WARNING: cameraOnly app, falsely recommended!!

I was preparing a post on a new camera replacement app called cameraOnly [App Store Link] that was very similar to other camera replacement apps like Camera Genius [App Store Link], when I noticed 3 statements.

"A nice addition to a photographer's camera bag and a useful replacement for Apple's Camera app." - CNET

"I am putting cameraOnly on my home screen." - iPhone App Podcast

"Highly Recommended" - iPhography.com

I thought these statements/quotes were a little odd as the app was only a day or 2 old, so decided to check the quoted websites for their reviews/comments (not something I usually do, but I smelt a rat here).  Anyway, surprise, surprise, I could find no reference on iPhography.com, iPhone App Podcast or CNET to these quotes, but some further digging revealed these were the comments from Camera Genius itself!!

Quotes from Camera Genius app, as per the App Store description:

"Camera Genius is a do-it-all app" - The New York Times

"A nice addition to a photographer's camera bag and a useful replacement for Apple's Camera app." - CNET

"I am putting Camera Genius on my home screen." - iPhone App Podcast

"Highly Recommended" - iPhography.com

I have informed the developers of Camera Genius and notified the publishers of the misrepresented blogs.

Update on Friday, September 3, 2010 at 4:50PM by Glyn Evans

As many of you may have guessed, I have been in touch with Phil Schiller, and Apple are now investigating.

Update on Saturday, September 4, 2010 at 7:44PM by Glyn Evans

The false quotes have now been removed from the App Store description!!

Comments

[Diana Almeida]

lol i gotta tell you! i'm amazed by what some people do to sell their stuff. Thank God we have you to open our eyes! this blog rocks!

[Ifonechip]

Thanks for the heads up. Seeing they have to lie about how well this app work bottom line it doesn't.

[airmanchairman]

Well spotted!

It's a jungle out there, and thanks to bloggers like you for helping to separate the "wheat from the chaff"...

[Dave Weekes]

Great detective work Glyn!! Thanks for keeping us up on these things.

[Miki]

Thanks for your awesome detective work. What a shady developer!

[Khurt]

Apple should also be informed. This developer needs to suffer the consequences. I hope the developer gets banned from the app store.

[Robyn (Flickr | Gemini606)]

Thanks for the heads up. Making note of the developers name and will be very guarded when making future selections.

[iPhography]

Thanks Glyn

Well Spotted!

We can confirm the App created by a company called BangBang, (the app being called CameraOnly). Have falsely claimed that this app was highly recommended by us (iPhography.com). We have never recommended this App & have never tried it.

On further inspection, the app appears to be a copy of Camera Genius made by CodeGoo and they have copied it’s description as well (we did recommend Camera Genius)

We think they may have just changed the GUI slightly. We have also reported this to Apple & hopefully the offending app will be removed

The makers website by BangBang is just a dummy wordpress blog at the moment.

Thanks again - iPhography.com

[Peter M]

Wow, what a slimy way to promote your app. What ever happened to working hard and getting some honest praise by making a great app?