Hackulous Shuts Down, Taking Its iOS Piracy App Installous With It (opens in new tab)

(techcrunch.com)

12 pointssuhailpatel13y ago21 comments

21 comments

14 comments · 4 top-level

spobo13y ago· 5 in thread

This is definitely a good thing. Support the developers. It takes a lot of time and effort to build an app. Surely a single dollar (usually) is not too much to pay. Im' still surprised how cheap most apps are for my phone ;o

hackerboos13y ago

The price of some apps is ridiculous though. I'm not defending pirates but look how much Anki costs on the App Store whilst being free on Android.

ConstantineXVI13y ago

That's the developer's choice. Pay the price on the tin, switch to Android where they've chosen to make it free, or find an alternative. The market will sort itself out if it's truly priced too high.

MBCook13y ago

Anki is the most expensive app I've ever purchased, and it was worth every cent. Buying that app let me support the developer, the iOS app, the Mac app, and his syncing service.

When compared to $0.99 games it seems expensive, but let's be realistic. It's good quality software, and on a desktop it would be worth that price. The difference is that it's 100x more convenient on iOS since it's always with me.

spobo13y ago

Watch a youtube review or read a review on it. If possible, test it out on a friends phone?

In a perfect world Apple would allow a trial mode for apps which would enable all features for X hours or X uses. But that's just Apple. It'll never happen. I heard though that MS does something like this for its apps? Or is it only for games?

mikeash13y ago

$25 seems pretty reasonable to me if it's the sort of thing you find useful. How is that "ridiculous"?

1 more reply

biot13y ago· 3 in thread

This underscores the fact that piracy isn't about the money; it's about availability and convenience. If only the app creators would make their apps available on some kind of easy-to-use online store where installation is a breeze, customers are automatically informed of updates they can download for free, and all this is provided for a few bucks an app, we'd see nobody resorting to using piracy apps like these.

eyeareque13y ago

How would you improve on say, the Apple app store? What you've described is what Apple has already created IMO.

biot13y ago

  > What you've described is what Apple has already created IMO.

Exactly.

venomsnake13y ago

Remove censorship, certification process so anyone can upload their app if there is potential audience for that as long as it conforms to certain technical criteria.

If something is legal Apple has no right of preventing users using it and developers making apps for it.

Recent case - where an application delivering realtime information for US drone strikes was rejected.

Apple should be technical gatekeeper and not moral.

homosaur13y ago· 2 in thread

Honestly as a user, Installous totally sucked. The thing was rife with malware and it was impossible to tell which apps were legit and which were malware. I tried it a couple of time just to see what it was like (this was also before widespread app reviews) and although you could grab apps for free, it wasn't reliable or safe.

coolnow13y ago

You tried a couple of times yet managed to come across enough malware to describe it as such? I've been using Installous for a long time and have never come across any "malware" on it.

Also, isn't iOS sandboxing designed to ensure no rogue apps cause havoc on the system?

mischanix13y ago

There's nothing to stop code in an ipa from escaping that sandbox if the code isn't checked by Apple.

2 more replies

josteink13y ago

While another App store (even used for pirated apps as well) is probably a good thing, and having fewer sources of software (less competition) is bad, I have to say: good riddance.

It wasn't exactly ethical, and even when used for semi-legitimate purposes (obtaining software "not available" in your region) it was slow, cumbersome and unreliable.

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