Game Piracy Protection

[Chase]

What exactly can an iPhone game developer do to protect their game from piracy? Or is it a hopeless matter? Is there some sort of way that they can create their own DRM that's more difficult to be broken?

I hope it's okay with everyone the amount of threads lately on the topic of piracy.

[mek]

yes, and yes, and no and no, in no particuluar order

developers can fight piracy
but the limit on Apple specific API's that apple allows, does limit the creativity of development, and apple hasn't released an API specifically for development of DRM, the code signing was suppose to help address it, but really it just gives Apple the ability to pull the plug on software

so as the market becomes more complex, and larger, as it is, you will see more piracy, and maybe anti piracy matters

but whatever can be built, can be broken, and rebuilt..so piracy will always occur, it is just, how difficult or easy do you make it for the piracy to occur

you can pirate a car [the chinese do it all the time, there is an entire industry built around it], but it is more complex than pirating a song or iphone app

[TheBunny]

Some simple ideas you can do...

1. You can screen for hacked apps or running on a hacked phone.
Ask google theres some blogs on how to do this.

After you do that you can...

2. sign up for http://www.pinchmedia.com/
Or one of the other analytics services... I do recommend pinchmedia tho
as being easy and useful..

Start monitoring data like if your app is hacked of not.

Friends are reporting to me about 50/50 spilt on hacked vs non on small volume apps.. if you make it to the top 100 chart this starts to change.

3. If you find a hacke phone you can do what ever you like...
Not run... limit the time you run for... turn off features.
Many of these someone will hack out if they are really annoying.

One suggestion is to simply turn on ads in the hacked versions of the app.
This might be a good way to make $ off both pirates and non pirates.

So far most apps are all being hacked in the same generic way were Im pretty sure the pirates can just run a script on the app bundle and are not really doing much real hacking.

YMMV of course ;)

[swift]

Some simple ideas you can do...
1. You can screen for hacked apps or running on a hacked phone.
Ask google theres some blogs on how to do this.


Could you be more specific about this? I've spent 30 minutes searching and I couldn't find anything on Google, though maybe I'm just not picking the right thing to search for. I don't care about running on jailbroken phones (mine is jailbroken!) but I would love to be able to detect if someone is running a cracked version of the app. I am planning on including downloadable levels in my app (similar to some of the sokoban games which have included this) and I would prefer that I not have to pay for bandwidth on my web host for pirates to use, so I'd like to limit or disable that functionality for them. That idea about showing ads to pirates is pretty brilliant, I'd definitely consider that as well.

[Oliver]

Is this really a problem for devs? You have to have a jailbroken iPhone, get the hacked game and install the game somewhere in your iPhone. And all that just to save 1, 5 or 10 US$... Can't believe that so many are doing this.

[mrsteveman1]

I am planning on including downloadable levels in my app (similar to some of the sokoban games which have included this) and I would prefer that I not have to pay for bandwidth on my web host for pirates to use, so I'd like to limit or disable that functionality for them. That idea about showing ads to pirates is pretty brilliant, I'd definitely consider that as well.

Like to, but should you?

Is it really such a huge problem that it would justify the time and effort it would take to build such a checking system into the code? What happens when someone who paid for the app gets bitten by some bug caused by this little check system?

Depends on the cost of bandwidth i suppose but I would think it would take less of your time to just ignore it. There isn't a jailbreak at all for the 2g touch yet, so thats one entire segment of the user base you don't have to worry about at all.

[drunknbass]

ive actually written a class to plug n play into any app that has various different checks that checks if you are not just running a jailbroken device but also stealing apps etc. it has about 10 levels of checks it goes through to make 100% sure you dont block out a paying customer. and it doesnt require wifi.. sure its not foolproof.. if someone wanted to spend all the time in the world to disassemble the code and figure out how i d it im sure they could patch it out.. but nobody will bother.. and the people hacking apps dont really know wtf they are doing its just so easy for them to remove the fairplay drm as it is. patching apps is a different beast and requires someone who knows what they are doing.

[swift]

Depends on the cost of bandwidth i suppose but I would think it would take less of your time to just ignore it.

Ultimately time is money and I think that's quite true. I'll probably design the app in such a way that I can put something in after the fact if it becomes a problem, but for the first release I doubt I'll bother to do anything actively.

I just worry about a worst-case scenario where so much bandwidth is consumed by the pirates and so few copies are paid for that, after paying for my web hosting every month, I'll actually be losing money on the app. I would hate, in that situation, to have to remove the feature and screw over paying customers, but I don't see what else I could do if that DID happen and I didn't have a way to screen out pirates. That said, this would probably never happen and I'm just scaring myself over a very unlikely scenario.

[mrsteveman1]

Ultimately time is money and I think that's quite true. I'll probably design the app in such a way that I can put something in after the fact if it becomes a problem, but for the first release I doubt I'll bother to do anything actively.

I just worry about a worst-case scenario where so much bandwidth is consumed by the pirates and so few copies are paid for that, after paying for my web hosting every month, I'll actually be losing money on the app. I would hate, in that situation, to have to remove the feature and screw over paying customers, but I don't see what else I could do if that DID happen and I didn't have a way to screen out pirates. That said, this would probably never happen and I'm just scaring myself over a very unlikely scenario.

Sure, i agree you shouldn't have to put up with such a situation, though i don't know that you could actually solve the problem with code in the app even if you did need to do something about it.

They are downloadable levels, how big are they? Bandwidth is pretty cheap now, a 5$ shared hosting account usually comes with a few hundred gigabytes, i have to believe you'd stay under that just offering levelpacks.

[Hippieman]

Put out a substantial update, and build against OS 2.2. So far that seems to be doing the trick.

Although we still get a flood of tech support from people who cannot be bothered to realize they need to update to 2.2.

[drunknbass]

Put out a substantial update, and build against OS 2.2. So far that seems to be doing the trick.

Although we still get a flood of tech support from people who cannot be bothered to realize they need to update to 2.2.

are you kidding me? do you realize how many people are jailbreaking their phones these days because its so damn quick and easy. basically almost fool proof.. then people install and app through cydia that basically is an appstore and has EVERY appstore app and usally has it within 24 hours from release..
if anything the hacking of apps is the worst now than ever.. esp since through cydia people can patch thier phones to play unsigned apps, and download and install ipas of hacked apps..

[drunknbass]

not only that.. they have an iphone app that you can run and pick a legit ap you bought, and it will patch it and clean all traces of your identity from the file and have it ready for upload. so even monkeys can help and crack apps without even understanding what they are doing.

[Frand]

not only that.. they have an iphone app that you can run and pick a legit ap you bought, and it will patch it and clean all traces of your identity from the file and have it ready for upload. so even monkeys can help and crack apps without even understanding what they are doing.

It would be nice to know what percentage of the total platform base is running jailbreak devices.

[Chase]

It would be nice to know what percentage of the total platform base is running jailbreak devices.

I'll make a poll in the iPhone Games Section, where there's most attention on these forums. Maybe it might give us some idea.

[Modus]

It would be nice to know what percentage of the total platform base is running jailbreak devices.

Probably impossible to say, I wouldn't be suprised if even Apple have nothing in place to discover the true extent.

If we accept YouTube as a popular one-stop-shop to jailbreaking instructions, then maybe the number of views for the hacking videos are revealing.

Searching for Cydia returns one video with 96k views; the rest are largely under 5,000.

Cydia's only one route of course, but I suspect it's not that big a splash.

Could be a case of famous last words, of course ;)

[drunknbass]

well, the thing is i also run a jb device. so my class doesnt reject people with jailbroken devices.. it rejcts people who stole the app ;)

and 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩 stated they get 2.5 million hits a day. i think those # are pretty high.

one of our apps we noticed was registering @15-20% more devices than we sold apps through itunes. and it was a .99 app (sorry cant say the name... but its in the top 20 ;))

[Modus]

well, the thing is i also run a jb device. so my class doesnt reject people with jailbroken devices.. it rejcts people who stole the app ;)

and 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩 stated they get 2.5 million hits a day. i think those # are pretty high.

one of our apps we noticed was registering @15-20% more devices than we sold apps through itunes. and it was a .99 app

Hmmmmm 2.5 million hits per day... I'll bet my fancy shoes that's not unique visitors.

Probably besides the point anyway, as 15-20% is quite substantial. Short of subscription based services though, not a lot can be done in the long run.

(sorry cant say the name... but its in the top 20 ;))

It's not Urban Tycoon is it?

You might want to duck and hide if so.... ;)

[emb531]

ive actually written a class to plug n play into any app that has various different checks that checks if you are not just running a jailbroken device but also stealing apps etc. it has about 10 levels of checks it goes through to make 100% sure you dont block out a paying customer. and it doesnt require wifi.. sure its not foolproof.. if someone wanted to spend all the time in the world to disassemble the code and figure out how i d it im sure they could patch it out.. but nobody will bother.. and the people hacking apps dont really know wtf they are doing its just so easy for them to remove the fairplay drm as it is. patching apps is a different beast and requires someone who knows what they are doing.

I really don't think you understand how smart the crackers really are....you should take a better look into how the apps are actually cracked.

[Frand]

Hmmmmm 2.5 million hits per day... I'll bet my fancy shoes that's not unique visitors.

Probably besides the point anyway, as 15-20% is quite substantial. Short of subscription based services though, not a lot can be done in the long run.



It's not Urban Tycoon is it?

You might want to duck and hide if so.... ;)

What's actually stopping Apple from blocking jailbroken devices out of App Store as a policy? Nobody complains when Microsoft kicks modded Xbox360s out of Xbox Live, why should jailbreak iPhones be treated any different?

[Hippieman]

So 2.2 can now be jailbroken? I know over Thanksgiving it was not possible to jailbreak 2.2. I know the hackers work fast, but is it already broken?

[emb531]

So 2.2 can now be jailbroken? I know over Thanksgiving it was not possible to jailbreak 2.2. I know the hackers work fast, but is it already broken?

Hm, you really should keep up faster with the news, 2.2 has been jailbroken essentially since the day it came out.

http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/61060174/the-man-from-delmonte-he-say-yes

[Modus]

What's actually stopping Apple from blocking jailbroken devices out of App Store as a policy? Nobody complains when Microsoft kicks modded Xbox360s out of Xbox Live, why should jailbreak iPhones be treated any different?

Who knows with Apple, I sometimes wonder if they take the old Think Different motto a stretch too far. They're definitely hard to predict policy-wise.

It could be that they're simply tolerating it while they gather marketshare (and the all important mindshare). Then again, big companies, much like trees in fantasy novels, tend to move very slowly and then bring their full weight down to bear at the last possible moment.

There could be a lawyer joke in there - I'll have to sleep on it....

Even without App Store though, I don't know if it would dent the proliferation of pirated apps, especially since the connections/network/communities are already established. If anything, it might increase the rate of piracy, if legal channels were removed completely.

[swift]

If anything, it might increase the rate of piracy, if legal channels were removed completely.

I have to agree; I think that's exactly what would happen. I'd rather that jailbreaking continues to work, but Apple comes up with a better strategy for preventing cracked apps from running. It's probably hopeless, though; the Xbox 360 and PS3 have seen some success with hardware-based solutions but current devices, which are protected entirely through software, almost certainly can't be secured.

[drunknbass]

I really don't think you understand how smart the crackers really are....you should take a better look into how the apps are actually cracked.

trust me i know what it takes to crack iphone apps.. its not very complex at all. patching an app is much more work than what needs to be done to iphone apps to remove the drm. its actually pretty easy.

the way apps are cracked, they are all done the same way.. so even adding something small into the mix that could stop piracy makes someone who usally takes 2 min to crack and app go hmm... this app is different.. and then if they know how would reverse engineer it and see what exactly you did.
not saying its impossible to patch, but textguru does a few tricks to stop piracy and the 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩 crackers still have a problem trying to crack it.

[mjonesgraphics]

But would those who pirate an APP necessarily have bought it in the first place? If it's "free" (stolen) they'd give it a go, then probably leave it. If they'd wanted it so badly they'ed more than likely have paid for it. We're not talking thousands of dollars here (unlike my MAX license Grrrrrrr) Probably not too many sales lost, but how many are put off by DRM and extra measures?

I've worked on some N-gage titles, and there were some very bizarre ways of "protecting" the software. It put soooooo many people off, and it never really worked anyway.

Should we assume theft will happen and see it as a cost of doing business?

Mark
Game Artist/Designer
www.mjonesgraphics.com

[slembcke]

The other thing you have too keep in mind is that even if you do add protection to your own program so that it can't be cracked, you aren't going to get a sale out of it.

If somebody tried to pirate it but couldn't, they would just move on to the next easier target. They would have to want it an awful lot to "bother" paying a couple of bucks for it when they could easily get thousands of other apps for free.

[eeefak]

trust me i know what it takes to crack iphone apps.. its not very complex at all. patching an app is much more work than what needs to be done to iphone apps to remove the drm. its actually pretty easy.

the way apps are cracked, they are all done the same way.. so even adding something small into the mix that could stop piracy makes someone who usally takes 2 min to crack and app go hmm... this app is different.. and then if they know how would reverse engineer it and see what exactly you did.
not saying its impossible to patch, but textguru does a few tricks to stop piracy and the 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩 crackers still have a problem trying to crack it.



@drunknbass
I very much agree with you that removing DRM from itunes apps is a no brainer. The ease for the average person to be able to do it is a separate matter and I dont think is as widespread as you may think, but that is besides the point, I really do not think you should brush off any of the iPhone "hacking" community. These are brilliant people who are doing a lot of people a really good service, especially during the first iphone days. If you live in say, Russia you couldn't have an iPhone but thanks to the Dev Team they made that possible and did so absolutely for the love of doing it, NO money taken, NO money ever accepted period. I don't understand why "hacker" has such a negative connotation anymore. A hacker is a guy that takes his xbox and mods it, or takes their iPhone & writes their own code to customize their GUI since Apple won't let you, I mean you have a portable *NIX box in your pocket why wouldn't you want to use the full potential of what you have And other various forms of tinkering too of course:D There is nothing negative about that. This is your own machine that you have bought and I know myself and the vast majority of others are not out to hurt anyone or do anything malicious. These are the people that have the passion for this stuff and do it for fun, to understand how the stuff works and see what they can do to make it different/better. Not everyone wears a black hat and it should really be brought up more when people talk down upon a "hacker" I mean Steve Wozniak was/is a "hacker" a damn good one too. The man used his smarts for good and look what we have to thank him for today. That's just one of the millions of these wonderful nerds across the planet that have done so much for us for so long and largely do it and never get any recognition nor pay. But I digress, now back on the whole iPhone jailbreak deal. I don't understand why someone would limit my use of their server because I am running a jailbroken phone, I am doing nothing wrong. I have never stolen a piece of software from the appstore and nor would I. One of the big complaints I hear about people jailbreaking their phone is how it is not secure anymore because you now can obtain root and with SSH possible it makes you an open target. All I have to say is thank god for the Dev Team doing all the hard work and making that possible for 1 and second If you are going to jailbreak your phone you should know what you're doing and what are the potential ramifications. (This is very well documented throughout the internet and is no different than protecting your computer in the same fashion.) There is a very simple way to take care of this issue, first pop open terminal, you will be running as <mobile> I would imagine, then we type <su root> type in your default password which is <alpine> and then you want to type the command <passwd> then just put in your new password twice and make it something that is not going to be cracked in 3 seconds. It is as simple as that and you are very well secured once you do that. (You will want to change your default password for mobile as well and is done in the same fashion as the latter) I really encourage everyone here who is writing code for the iphone to really think about jailbreaking and how does it effect you in any way and second think about the pros and cons of jailbreak and what has come out of it and is going to come out of it in the future. I really think you will have a very tilted scale in favor of the pro side of it. But either way you come out of it you will have thought about it and that's all we can ask. I would like to comment on one of the post in the forum here where someone was talking about apps going up to cydia almost right after they are released to the appstore, and that is just nonsense. There are so few titles that have been done in that way. There have been great titles that have been taken from cydia to the appstore as well. That person has obviously never spent any or a whole lot of time in cydia. There is a great deal of various things in there that will never be in the appstore not because they aren't very well written but because of the limitations Apple has set. like quickgold which is a tool similar to spotlight or quicksilver and is just fantastic when you have a good deal of home screen pages. That is one of the many great utilities that are hosted there. There is Qik, there are alternative media players. The podcaster app that Apple did not approve is available (although apple's new addition to itunes is much better I think) There are all kinds of themes to customize every aspect of your machine. These are well written apps and updated very often too. These apps are great and they are written by very talented people as are the programs in the appstore but they are geared toward different aspects of the phone and I think they really compliment eachother. Cydia was written and is maintained by Jay Freeman (Saurik) he is just one of the many great minds that have set their sights on the iphone. Erica Sadun is an absolute genius and has done so many great things in the iphone community since day one. The iPhone Dev Team you cant even say enough about. These people are top notch. They are just amazing, and everyone with a jailbroken iphone has that opportunity thanks to them. I really really encourage any person that may read this comment to think about jailbreaking and what is available to you once you have unleashed your phones full capabilities. Even if you do not agree with the vast majority of my opinions here that is absolutely fine and what makes our country great but do remember we do have that one thing in common. We both obviously have a great deal of respect for the iphone and are really interested in see what we can been done with this thing and what we can do with it. I completely respect your opinion no matter what your conclusion. Thanks for your time reading my rant here and sorry about and spelling and grammar errors as I have not proofed it and had to squeeze this into about a very short window

This is in no way any kind of attack or any such thing against drunknbass

[RPGGuy]

I have been adding copy protection to my games (Blue Skies and iFishing) for a while now. I haven't seen any copies of the Blue Skies 3.1 or iFishing 1.2 and up on the net (that work properly) because of this.

It is possible to add protection very easily, by understanding what the hackers are doing to your app. It does not rely on testing for a jailbroken device.

If anyone finds a cracked version of one of my games on the net please email me in private and let me know. I'm curious to find out if anyone has gotten past my latest protection.

[drunknbass]

eeefak if you have so much knowledge of iphone pre sdk youd have realized i was also a contributor to it. search my name in youtube or google and see..
and saying its rediculous about apps going live almost 24 hours from launch? check 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩 and tell me what you think. its a big problem. and there is an app available that will automatically crack an app you purchased and upload it.. so people dont have to know how it works to do it.. just like people can jb their phones without really understanding what is going on.
i can assure you if i decide to sell an app and not make it free, its because i need $ for the time spent on it, and will make it much harder for people to steal.

[gnadenlos]

What's actually stopping Apple from blocking jailbroken devices out of App Store as a policy? Nobody complains when Microsoft kicks modded Xbox360s out of Xbox Live, why should jailbreak iPhones be treated any different?
My iPhone is jailbroken - nevertheless I already spent about 250 Euro at the AppStore and will continue to do so. If Apple locks me out, they (and you as developers) won't see any more of my money. Therefore locking out jailbreaked iPhones is not a smart solution.

I won't give up my Jailbreak as long as Apple doesn't offer a better way for backups. I can't rely on a proprietary solution like iTunes Backup for my important data. If the iTunes Backup gets damaged somehow or if the system gets unstable and I want to do a clean reinstall everything is lost - my application data, my SMS database and my gamesaves. If you think about it, you will jailbreak your iPhone too. ;)

[drunknbass]

blocking jailbroken phones is not the same as blocking phones which have the ability to run hacked games ;)

[TimHaines]

I'm amazed at how quickly apps get cracked. BurnBall was cracked within 2 hours of being released and was uploaded to two sites.

Someone needs to make a drop-in library for detecting cracked versions of the app so the dev can easily choose what to do about it.