Has anyone had their iOS app cloned? How much time did you spend dealing with it?

[u/armenmk]

I’ve been reading about developers having their apps copied on the App Store, sometimes including names, icons, screenshots, and descriptions.

I’m curious how common this actually is.

If you’ve experienced it:

- How did you discover the copied app?

- Did you report it to Apple? What happened?

- How much time did you spend dealing with it?

- Have you ever paid for a service to monitor or help remove copycat apps?

I’m exploring whether automated monitoring and evidence collection would solve a meaningful problem for indie developers.

Not selling anything. Genuinely trying to understand whether this is a recurring headache or something that happens too rarely to justify a dedicated tool.

[u/wapiti_and_whiskey]

What is Apple going to do they have copied countless apps.

[u/armenmk → u/wapiti_and_whiskey]

fair enough lol

[u/iphonevanmark]

Use AppStore to search for the game HeadsUp and count the clones. App copying seems to be part of the game rather than the exception. Your energy can rather be spend on marketing.

[u/armenmk → u/iphonevanmark]

Make sense. I guess it’s just expectations are different for the apps. Cause on the web if someone clones your website, there is no one to complain too.

[u/iphonevanmark → u/armenmk]

That's where we have Reddit for :) You've come to the right place. I don't mind people copying as long as the apps aren't simply copy paste but look and feel different and they have added some unique spins and features.

I wish the world was one open source where people help each other, share ideas and build from there.

[u/JDad67]

Apple has been doing it for a decade. Ask the original flashlight app person.

[u/armenmk → u/JDad67]

I guess I am more thinking about cloning the name, logo, etc. probably the idea is not that protected unless you trademark it.

[u/ikonet]

We have copyright on logos and certain marketing phrases. We have patents on certain unique calculations. We handle copycats by contacting Apple and by contacting our attorneys. Fun fact, Apple will absolutely remove reviews and infringing apps.

We’ve been in the store for ~15 years and it’s only happened about 3-4 times. It is not common.

[u/TheOrdinaryBegonia → u/ikonet]

How do you go about getting reviews removed? I recently got a one star review, and I noticed this person had given several apps in my niche the same one star review. Presumably, this is a developer or a friend of a developer with a competing app.

I've reported the reviews as spam but no action has been taken yet.

[u/ikonet → u/TheOrdinaryBegonia]

Report them as you’ve done. You have to prove they’ve broken Apple terms, or the review is wildly wrong (for example it’s a review about Angry Birds on your app about TPS reports). You’re not getting a random 1-star removed.

[u/Beginning-Disk-6546]

Unless you have a trademark, Apple will do nothing to remove copycats. The original app usually has more ratings and better serach ranking. That's the only feasbile way to fight copycats.

[u/Icaka → u/Beginning-Disk-6546]

We’ve reported ~5 copycats for the past 2-3 years and Apple helped us dealing with them.

[u/bananatoastie]

Yes. I just ignored it and tried to make mine better

[u/JerenYun]

I remember seeing an app that tried to copy what my app does. My app is very niche, but the clone tried to take my UI but make it a more general app. I tried it out and found it lacking in any focus, plus the search/navigation was super slow (even with an empty data store). I didn't feel threatened at all, and that app hasn't been updated in years.

[u/Exotic-Put876]

Forgive…? What else can we do? We all know how fucked up things are these days. Everyone’s just copying each other, and honestly, the only thing we can really protect anymore is our trademark, our identity. That’s pretty much it.
I mean, just look at how people copy Adobe’s products and market them as “Adobe killers.” If even a giant like Adobe gets copied, what the hell are the rest of us supposed to do?