iGBA emulator app accused of copying another developer's work without a license
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Developer Gameboy emulator GBA4iOS claims that the version that ranks number one on the App Store is a fraudulent imitation of its work that Apple should not have approved.
Shortly after Apple changed the App Store rules to allow the submission of game console emulators, the first few of them began to become available. However, one of them, iGBA, is now accused by Riley Testut of being a fake GBA4iOS.
In a post on Mastodon, Testut says he is not criticizing iGBA developer Mattia La Spina, but only Apple. He's disappointed that “Apple took the time to change the App Store rules to allow emulators and then approved a copy of my own app – even though I was ready to launch the Alt Store with Delta on March 5.”
It is reported that the Alt Store has been working in Testflight for a year. So an App Store reviewer would have the opportunity and time to compare iGBA with Delta, Testut's latest GBA4iOS, if they knew how to search.
With thousands of applications submitted, it's easy to see how one reviewer could have missed that Testflight had an almost identical application. However, AppleInsider confirms that there are elements in iGBA that should have raised concerns during the review phase.
For example, the application supports location tracking when there is no reason to do so related to the game. Plus, users report that the game, although free to download, is riddled with ads.
Testut makes its code open, but there are conditions that limit the license.
“I expressly give permission to anyone to use, modify and distribute all of my source code for this project in any form, with or without attribution, without fear of legal consequences,” his Github license states. unless you plan to put your app on the Apple App Store, in which case written permission is clearly required from me.”
Neither Apple nor the iGBA developer have made public comments.
However, this is another example of how apps, even fraudulent ones, end up in the App Store when Apple's review team needs to catch them. It also comes as Apple denounces the need to allow alternative app stores in the EU as it argues they are inherently unsafe.
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