iOS app rating flaw lets apps refuse to open without 5-star review
It’s the latest discovery by FlickType developer Kosta Eleftheriou, whose Twitter bio now describes him as “Professional AppStore critic.” Eleftheriou has indeed made a name for himself identifying high-profile scam apps that made it through app review, some of which have made millions of dollars for their developers …
He has even gone as far as filing a lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of breaching its contract with developers by failing to properly police the store.
Eleftheriou spotted the latest flaw being exploited by the UPNP Xtreme app, posting a video demo to Twitter. As soon as you open the app, Apple’s review pop-up is triggered. However, the “Not now” button that would normally allow a user to dismiss the dialog appears non-functional (I assume it is simply relaunching the pop-up).
Not only that, but attempting to give the app anything less than five stars also prevents the user from dismissing the dialog. Only giving it a five-star review allows the app to be opened.
