iPhone users conned out of money by ‘sneaky subscriptions’ – watch out for THESE App Store tricks
Some apps are bringing in millions of pounds by getting users to sign up for free trials that quickly roll on to paid subscriptions
IPHONE users are potentially being swindled out of millions of pounds by apps that misleadingly sign them up for subscriptions.
And while Apple has already removed many of them from the App Store, others are quickly rising in popularity to take their place.
Some of the most popular 'sneaky' apps include QR Code Scanner, Scanner App, and Phanced.
Such applications promise to sign users up for a 'free trial', but then switch to a paid subscription in a matter of days.
They can charge anything from £4.49 a week to £69.99 a year, all without making the terms and costs involved obvious to registering users.
And because many of them count among the most popular downloads in the Apple App Store, reports suggest they're 'earning' millions of pounds each year.
One of the more glaring examples is Alphonse Brown's Scanner App, which has become the 24th most popular app in the Business category after another app with the same name was removed by Apple.
It promises to let iPhone users scan documents using their phone, but immediately upon opening the app we were confronted with a pop-up window advertising "Scanner PRO" and inviting us to "Try For Free."
But what isn't made clear - and shown only in the fine print underneath the pop-up window - is that the free trial converts automatically to a paid weekly subscription in only three days.
Even worse for UK users, the cost of a weekly subscription is shown only in dollars ($4.99) in this small print, so they wouldn't know what exactly they'd pay even if they saw the tiny warning.
And just to put this in some kind of perspective, if they let the weekly subscription run for a year (at £4.49), they'd have to foot a bill of £233.48.
It's therefore little wonder that many users have posted negative reviews of the Scanner App on the App Store, with some describing it as a "scam."
However, it isn't the only example of an app that tries to furtively push subscriptions on people.
There are many more available on the App Store, with a common link being that they fall within the "Utilities," "Business" and "Productivity" categories.
In other words, they generally offer functionality that can often be found for free elsewhere on the web.
This is why people are falling prey to them, assuming that they won't be charged for scanning their passport or reading a QR code, but then receiving a hefty bill a month or so later.
And while this list isn't exhaustive, here are several other examples of apps that try to get you to sign up for a 'free' trial:
- QR Code Scanner/Reader (by TinyLab)
- Weather (by TinyLab)
- Phanced (by Mobimore)
- Color Your Call (by Mobimore)
- WhatsIt (by Teknasyon Yazilim Sanayi ve Ticaret Ltd. Sti.)
- BrainPump (by Larson Charles)
- Spark Wallpaper & Background (by Dan Boylan)
Many of the apps that have been accused of underhandedly subscribing people have already been taken off the App Store by Apple.
For example, we tried and failed to find Weather Alarms and Translate Assistant, two apps flagged up by TechCrunch.
Likewise, the Scanner App TechCrunch profiled was actually a different app from the one we examined above, and had been removed by Apple soon after TechCrunch's article was published.
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However, while these apps have been removed, iPhone users should remain aware that others will emerge to replace them.
That's why they ought to stay on the lookout for small print whenever they sign up for something on their phones.
We've asked Apple for comment and will update this story with any response.
Have you signed up for any subscriptions you didn't mean to? Let us know in the comments.
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