Just found out that one of our apps built in Corona has been cracked. Is there anyway in Corona to prevent this? What happens to those with cracked apps on their devices when you release an update? Do they get the update free too? [import]uid: 21125 topic_id: 8849 reply_id: 308849[/import]
Updates are only distributed through the Appstore. [import]uid: 5712 topic_id: 8849 reply_id: 32269[/import]
They crack the updated version and upload that to the net.
On apps like installous if you click download, you are presented with a variety of version numbers and releases of each by different crackers.
Best not to worry about piracy until apple does something about it. Which they won’t. We will always be on the back foot, and its a lot easier to break protection than it is to create it.
Just look at the big corporations that spend literally millions of dollars on protection, that is beaten in hours by teenagers.
Most of those pirated copies would have never been sales, they were only downloaded because they were free. If you can figure out if the app is legit (serial/keys?) then you can bug the user to pay, but its not easy. If anyone wants to get together and create an auth server with me, I’m keen 
I have lots of server space/power [import]uid: 34945 topic_id: 8849 reply_id: 33016[/import]
Cracked will always happen … Corona or even XCode apps or any other framework…
Sorry to hear that 
C. [import]uid: 24 topic_id: 8849 reply_id: 33021[/import]
There are other methods to make money, keep that in mind. And try not to worry about the crackers, worry about the payers. [import]uid: 46343 topic_id: 8849 reply_id: 33023[/import]
As I wrote somewhere in the forum, if you download a cracked app and you compare with the legit version you can spot some differences. From there you can build some countermeasure.
Once you have some code in place to detect a cracked version it’s up to you what to do…
However, bugging the user to pay and showing dialogs with stuff like “YOU PIRATE!” is basically useless.
People who pirate apps are not used to buy them… Having an anti-piracy check doesn’t mean that those people are then going to buy your app. They’ll just stop using it, and you’ll lose an user.
Actually pirated apps can help you increase the sales, if you think about them as free advertisement. You can for example add some facebook or twitter sharing feature in the app, so that even people using cracked apps can help you increase exposure of your app (they surely have friends who buy legit apps).
If you have an anti-piracy check you could cut some contents for cracked apps or limit some features… But IMO you should focus on using pirates to increase exposure for your app instead of fighting them.
And anyway, if your app is popular enough, even if you build a fabulous anti-piracy check they’re going to crack it in few days… [import]uid: 9158 topic_id: 8849 reply_id: 33037[/import]
when i bought my first ipod touch it came jailbroken with a ton of cracked games installed. i admit to playing through them, most of which i would never have even considered buying. i ended up doing a full restore on the phone a few days later, i then spent over a hundred dollars on the app store buying the games i still wanted to play. theres no excuse for piracy these days, as most apps have a lite version for free. but it will always happen. I grew up in the days of ps1 mod chips, and my best friend at the time bought a ps1 with no intention of ever paying retail for a single game. he ended up with two hundred + games, which as a high school student with a solo mum working as a cleaner, he could never have paid for.
he brought the console and spindle around to my house, and half an hour after he left my dad went out and spent up large at the local consumer electronics store. i’m talking console, extra controllers, mem cards, steering wheel, and 10 or so games. until he played gran turismo on a pirate console my dad had had 0 interest in console gaming.
the free advertising aspect is very true. my friend probably sold 10 or more consoles and over a hundred games to people sony’s marketing hadnt worked on.
i bought an iphone because i got hooked on ipod touch games. i bought it as an mp3 player! if those pirated games werent on it, thats probably all it would have ever been used for. now after seeing my phone, with my confirmation of how great it actually is, my sister bought an iphone, my parents got one each, and several of my friends and collegues have shelled out.
dont worry about piracy, any countermeasures are going to net very small returns.
most pirates are teens with no money. people generally dont prefer unsupported copies, what would you rather have, your favourite bands cd, or a dub off the radio of their latest single?
granted apps are generally the same quality when cracked, most people dont want to risk running dodgy apps on their expensive hardware. you never know what the crackers removed or added.
all it will probably take is one fed up coder to release a fake copy of their game to installous that bricks the users phone. its not like cracked ipa’s need apple signing 
my friend with the ps1 now has a lead job with mercedes designing autonomous vehicles.
he has the money to spend now, and he does so. hasn’t pirated anything in years.
focus on paying users, in app purchases are the biggest money spinner around, ive spent hundreds of dollars on credits for basic timewaster games like original gangsters. and there are hundreds of thousands of players.
think world of warcraft subscriptions. people will pay for something fun that is continually updated, even when updates cost money. i have bought every inapp purchase for tower madness, because the game is so much fun. ive spent $20 on it, a price i would have never paid upfront!
and honestly, dont lose any sleep it wont do you any good, and you’ll wake up tired 
-end rant.
sorry for punctuation, writing on iphone4 with one thumb [import]uid: 34945 topic_id: 8849 reply_id: 33044[/import]
First thing I have to say is, wow! That is an insane amount of typing on an iPhone! Especially with only one thumb.
Second, excellent points! I think that really puts things into perspective and I couldn’t agree more!
[import]uid: 9968 topic_id: 8849 reply_id: 33080[/import]
Thumb started to cramp [import]uid: 34945 topic_id: 8849 reply_id: 33150[/import]
For this particular App, I actually think the fact that it’s been cracked is a good thing. It’s being played a lot more than it would do legitimately. When we next release an update, I hope we can win some of these jailbreak users over with latest features offered in the paid copy. [import]uid: 21125 topic_id: 8849 reply_id: 33835[/import]
i hope so can you keep us posted? [import]uid: 34945 topic_id: 8849 reply_id: 33888[/import]