Well, you could but a warning sign saying this app has been crippled so the person with the cracked app doesn't say "This app didn't work with my device"
No. If you impair the functionality in any way, the cracker will just remove your self-aware code before he uploads it for others. The point of just making it an unobtrusive ad is that the cracker will most likely leave it alone, since it doesn't hinder the game. The kind of person who feels the way you describe isn't going to buy the game anyway. The point of putting the ad in is to encourage the casual pirate to go ahead and pay for it. Something like "Enjoying the game? Please pay for it. The money I make from game development puts food on my family's table." - followed by the App Store link, just to make it easy. That has been tried, and it simply doesn't work. It just delays the crack for a few hours - a couple of days at most. Crackers can remove any self-aware code you put in your app.
Do the first paragraph (at the top) : But the pirate still won't buy it cause he got it for free that's the point. To the 2nd paragraph (at the bottom) : Yea, but it delays it for a the time being I rather it do that then nothing.
what helps a little in general is frequently updating the program, it needs to be cracked over and over, and shift the anti crack code a little bit, so its not easy to automate it. But in general its very hopeless to do anything agains piracy. We observed this over years (Poc amiga was pirated at that time, and over and over again and killed our business last in turkey with 10000 downloads linked to my youtube video though the game was in german (deluxe 2008 edition) but there was no copyprot and this because the distributor wanted it free of such -- I assume this made it worse, as a protection can reduce it a little but) - so I almost gave up doing something. The iPhone/iPod, protects a little bit better as a jail break is necessary and not all are using this. But even the OS is cracked, and I assume Apple put more power into this to protect than we can as developer. A good way is to have some kind of registration with benefits, but this only helps with verified registration data. All takes time which is rare and better spent in updating the applications for features.
Don't pay for an anti-piracy service, they don't work. If your app or game is online-only, there may be something you can do, but for all of the offline apps out there, here are a few simple solutions that are good for the consumer and will generate more sales. Update often and provide features that people won't want to wait for a crack to appear in order get. Provide an ad-supported or content-limited lite version, so people don't download a cracked version to use as a trial (that they never end up paying for) Launch the app cheap, then raise the price later, to get a lot of initial sales and discourage people from bothering to look for a cracked version
Why? I used to jailbreak my iPhone, and I've never downloaded a single pirated iPhone app in my life.
youre probably in the minority though. I dont support jailbreaking because it's an enabler for piracy.
it works on my jailbroken ipod has anyone tried releasing loads of little updates that add features it may be hard but then pirates will get tired of updating their cracked app?
Last time that I bothered to notice, there was a work around for My Brute. Online apps aren't incredibly safe against piracy anyways. See the Beejive crack if you need proof.
I posted this in the developers private forum quite awhile back. We have a Non Disclosure Agreement, but since this is my post, I'll share it. The response to this thread was mixed and I can tell you that not all developers agree on who is responsible and what should be done to combat piracy. It's one of those issues that will continue until the hardware itsself can regulate how software is validated and maintained and plainly, it's out of the developers control. I will tell you that one of the biggest issues is not so much the games being leeched, it's the title that maintains an online database for those games that suffer the hardest. The developer must keep a network running that's bogged down by cracked apps more than legitimate users. Not only is the developer not getting paid for the fruits of his labor, money is coming out of his pocket to keep what is a lot of the time, minority honest user base.
That isn't true. Everyone I know with an iPhone and iPod touch have jailbroken devices. Not a single one of them (except for me, but the only app that I ever got through those methods was NetShare, after it was removed) even knows how to pirate an app. You shouldn't be a supporter of computers either. They make piracy easy too. Look at how easy it is to download movies and games illegally. Heck, the iPhone has unlimited access to YouTube, which is filled with illegal content.
That gave me a great idea! 1. Upload cracked lite version of your app on as many sites as possible, calling it the full version 2. ??? 3. Profit!
i disagree i'd say $300,000 * 0.03 (regular conversion rate for sharewares) = actual people who wouldve bought the app. There is a lot of other cracked apps for them to bother changing their habit for just one app no matter how fricking awesome the dev think theirs is. yes, jailbreaking != pirates but i would say that jailbreakers = more technical know-how = more chances they know how to get cracked apps = more likely to get cracked apps if i can put a stat on it (straight from my a$$) id say 50% - 80% of jailbreakers used cracked apps regularly.
Well.. Some people (Not me, I don't crack apps) use it to see if they want the game (obviously not many), and then if people see it's the lite but think its the full they might spread word that it isnt that good.... PS: Laugh at me, but I laughed when I read the thread title "Best Anti-Crack Solution?" EDIT: Idea Ok when you download the app that requires to be paid, it is free, but when you open it, it just has a picture and a buy now option and basicly, it just downloads over that file, directly from iTunes
