Saturday
Sep042010
WARNING: "Real Camera+" is not the REAL "Camera+"
Saturday, September 4, 2010 at 11:02AM | Glyn Evans Another day and another scam, this time it's not false quotes, but a deceptive app name, and the apps name?
"Real Camera+ the ultimate photography app" [App Store Link], not to be confused with "Camera+ …the ultimate photo app" from developers tap tap tap.
Now whilst this is not a direct clone of tap tap tap's Camera+ app itself, it is a deceptive move by developer Union Well Limited to cash in on Camera+'s absence from the App Store.
Reader Comments (15)
Wowza - even their icon is a rip-off... I'm glad I've the real "Camera+"
Thanks for exposing the imposter's for your readers. There is no replacement for Camera+. I use it daily.
Looking at the app description and icon, I think the only thing deceptive they did here was the name part.. There is nothing else even kind of copying camera+, that includes the icon. Looking in my photo folder right now I have five icons that are just a lens, right in the center. Camera+ being one of them - it doesn't look the same unless you decide that the icon being a lens is a rip off... Then it's a matter of who created the first 'lens' icon first, as all others are just a copy.
Looking at the screenshots, the description, etc they aren't trying to rip camera+ off at all. They don't have the same UI, and don't have the same features. As a matter of fact, they have a 'fix vignette' feature, something that camera+ didn't have.
Now with all of this in mind, the app doesn't look like it's worth my money, not even the 1.99 it's trying to charge, but I wouldn't say they're ripping off the UI or the icon, only the name. Your post makes it seem like they're trying to just rip off the app as a whole. You have to just look at the developer name and look at the description to tell it's not the same app; like going to a store and looking for cinnamon chex and thinking cinnamon life is the same thing. It's not and any person who is spending their money on anything should be able to tell the difference, as it is very apparent.
Yeah it sucks they decided to cash in on the camera+ name, but no one said anything about the fact that before camera+ came along there was a much inferior app in the app store called 'camera plus'. In addition, I remember all the harsh comments about camera+ being a ripoff, now suddenly it's the best app ever and shame on anyone tarnishing the camera+ name? I realize camera+ was trying to appease to their audience with the volume buttons hack, but it's that reason they were banned. While the app store rules may be ridiculous, camera+ knew they were there and it was their own fault they got banned. *shrug*
I agree with everything Ambrosia wrote. Taptaptap's blog has been silent since August 10th when they were lamenting their apps sophomore slump. Many people have asked them to make a comment or at least give the app owners an idea if the app may return to the store and they have not been forthcoming. Some have suggested a ploy on their part as they knew the app would be pulled with the hidden workaround and like many of their apps they would not update Camera+ for some time after this last update.
While Real Camera + may have a deceptive name, I think taptaptap has been just as deceptive and I don't think it would kill John to issue a brief innocuous statement to the owner's of the app.
There are a lot of similar sounding apps in the app store, cross process and xprocess for example. If Real Camera+ makes money because of Camera+'s demise, well that's capitalism.
I meant to add I think it harsh you are labeling their app as a scam for a similar sounding definition of the app. Camera + has been out of the app store for close to a month and I don't think people will take issue if they define it as the "ultimate photography app" since the "ultimate photo app" is nowhere to be found.
Are we talking about the same Camera+ that was created / endorsed by Lisa whatshername, that everyone here used to bash? All of a sudden, they're the good guys?
When did this change of heart occur?
Too funny. Didn't Camera+ ask people to petition Apple to get their feature approved? Then try and slip it in the back door? All the while stating how many 100s of thousands they made off of the app? Like those above, I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for them. I do think the Apple store should do better at policing names of apps.
@Rantz. This apps icon is not a rip-off of the original Camera+ app icon.
@Ambrosia, @Suze. At no point did I mention the apps icon or that this app was a copy of the original Camera+, in fact I said "this is not a direct clone of tap tap tap's Camera+ app". Now my use of the word "direct" may have been misunderstood, so I have now struck that word out. Again I made no mention about the apps description nor did I say or imply it was a rip-off, but clearly the dev has deliberately played with the apps name to confuse and cash in on someone else bad luck, albeit self inflicted bad luck. I most certainly have no sympathy towards tap tap tap, as they have brought what has happened to them on themselves, but despite all the bashing we gave them over their sales tactics etc, their app was a good app. The object of this post was to alert you the readers of this blog that there was an app that could have been confused for the original Camera+.
With regards to my reference that this app was part of a scam, Marty Yawnick over at Life in LoFi has unearthed more on this app and its developer, discovering the app had already gained 47 five and four star reviews after only being in the App Store for a very short time, so I think my warning is more than valid and completely fare.
Click here to read Marty's findings about this app.
@TimR, @Jim C. This post is nothing to do with being sympathetic to tap tap tap the developers of Camera+, in fact they have scammed us as much as some other devs have in the past. They first offer the app at a special price only to lower the price to a special special price, pissing many of us off, before boasting about how much money they've from the app. Then they try and be clever with Apple, leaving backdoor code in their app, making it public, before before being banned from the App Store. Then they refuse to make any sort of statement to us or anyone else regarding the apps status, so no this post is not intended to be sympathetic to them, but warn those not in the know that this is not the tap tap tap app.
Read Marty's post, point(s) taken and understood. I guess I don't quite understand how one can post bogus reviews via AppStore but I findvi check here first before I purchase as I have been burned plenty!
What's the go-to app until Camera+ comes back (if ever)? ProCamera?
@glyn - more than fair. When so many 5 star reviewers end their review in !!!!!!!!!!! you know something has to be up.
@glyn me talking about te icon was more toward rants than anything, I got a little carried away with typing all of that on my phone so didn't make a mention of his comment the way I should.
I subscribe to this blog on my google reader, and saw this on the facebook page. What prompted me to write that comment was the fact that on both it has the title and then the first sentence 'another day another scam' etc. If all people read is the first few sentences (and these would be the same people who aren't reading full descriptions of the app to see if it's the same as camera+ or not) then all they see is another app trying to rip off another one, as I did until I read your full post and went over to the app to take a look for myself. As Marty has pointed out it is now seen as a scam app for all of the high star reviews in such a short time, and while it is appreciative to warn us, it was seemingly warning us about the wrong things. As a commented pointed out (I think it was suze, on my phone so just going to keep typing and hope I was) the gain by stealing the name is just a bit of capitalism. That that makes the world so 'great' haha.
Anyway, I know it's not up to you to cater to people who don't read a full blog entry, but the feeling that I originally got going into this post was literally "geez, another app directly ripping off another one" until I finished your post completely. I didn't misunderstand your post, just didn't word my comment well.
In any case, as you mentioned this post has nothing to do with taptaptap's sales tactic, you're right, it doesn't. But it seems that everyone is so quick to defend an app that a lot of people on this blog said they would never use again based purely on what they did sales wise, so to be so quick to point out someone else trying to cash in on their name, well... They're no better than taptaptap in my eyes, whatever tactics they're using. Whether it's false reviews or false pricing advertisements, the product should always sell itself if it's that good. I think what other commenters were trying to point out by bringing that up is this used to be the bad guy app and suddenly it's the good guy now that it's not there to defend itself. Since your stance on the app getting removed wasn't made clear until your comment response, I don't blame them for saying anything either.
Anyway, this is long winded, thanks for the warning, all the same.
Erm, sorry for all the typos.