What is Apple’s policy for purchasing and viewing its own app?

Question

What is Apple’s policy for purchasing and viewing its own app? Do they allow it, or prevent it, or is it in the fine print of an agreement with Dev that I should not do this?

I know that for Android applications you cannot buy your application, they actually do not allow you to complete the purchase.

Answer 1

You can buy your application, this is not a problem, you can even view your application. But why do you want it too?

Answer 2

Who cares about Apple policy. This is unethical.

In addition, if you do this, and this contradicts many other reviews, your astroturfing will stick out like a sore thumb, and people will grow to not trust you. Once lost, it is incredibly difficult to restore customer confidence - do not take it so lightly.

Answer 3

Sometimes a few positive ratings can mean the difference between attracting organic growth and burnout. From my experience working with various application developers, I have not seen any evidence that Apple manages self-esteem, so you can go ahead and do it technically without disclosing. However, there is a risk of compromising your customers' trust and, probably, very little reward.

My recommendation to get rid of the ethical black area is to ask your network of contacts to rate your application: friends, relatives, previous employees, etc. Tell them that you worked a lot on this and ask them to download the app and write a genuine review / rating based on what they think. Obviously, there is some kind of prejudice in your favor, suggesting that you like them as a person, but I do not consider it unethical if you do not ask them to lie.

Answer 4

Some developers do this in order to be on top of the chart.

For example, you can look at MacPhun LLC in the Apple store, the product name Color Splash, introduced on September 21, 2011 at 22:00 Eastern time, September 22, 2011 at 10:00 Eastern time, the product has 60 5-star review user. He is currently one of the top 15 best sellers in general. There may be an investment of $ 70, which they will return in a few hours.

Answer 5

Of course you bought your application. This is the only real way to check the installation and update. But do not review it, I think it would be unethical.