An app manipulation farm sounds like someplace developers would go for a weekend retreat, complete with chiropractor sessions. In fact — according to a photo which has gone viral on social media in China — it’s a place where devs can pay for their apps’ download numbers to be artificially inflated.
Why would anyone want to do this? Simply put: because more downloads (perhaps accompanied by positive reviews) enhances apps’ chart position, thereby raising their discoverability level, and hopefully prompting people to download them.
The photo in question appears to show a worker at one such place, sitting in front of what look like around 100 iPhone 5c units. Reports claim that her job is download, install, and uninstall specific apps repeatedly to boost their App Store rankings. Another similar table can be seen opposite her.
The image is accompanied by a second one, showing the alleged prices being charged to get your app to the top of the App Store rankings. Here’s how much you need to pay to secure a no. 1 rated app for yourself:
The alleged price sheet claims that a person looking to get into the top 10 free apps list is looking at spending $11,200. To stay there, they will then need to shell out $65,000 per week.
By searching for “app store ranking manipulation” using China’s most popular C2C e-commerce site, Taobao, numerous similar services can be found. As much as Apple frowns on manipulation of the App Store rankings, for local entrepreneurs a scheme like this is a certified cash cow — even with the large number of handsets and employees you need to spend money on.
Via: Techinasia
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
46 responses to “Crazy iPhone rig shows how Chinese workers manipulate App Store rankings”
It doesn’t matter. If your app is a shit, a shit it will definitely stay.
Not exactly true. All it takes is a download that a user forgets about. If the app looks good in the app store, there’s a huge chunk of users that will download it and forget about ever using it. In the case of shitty apps with “high” ratings, the odds of a user requesting a refund on a shitty $0.99 app are probably low enough to justify spending money on a false ranking service.
I dare concur, just look at the iPhone 5 for proof.
But if it’s just as good as the others this will crush the competition. No new trick BTW.
This happens because the App Store’s search algorithm is completely biased towards downloads and reviews. New apps have no chance unless they invest top dollar on ads or on some sneaky crap like this. This is Apple’s own fault. If they had a straight search this wouldn’t be happening.
they do have straight search. The algorithm for trending might not be exactly tuned to your liking, but almost every landing page in existence has some sort of “popularity” ranking. If the concept truly sucked then Google wouldn’t be here
BTW – why is she sitting with her jacket on? seems odd, did they place the ‘farm’ in Siberia?
Because it’s WINTER and powering heaters is more expensive than telling people to put on a coat…
She has her hand muff so she’s fine.
Are you serious dude?
China borders Sibera.
Most of the world doesn’t have central heaters, or AC. Get a clue
I find this hard believe. I am guessing that someone saw this picture and made up this story. Two thing stick out right off the bat. It would take about 100 stations just like this to get an app to the top of the charts, you are talking about tens of thousands of downlaods. Furthermore this station is more likely testing something about the iPhone 5c for quality control. If it were simply an app ranking thing they would have spent less than half the money getting iPod touches.
The more I think about it, the more I tend to agree with this… at first I didn’t…. but 100 iPhone’s each with a unique Apple ID for the rating would only be 100. In order to get 1000 reviews for instance she would have to sign in/out of each phone with 10 times each. (with a new Apple ID each time).
10,000 reviews? 100 Apple ID’s/phone…. it’s POSSIBLE… but WOW… would that ever be hard to manage.
You really underestimate the extent people will go to for money. Most people in China (who are looking for decent wages) are ready to do anything to make a bit.
It’s a job. It pays you and your family (especially if it’s a home business)
I really do hate the way Apple doesn’t allow you to browse for things. You have to specifically know what you are looking for. Seeing this makes me understand the odd apps that appear in the search. I would think that Apple would be able to identify these rogue IDs which all have the same applications in them.
They have the new explore system but nobody uses it.
first of all i think she’s docking the Nebuchanessar mother ship cut her some slack. That or it’s a sick drum kit that would make Thomas Dolby jealous
Ya agree with QwertyJuan and OhStopItYou, too much to log in, log out of each unit. But then again one can buy FB likes, even fake female profiles for hookup sites… not that I know anything about this. /-|
PS why is anything mildly suspicious always titled ‘The Chinese’ like we’re all criminals. If FB, MS and startups would stop buying their services, there wouldn’t be a need.
I doubt she’s only focusing on App Store farming. I bet she’s also taking orders for twitter followers, facebook page likes, etc etc. Just this week I got 3 new followers on Twitter (I usually only have about 30.) and 2 of them were bogus twitter farm accounts. I blocked them and went about my business. The farm industry is doing quite well it would seem.
Its possible but FB/Twitter farm accounts probably use PCs. App reviews are device specific which may necessitate the need for all these devices.
With the price they are asking, I see it’s quite feasible.
Nope its true. Maybe not in thus picture, but there are marketing companies who do this to get an app ranked.
Just like a book on the ny times and other bestseller lists
There’s already 3 of these stations in the picture. Who’s to say there’s not 100 more of these things ready to go. Labor is no problem, plenty of people willing to sit there all day long and tinker with iphones. As for Quality control, how many of the same phone do you need for testing an app or service?
This is just an all-time low for human-beings. Really China, really?
You’re talking about the same country that put lead in baby toys. Compared to that app farming looks like humanitarian work.
The United States used to allow lead in baby toys too, just saying.
Since these IPhones are all different colors, does that mean they are all 5C’s? Or are they in cases? Why not use cheaper iPhone 4’s or iPod Touches, as has been suggested?
Apple would know if they’re ipod touches or not. Not sure how it effects things but there’s probably a reason for it.
WOW, chinese always thinking of a way to profit! awesome…kinda…
Awesome. Where there’s a will, humans find a way
The problem is the consumers taste for free and the majority of app vendors catering to this group. I think Apple made a big mistake initally providing the structure to accommodate this situation.
No one really wants to be tracked and sold, view ads, or be nagged to purchase functions that would normally be provided in the app but “getting a deal” is the first thing they will boast about when telling their friends about acquiring their new (fill in the blank).
Of course if you take this to it’s logical conclusion then the most impressive acquisition would be free, or optionally stolen. Since the producer obviously cannot actually give you their product for free they have to fool the customer with sales and as Ron Johnston found out the hard way, most consumers actually like to be fooled.
I think the solution for apps would be a separate section in the app store for smart customers.
I’m not saying that Flappy Bird did this, but that’s an example of a small crappy app that got the visibility of being on the top charts and staying there. With a farm like this, that could be anybody’s small crappy app up there making boatloads. Once it’s up there, organic takes over and people will download your app, crappy or not.
If the app truly sucks then organic won’t actually be organic, but decay
If the allegations about this photo is true, it is pretty crazy.
Those phones are all showing either the settings screen or a social networking app I don’t recognise. I’m inclined to think that there’s something else going on in that image – perhaps low-paid bug testing work.
Typical for Chinese.
Well, now we know who bought all those crappy iPhone 5c units
The 5c is awesome. I bought on as a back up because I love the colors.
chinese are scam artists in everything. they would sell poisonous food/medicine to their own family to make a buck.
They must be rich then, lots of people over there
This is impossible. Everything Apple does, makes, runs, is 100% trustworthy and perfect.
Two things no one should ever pay for: Sex and apps.
Are you referring to some sort of commune situation?
There are basic machine learning techniques to filter these out. It would amount to tailoring app store content for the particular user (…grouping users). So, people who vote up bad apps like these will be put into their own category and there would be no way to game the whole system.
Google & Bing have done this with search rankings, and it’s the whole model Netflix is built around for recommending movies.
I find it hard to believe the prices are anywhere near that high. Perhaps a cheaper way to do it . .. o wait, problem solving is fun and I definitely know at least one much better way, but I’m not giving these guys an ounce of help.
I’d say this is a pretty freakishly innovative way to provide a service that a market has demand for. Manipulative? Read up on how Billboard chart was manipulated in the 70’s. People will always try to game the system, don’t hate the player, hate the game.