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Are there any effective copy protection solutions to protect iPhone software ?

JasonMArcher
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Eli Ben-Ami
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  • -1 because this question is way too generic.. Search for this on stackoverflow as it has been answered many ways with good responses. – Jann Feb 28 '10 at 09:49

4 Answers4

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Not really. Everything that has been tried has been broken so far.

Let me ask you a question, why do you want copy protection?

Stefan Arentz
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  • To whoever voted me down, please add a comment why you did that. My answer was a serious one: there is NO 100% effective copy protection solution for iPhone apps. – Stefan Arentz Jan 23 '10 at 15:29
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    I voted you down because that's not what is being asked. Please save the political derails for another site. – Alex Reynolds Jan 23 '10 at 16:53
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    Let me ask you a question: Why do you not want copy protection? Is it really that awful to pay a couple bucks for an app that is useful to you? – Alex Reynolds Jan 23 '10 at 19:24
  • Alex, why do you assume I steal software? I am actually an iPhone software developer who simply thinks that copy protection is not worth the effort and frustration that it generates. – Stefan Arentz Jan 24 '10 at 02:43
  • You assumed the asker is after a 100% effective solution. So I'm treating you with the same type of lame assumption, so that you can try to understand why your type of answer is political garbage. – Alex Reynolds Jan 24 '10 at 06:57
  • I flagged your comment as offensive because I don't think your particular attitude is necessary. – Stefan Arentz Jan 24 '10 at 15:23
  • I don't think your answer is very useful because it is symptomatic of *non-programming* answers to questions about copy protection, and if I could vote it down more than once or have it deleted, I would. – Alex Reynolds Jan 24 '10 at 18:54
  • Thank you for that insight Alex. However, the question asked can easily be interpreted as a non-programming question. The question did not specifically ask for an implementation. I interpreted it literally and gave an appropriate answer. Not much different from what Rhythmic Fistman wrote. It was not an opinion, simply a fact. That being said, can you please stop attacking me? – Stefan Arentz Jan 24 '10 at 19:54
  • I'm not attacking you. I telling you why your non-answer was voted down. – Alex Reynolds Jan 24 '10 at 20:57
  • First you called my answer a 'political derail' while there was noting like that in it. Then you accused me of stealing software. Then you accuse me of having lame assumptions and writing political garbage. Maybe it is you who is completely misinterpreting here. I was really just giving an answer to the question. (But really, why all the anger? Are you an iPhone developer? Did your software get pirated?) – Stefan Arentz Jan 24 '10 at 21:10
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None are 100% effective, but at the very least you can exclude automated crackers.
If your app is high profile enough, then whatever scheme you come up with,
it will eventually be circumvented.

But implementing your own protection is more fun than doing sudoku, buys you time
and even if it doesn't work, take heart, you've forced some kid to learn about pointers,
assembly language, encryption, hashing, signing, differential equations, fourier transforms
or whatever your topic du jour is.

One day they'll thank you for it.

p.s. most of the references on the net on how to protect your app are
completely out of date, checking your plist for a SignerIdentity
hasn't worked since OS 3.0.

Rhythmic Fistman
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I've been looking at this approach, AntiCrack, and it looks pretty solid. I'll be putting it in my next App.

Tim
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The best resources I've found (and most up to date) are here.

gcamp
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