Buyers Beware: Temple Hunt! Is Another Ripoff That Ran Past Apple's Approval Team
by Tommy Ly
May 6, 2012
Oops! They did it again. Lately, Apple's approval process and overall management of the App Store sucks more than my Britney Spears reference. In addition to fraudulent apps taking advantage of customers, apps like Temple Hunt! are proof that Apple's approval team needs some work.
Obviously, Temple Hunt! is another ripoff of the immensely popular Temple Run. "Temple" is in the name, the two have similar icons, and they even use a similar font in the screenshots.
Somehow, through a scam or otherwise, Temple Hunt! has gotten enough downloads to reach the number four spot (at the time of writing) in the App Store's Top Paid list, despite its 1.5 star rating. This puts it in front of apps like Fruit Ninja and Ski Safari, so, it must be good. Right? Wrong. However, its place in the charts is enough for customers to overlook what is most definitely a scam and make that $0.99 purchase before realizing they got ripped off. What can be done about this?
It's apparent that Apple won't be doing a better job at choosing which apps to approve in the near future. Heck, they recently approved two seperate apps that go against their own iOS app development guidelines. For now, the best thing that can be done is to be careful when shopping for new apps. If you can get duped into buying a junk app, don't worry. There's a good chance you aren't the only one, but that's also the problem. Every time some scumbag developer manages to trick someone into buying their app, it gets another chance to move up in the App Store's ranks, therefore exposing itself to more (potentially careless) buyers.
Again, be careful when buying new apps. Be sure to read reviews and app descriptions. Not only will it save you money, but it will prevent developers of fraudulent apps like Temple Hunt! from taking money from customers by Apple-approved trickery.
