Re: [android-developers] Re: All APK has cracked by apkcracks.net

On Thu, May 3, 2012 at 1:28 PM, Streets Of Boston
<flyingdutchie@gmail.com> wrote:
> Every app can be cracked and pirated. It doesn't matter how much layers of
> protection you  add to your app; your app can always be cracked. If someone
> is willing to spend time to reverse engineer your app and has enough
> determination, they will succeed.

More importantly, every app on every OS can be cracked. Pirate BBSes
date at least back to the late 1980's.

> If i may be so bold to say, the only apps that can't be cracked are the apps
> that are not published.

I'd phrase it more as "the risk of cracking is proportional to the
means of distribution".

So, distributing via the Google Play Store means it is likely to be
cracked, particularly if an automated tool can do so.

On the far other end of the spectrum, Web apps, because they are not
distributed, are highly unlikely to be "cracked" in any traditional
sense (though sharing of logins and such may have similar effects).

There are other distribution means with intermediate risk of cracking
(e.g., apps distributed internally within an enterprise).

> You could look into some legal action against apkcracks.net, though.
> However, i'm doubtful it would have much effect (apkcracks is not the only
> one out there).

More importantly, the OP chose a business model (retail sales) that
has had "piracy" for thousands of years. Whether you are selling apps,
apples, axes, animals, Ajax-brand laundry detergent, or azaleas, there
will be losses due to shoplifting, employee theft, real
honest-to-goodness parrot-wielding pirates, etc. Apps being cracked is
merely the manifestation of this in shrinkwrap software. And, even in
software, this has been going on for decades. This is not to say that
it is right, and that's one of the reasons why I get bent out of shape
when developers ON THIS VERY GROUP advocate pirating things like the
Google Play client. However, it is largely a fact of life.

You either:

- Don't worry about it, any more than shopkeepers refuse to sell goods
for fear those goods might get stolen, or

- You tweak the model to help mitigate losses (e.g., frequent updates,
such that the pirated copies are always out of date and therefore
missing capabilities), or

- You choose a different business model, one that may have other
problems (e.g., consulting clients who fail to pay their invoices)

--
Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)
http://commonsware.com | http://github.com/commonsguy
http://commonsware.com/blog | http://twitter.com/commonsguy

Android Training...At Your Office: http://commonsware.com/training

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