John Gruber:

“Update My Phone & Apps: Guide” is an iOS app from developer Tair Olzhasev. By default, the only thing it does for free is give you a “Check for Updates” button that launches the system Settings app. It doesn’t even take you to the General → Software Update screen. It just takes you to the root level of Settings.

Everything else it purports to do requires a $15/week subscription. That’s $780 per year.

Jeff Johnson:

You can tell it's a scam without even downloading the app, because it has no website and hosts the privacy policy on sites.google.com, a dead giveaway.

The 3-day trial with auto-renewing subscription is also a huge red flag. By no coincidence, 3 days is the minimum subscription trial length allowed by Apple. All the scams use it.

Christian Tietze:

Being part of a team with a successful App Store app opens my eyes for how weird the app store is.

This is not the Bear Notes the Shiny Frog team is working on :)

This one seems to not be a scam—and there’s only a one-time $3.99 IAP—but it sure is confusing.

Previously:

• The App Store Review Process Needs Fixing
• Not Muse in the App Store

App Store App Store Scams App Subscriptions Bear iOS iOS 27