Ish: I found an app that is suspiciously close to ish

[Wh0ba]

So I searched for Termius on the AppStore to use ssh
And an app showed up called iShell
Which claims to be a portable Linux
It uses Alpine Linux just like ish
It has an improved UI
The settings look identical (they added more color themes)

Here is the link for the app
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ishell/id1455946930?mt=8

Is that legal and does it respect your licensing rights?

[ecstaticax]

I confirm that it is iSH with some polishing on the interface.

[saagarjha]

@tbodt has already gotten in touch with Apple to clarify the licensing situation with the developer of that app.

[tbodt]

It's not legal, if the developer doesn't respond to my emails I will ask for apple to take it down.

[ecstaticax]

At least now you now that apple can approve your app. Why don’t you put on AppStore legally? Please, don’t ask for subscription. I will happily pay to buy it. It’s a wonderful thing.

[jusdepatate]

At least now you now that apple can approve your app. Why don’t you put on AppStore legally? Please, don’t ask for subscription. I will happily pay to buy it. It’s a wonderful thing.

Why "legally" ? TestFlight isn't illegal
And @tbodt waits to get a 100% stable version of iSH before public release

[ecstaticax]

Yes, it’s legal, but on AppStore I think it would be better.

[saagarjha]

At least now you now that apple can approve your app.

Obligatory reminder that the App Store review process is not necessarily consistent or even objective.

[ecstaticax]

I agree

[tbodt]

I've obtained a decrypted version of the app and it includes plenty of code for showing ads that can be activated remotely at any time. sigh

[ecstaticax]

I think you can ask Apple to remove it

[tbodt]

Apple has informed me that the app has been removed. Seems they wait 30 days for a response. Smart move, considering a lawsuit could never happen that quickly.

[mirorauhala]

I don’t really understand how the copy was illegal. Yes it was a fork of this repository. Repository which is licensed under an open-source, copyleft license. What I cannot wrap my head around is that, first you make code, license it with a free license, and then complain that someone used in within their rights. Rights that you gave them.

If you do not want others to publish the same app with or without modification, you should reconsider the licensing of the project.

Also note that if you notified Apple that the other is a copy of yours. They may have deleted it on the grounds of being GPLv3 licensed as I discussed here #34.

TL;DR: There’s no such thing as an illegal copy of open-source licensed software. That’s why they are open-source.

[tbodt]

You're free to make your own modified version of iSH and put it on the app store, as long as you release your code as required by the GPL, which didn't happen in this case.