I even think about developing for the iPhone now? WTF :-( I have useful ideas to help many small buisness owners. Not something nonproductive like iFart.
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Chris Haynes said 6:19PM on 2-02-2009
As an independent developer who found one of his apps had been cracked and torrented for some time - which explained the near-total lack of sales - I am quite rightly annoyed at this.
I spend many hours every day writing new games and updates to my apps, adding features, fixing bugs etc. only to find that some weasel who has no intention of paying less than a dollar for my time and effort wants to give my hard work away for free.
If I thought it would do any good, I would organise a complete boycott of the App Store by developers, i.e. everyone removes all their apps immediately, and refuses to put anything new up there until Apple bolster the DRM. That would do no good however, as it would only take one developer to go against the boycott in the hope they'd see sales of their app rocket.
Anyone who thinks that this isn't going to increase piracy is being naive. If you can get it for free, why pay?
I don't see massive sales of my games despite the reviews I get. $800 in 5 months just isn't worth my time and effort anymore, not if some slug is out there stealing my work because they need that extra dollar to pay for their pron subscription.
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Raul Riera said 6:42PM on 2-02-2009
Yes, that will happen
JD said 6:57PM on 2-02-2009
I doubt whether more than 1 in 10 iPhone users jailbreaks their phone. Of those, I doubt whether more than 50% do the extra steps to install cracked apps. So, as an upper bound, at most 5% of iPhone users steal apps. Therefore, it seems extremely doubtful that the fact your app was cracked "explain[s] the near-total lack of sales." You may have to consider other explanatory hypotheses.
Adam said 7:07PM on 2-02-2009
$800 a month isnt worth your time? i mean the piracy sucks and i would be doing everything i could if i were in your position, but come on, from the way you make it sound you put some decent time into it and are making 800 a month
also think of it this way, most the people pirating these weren't going to buy them anyhow, now thats not true for everyone, but you have to understand both sides - but yes i agree pirating is wrong and sucks, i remember when they were thinking about making an installer of cracked apps and just thought it was gonna be "a bag of hurt"
Izzy said 7:08PM on 2-02-2009
Well, I for one appreciate the work of developers. None of the iPhones in my office are jailbroken (there's no need for us). Mine was jailbroken but the phone didn't act right afterwards so I restored it.
No-one who buys an iPhone is so poor that they can't afford a few $$ per month for apps. If you can pay the monthly extortion to AT&T, there is no excuse for stealing Yahtzee.
I do agree that a trial period is needed for any company that wants to offer one.
Howie Isaacks said 7:37PM on 2-02-2009
Thank you! That was well said. My company produces iPhone apps and, I have worked many many hours on creating interfaces. I'm hoping that Apple can respond to this in a way that does not harm the iPhone developer community. It sickens me that people like this would think so little of the hard work that we put in
John said 7:52PM on 2-02-2009
Adam, He said $800 in *five* months - that's only $160/month. Not going to pay the rent really (not that $800/month would either in some cities).
Adam said 10:33PM on 2-02-2009
oh i see, just read it wrong i guess, well like i said its still wrong, and for once my iphone isnt jailbroken after updating to 2.2.1 cuz theres really no reason for it
Obviousman said 2:56AM on 2-03-2009
"If I thought it would do any good, I would organise a complete boycott of the App Store by developers, i.e. everyone removes all their apps immediately, and refuses to put anything new up there until Apple bolster the DRM. That would do no good however, as it would only take one developer to go against the boycott in the hope they'd see sales of their app rocket."
You mean, their app that will be "immediately cracked and torrented, resulting in a near-total lack of sales?"
Either the App Store will remain profitable for developers or it won't. You can't have it both ways.
Chris Haynes said 2:57AM on 2-03-2009
Actually JD, on just one file share website the counter for one of my paid apps had hit 1100 before I found out about it and got the company to remove it.
1100 * $0.70 = $770 I lost out on on that ONE website. What about all the others, and the torrents that I can't track?
Whether you like an app you just paid $0.99 for is irrelevant. If you don't like the look of an app, don't buy it. But to go and get a cracked copy as some way of implementing your own "try-before-you-buy" scheme is simply ludicrous. $0.99 is a piffling amount. You would spend more than that on a cup of coffee, or a cookie that you didn't really need. How much effort went into making the coffee?
How many hours were spent looking over algorithms, or drawing graphics? I have spent hundreds of hours and see few sales of my games (Colony, Linx) but I see thousands lost to people who simply think that Apple has done them wrong somehow.
As someone else has said, this is the equivalent of going into a restaurant, ordering a meal, then choosing whether or not to pay for it.
oakie said 2:58AM on 2-03-2009
as much as i understand your spite, i think your blame is misdirected. granted, cracked versions of your app may account for *SOME* lost sales, but the amount of jailbroken iphones AND people who use appulo.us is very, very small.
i'm sorry to be a dick, even without knowing what your app is, i can safely assume it's probably just not very good. there are a LOAD of apps on the app store making their devs a lot of money... people will pay for a quality app with a description that's thorough and well written.
disagree with me? look at the top paid apps and look at the just the number of reviews for the top ones... and since the app store restricts reviews to owners of the apps, and take into account that most will not review an app, it's easy to see that more than just a few people are making a pretty penny.
cracked iphone apps are nothing new, so the recent release of crackulo.us is not to blame for your lack of income.
now im not for the app crackers, either. i dont run cracked apps on my iphone as i dont mind supporting devs who create quality apps. but out of 10,000+ apps on the app store, 9,000 of them are pure crap. what's especially bad are all of the copycat apps that add no improvement over the app they copied.
and farting apps. im sick of farting apps. there's over 60 in the app store now. im not a dick and fart joke kind of guy, but if someone likes it, good for them... but there's no need for that many copycat apps. way too many script kiddies in the app store posing as "devs". so much for the vetting process, eh?
but for the devs who want to blame the script kiddies for their problems, just release a truncated and ad-supported "free" version of your apps as trials. that takes away their only excuse. it also helps your potential customers who may otherwise pass over your app due to a poorly written description. to be honest, it could be the greatest app on earth that solves homelessness, but without a trial AND with a poorly written description, i sure as hell arent going to give you any of my money. not even 99 cents.
Chris Haynes said 3:10AM on 2-03-2009
Obviousman: 'You mean, their app that will be "immediately cracked and torrented, resulting in a near-total lack of sales?"'
Way to take something out of context. I didn't say that.
Yes, there is a load of crap on the App Store. 60 fart apps IS crap. But my games are new and original. They are not copies of other games.
With regards to reviews, the only iTunes Store that I see reviews on is the US store. Reviews don't get shared across all stores, so even though everyone in the US might love an app, no one in the rest of the world sees that. (And besides, without creating an account in every other store, I can't tell anyway.)
And, there is a free version of one of my games, Linx Free. People have no excuse to steal Linx. If I find it on a crackers website somewhere, that blows your argument straight out of the water, doesn't it?
Why does there HAVE to be a trial period? If Apple implement this, and charge you the 99c for an app from the get-go, then three days later you decide you don't like it, Apple then refund you your 99c. The developer sees none of this, but it was pretty easy for that person to have gotten hold of an app, which they can now break the protection on and give away for free. The developer doesn't even see the first sale because it got refunded.
Are there trial periods for music, TV shows, movies? No. You buy it or you don't. Oh yes, you can see a preview, but you should take the reviews, description and screenshots as your preview. Also, take a minute to click on the website links under the app's description. There is a lot more info on those websites than can be put into the description.
pwb said 11:32AM on 2-03-2009
"As an independent developer who found one of his apps had been cracked and torrented for some time - which explained the near-total lack of sales - I am quite rightly annoyed at this."
Sorry guy, but I think you'll have to look for some other excuse for the lack of sales for your app. We've got 4 iPhones, none of em jailbroken. When I see an app that interests me, I'll probably buy it (depending on price: ,99 sure, 3,99 probably, 9,99 maybe). If I haven't bought your app, I either didn't see it or I didn't see any value in it (for me). And I think this is similar to the position of ca. 90% of iPhone users.
"1100 * $0.70 = $770 I lost out on on that ONE website. What about all the others, and the torrents that I can't track?"
Sorry, but that sounds like the RIAA "We've lost xx billion $ to file sharers". the reality is that out of that 1100, about 500 will have thrown it away again after a couple of minutes, another 300 will have it languish on their iPhone, never to be touched again, at least until they need that screen real estate, and of the remaining 300 about 250 will probably be determined freetards who NEVER EVER are willing to pay ANYTHING for an app (or a song, or a movie).
So in reality it's more likely that you have lost out on potential sales of 50*$0,70 = $35 which is less than 5% of total sales. Thats less that what gets stolen in a supermarket, in physical goods.
I'm a software developer too, and I'm doing it for a living, so I'm not really opposed to software developers getting paid. ;-)
As an entrepreneur, when you see your app doesn't sell, you should be doing something: improving the app, marketing it (better), and/or making some different app. You didn't expect to live off of one 0,99$ app for a year, did you ?
Chris Haynes said 5:08PM on 2-03-2009
pwb: "the reality is that out of that 1100, about 500 will have thrown it away again after a couple of minutes, another 300 will have it languish on their iPhone, never to be touched again"
Yes, but that's 800 sales that I never saw! Don't you understand? 500 should have purchased it and then thrown it away. 300 should have purchased it and had it languish on their screen.
So, $560 then.
pwb: "So in reality it's more likely that you have lost out on potential sales of 50*$0,70 = $35 which is less than 5% of total sales."
Yes, from that ONE website. What about all the others, and the torrents I can't track? They add up pretty quickly.
I've bought a few apps that I don't use anymore, but at least I bought them in the first place!
Andrew Timson said 7:04PM on 2-03-2009
I can't speak for every member of those 800, or maybe even most. But I sure as hell won't spend money on an app or game without thinking that I'll like it or have some use for it.
Relying on people spending money for your app in lieu of a demo is a fool's proposition. You'd be better off offering a real demo, and pricing your apps with the expectation of fewer sales.
Tim Aron said 8:07PM on 2-11-2009
@ Chris Haynes: The problem with your logic is assuming that people that download the cracked app for free would be willing to pay for the app if it was the only option to get it. The reality is most of these people would simply choose not to own the app at all rather than pay for it. It is the same way with music, people are far more likely to download music they would never purchase because there is no risk. If it sucks, who cares? Trash the files. Once risk is re-introduced, they would be much more selective in their purchases. Your real loss would be nowhere near the downloads you mention.
Kenneth said 6:21PM on 2-02-2009
There's nothing new here really, I mean sharing songs was and still in rampant and easy. Sharing apps isn't going to be any different and to think it's Apple's responsibility to police the internet and play the cat and mouse game with their Fairplay DRM is ludicrous. It just won't work, and I see it ending up similar to music is now, free of DRM. Let's face it, people buy things they see a value in and piracy, no matter how prevalent, hasn't put anyone out of business.
No, I'm not advocating piracy, I'm a software developer myself and make a living writing code, but there's just not much you can do about it but learn to live with it and provide reasons for people to want to pay for your software.
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