Chameleon apps "cut out" from App Store and Google Play
It is known that both the App Store and Google Play are very strict and attentive to the placement of various applications. Every year, new requirements and rules appear that tighten the placement of programs used to launch mobile games for candy wrappers.
Recently, the result of such a policy was the mass removal of several hundred applications from the stores of giants Apple and Google. This was done after analysts working in the gambling industry found out that applications that were intended for different purposes can be easily reconfigured to launch games for real money.
By the way, most of the removed applications were aimed at residents of mainland China, where, as is known, gambling for money is only allowed in Macau, and at players from Eastern Europe.
Both stores did not impose a strict ban on publishing applications for gambling (this rule applies only to territories where online gambling is prohibited by law). However, monitoring of products that can be downloaded is carried out constantly. The results of the last inspection revealed violations that led to the removal of chameleon programs (this is what they are called in Apple and Google), which are disguised as regular software for free games, but in fact serve to launch entertainment for real money.
As the company analysts stated, such programs may look as if they were developed for purposes that are not related to the gambling industry. However, they have a “switch” that at the right moment turns them into applications for gambling. Good disguise allowed them to successfully pass any checks in the past, which is what the developers of such applications used to place them in the App Store and Google Play stores.
The most interesting thing is that in some cases, chameleon programs were more popular with users than the applications they were designed to imitate. New algorithms allowed experts to separate "honest" programs from "chameleons", so the creators of such software will have to puzzle over how to bypass the checks that will be carried out regularly.
