It is not easy for developers to list their apps in Apple’s app store. So much so that the tech giant has many rules that developers have to follow. In addition, there is the App Store Review Team, which checks whether the rules are being followed. However, sometimes we can see that inappropriate applications enter the store.

This kind of situation has happened very recently. First spotted by 9to5Mac application for illegal movies and tv series, for more than 1 year It managed to stay in the App Store. After the news broke, it was removed from the store. How did it go unnoticed for so long? With developers playing tricks on Apple.

While it disguised itself as a photo application in the US, it managed to trick Apple by acting as an application for watching pirated TV shows and movies in other countries.

The name of the application is “Collectible Cards: Shopping Box”. The application, which was supposedly in the App Store for over a year, was able to stay in the store for so long without anything happening by tricking Apple. In the screenshots in the App Store, it appears as an application for managing photos and videos. But when downloaded Stream content from multiple platforms, including Netflix, Prime Video, HBO, and even Apple TV+. It turns into an application that enables illegal viewing.

Collectible Cards: Store Box not only remains unnoticed for a long time, but also Becoming the second most downloaded free application in the App Store He even succeeded. You may wonder how it is so popular but not noticed, and how Apple is misleading it. The answer is the region where the users are located.

APPLICATION, Changes content based on users’ location. For US users: see the screenshot. photo and video management application The interface is displayed and the functions for watching illegal TV series and movies are disabled. Good Users in the USthey cannot see the actual application.

The real application, however, is in markets like Brazil. Users here, when they download illegal tv series and movies They can see. It’s not clear in which countries other than Brazil this is the case, but according to 9to5Mac, it’s an application that’s available in many regions around the world. In short, Apple’s ability to position itself as a photography application in the US, where it has the most control, has allowed it to stay in other markets for so long.

Developers have been trying to trick Apple into taking such steps. Collect Cards: Store Box, which can beat Apple in a very interesting way, is the latest example.