Apple is once again rolling out a way for App Store users to report a problematic app.
After years of it being missing, Apple has brought back the “Report a Problem” button on the App Store, making it easier for people to report an app that is potentially scamming people or committing fraud.
As Richard Mazkewich and scam hunter Kosta Eleftheriou have reported on Twitter (via The Verge), the latest App Store update lets you “report a scam or fraud” for both free, in-app purchase (IAP) and paid apps as part of iOS 15, provided you’ve installed the app in question.
In a major reversal, Apple quietly added back the “Report a Problem” @AppStore button in iOS 15: pic.twitter.com/UopiPDEV7e
— Kosta Eleftheriou (@keleftheriou) October 3, 2021
You can now signal a scam or a fraud and not just “Report suspicious activity,” “Report a quality issue,” “Request a refund,” or “Find my content” as before. Previously, you would have also needed to make an in-app purchase before you could highlight a scam or fraud, but that’s no longer the case.
The “Report a problem” feature itself returned to individual app listings for the first time in years, as The Verge pointed out. Prior to that, it was located at the bottom of the Apps or Games tabs and would send you to a separate website.
Apple regularly comes under pressure for the way it sometimes allows problem apps into the App Store while also putting up roadblocks that prevent legitimate apps from being released. This move is one that is most welcome and it could potentially see scams removed from the App Store more quickly than was previously possible.
