I am about to publish the name of my App on Kickstarter. I am worried that someone will copy the name and publish an app with the same name before I release mine.
Is there a way to block this? I heard that if I create an App bundle on iTunes Connect prior to release I should be able to block this. From my understanding, starting from the moment in which I create the App in the iTunes connect profile I will have a window of 4 months of time to publish it and, if someone attempts to use the same name, won't be able to do so.
Is my understanding correct? I found this answer and seems that is the case but there is no mention on the 4 months window.
According to http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnect_Guide/8_AddingNewApps/AddingNewApps.html you have 180 days to submit a binary after registering the app name in itunesconnect.
I have personally experienced this: I started work on an app, set it up in iTunes Connect (in order to test Game Center), then had to put it on hold. I started getting warning emails from Apple (that the app entry was about to expire and I'd lose the name) and I chose to put something out in the store, since it wasn't clear what would happen if I simply deleted it from iTunes Connect.
If you're really worried about this, you probably need to find a legal solution, not a technological one. I'm not a lawyer, and this is a site about programming, but I think you should look into trademark law. It is the part of the law that covers names and claiming who has the rights to them. If you follow the law and claim a name, you may be able to get it back from someone who takes it.
You could also NOT reveal the name on Kickstarter, but use a code name instead, and then avoid this problem entirely.
To be perfectly honest, I don't think this will be as much as a problem as you think it will be.
Related
I need to create and App that will run in the background and will monitor the user's behavior in term of applications installed, opened and deleted.
i.e Application will save the information in the database that at what time user has installed/opened/deleted an application in iphone.
I wonder if its possible and Apple will allow this??
I tried to google on it but did not get anything, i know if its possible then it would be possible by multiasking only??
Can any one please help me on the same.
Brn
Not possible. Your app can only run when the user chooses to (except for a limited sub-set of tasks like VoIP, etc).
Your app can know nothing about other apps.
iOS apps are sandboxed. I wouldn't say impossible but certainly not allowed. You'd have to find a security hole to give you root access first. Oh, and notify us when you do ;).
Edit:
Maybe it wasn't clear in my post but I was at least half joking. Not sure why you want to do what you want to do. I can imagine the following scenarios:
1) Your company wants to monitor everything their users do on their phones. In that case I would either
a) lock them down and only allow app installation through a company portal (enterprise distribution is possible in iOS) OR
b) forget about iOS alltogether. Blackberry would probably be closer to what you want, although I don't really have experience with that platform. Also, its future is not sure.
2) You're trying to do something illegitimate. Because of iOS's locked down nature it won't be easy. See how few successful attacks there have been in the last years - and that's for a highly successful platform where an attack could be high paying both in terms of money and reputation.
I am a member of a gliding club with 150 members, and we want to have our own iPhone app. Requiring a member login, the app would be usable only by members of the club, and it would be used by an estimated 20-30 people.
Is it even possible to disribute such an app to non-jailbroken iPhones? According to my research:
It wouldn't be accepted on the App Store due to "limited audience".
Even if we were able and willing to pay $300 for the enterprise distribution model, Apple would likely not accept us as a company.
Ad hoc distribution would be fine for us except for the expiration time associated with apps distributed in the manner.
Are we at a dead end?
Thanks.
Edit: In case anyone is wondering why I didn't just ask Apple directly: I did, and their answer was, "We are unable to advise you with respect to the Apple Developer Program that best fits your needs."
I'm not 100% on your question.
But depending on your requirement, pretty much everything you need can be achieved as a web app, with the correct coding behind it i.e. CACHE MANIFEST you could make the app function similar to the a native app, available offline and can be saved to any iOS device through the browser.
Give me a shout if you need more information.
Hope it helps
Gary
You could always try to make the app a little more "global"? Perhaps offer some free stuff for Joe Bloggs to use, but tucked away you have your real motive... that way you can get it released legitimately.
I've seen some real disasters in the app store that shouldn't have made it, and I'm sure Apples screening isn't as intense as we might think. (example: that flash light application, when pressing a sequence of buttons it would enable free tethering).
Best of luck!
Yup. You seem to have all the options laid out pretty clearly, and there's no other way to do it. Except developing for android, and just distributing the application freely and without arbitrary restrictions.
Sorry.
Ad-hoc distribution would give you about 90 days expiration time, i think, whereas enterprise would give you a year. Though gaining enterprise status in the eyes of apple is easier said than done.
Even if we were able and willing to pay $300 for the enterprise distribution model, Apple would likely not accept us as a company.
You don't have to be a company to apply for the enterprise account, you just need to be an organisation with a DUNS number.
First I need to mention that I'm not a developper, but I can probably work my way around enough in xcode to fix this little issue.
I submitted an application to the app store (that was developped by someone else who's not available right now), but it was rejected because it's "geolocked", meaning the application can only be accessed if you set your international "Region format" setting to Canada.
I need to know what modification I need to make in order for this app to work on all region formats. Is it a string I need to change or is it hidden in a plist file ? I have the feeling the fix is quite easy to apply.
I’ve never heard of an iPhone app using region formats to prohibit launches. I suspect your developer put this code in either out of naïveté or malice; either way, you’ll need to look for a section of code that inspects the region settings.
I'm not aware of something like "geolocking" of iOS application. The only thing you can do, which is quite close to your question, is to set in which countries is this application available. This can be set in iTunes Connect.
Is it possible to assign different identifiers to copies of an app downloaded from the app store that is hard coded into the application? Or is their anyway of permanently storing an identifier in the application bundle such that when it is copied, the key remains within the bundle?
EDIT: Ok, how about iTunes reciepts, can they be used to verify when it was downloaded as the user has to register their app with the server within say 5 hours of them downloading it.
thanks in advance
I'm assuming your goal here is to disable part of the functionality of your app by having a master list of bogus serial numbers somewhere. Unfortunately there is no per-copy serial number available, and if there were it would be the first thing the bad guys would change before posting your app for download.
Instead you'll need to detect whether your app bundle has been tampered with from within the app. See this question:
Reducing piracy of iPhone applications
You'll then need to decide how subtly or obviously you want to limit functionality. Probably the best solution would be to do something innocuous but slightly annoying that generates a specific kind of support request, at which point you can gently prod the deadbeat into considering buying a legit copy.
An approach with more false positives but potentially fewer false negatives would be to check if the app is running on a jailbroken device. The downside there is that jailbreakers may well have legitimately purchased your app, so you're alienating honest customers for little to no extra benefit.
For the app I'm working on, which has a big social/viral aspect (I hope), I've decided that potential deadbeats probably have enough honest friends to pay for the server cycles that they're stealing, and it's just not worth worrying about.
No, there's no way to do either of these. The closest you could come would be to store device IDs on a central server.
Is there a way to check whether an iphone application name is available to use? Would a search on iTunes and checking to see if there is an existing application already out there be indicative that an iphone application name is available to use or not?
As pointed out here, even if you search the traditional channels, there may still be someone who has claimed that same name but not submitted an application yet. If you wish to truly test this out, it sounds like you can start the process of submitting an application on iTunes Connect, fill in the name of your new application, but don't complete the submission. You should receive an indication as to whether someone else has this same store name. If not, it appears you now have a claim to that name.
In any case, because you can have a different name in the store than is displayed on the iPhone, you might be able to use a slight permutation on the name for your store submission, and your desired name within the iPhone application itself.
However, I would second sgmeyer's suggestion that you do a USPTO trademark search first before using a name. Trademark infringement can get you in trouble later on.
I would recommend searching the app store for the name you wish to use. Also, you might want to check the United States Patent and Trademark Office www.uspto.gov/ to ensure there isn't a trade mark that exists on the name you choose.
You must search from iTunes Connect as if you are adding a new app, just searching on Google doesn't show app names that are alreadcoques iphone 4
Search the app store, and search google.
I'd say if the name you want to use doesn't turn up in a search on iTunes, you should be in the clear to grab that name. I assume all app names are subject to approval by Apple, also, so make sure you pick something that's not called "iBabyShake."