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Windows 10 for phones has a huge problem: its app store is infested with fake apps

By Victor Hristov

Updated: Feb 08, 2016, 3:47 AM

30comments

Windows Apps

Popular game Traffic Rider is just one victim of the fake app invasion on Windows 10

Windows 10 for phones has had a catastrophic Holiday quarter as sales slumped to an all-time low to just 4.5 million Lumia phones. That's a decline of the whopping 57% over the same quarter in 2014, and 49% drop in revenue.

However, phone sales are not its only problem: the Windows 10 marketplace seems to have become a mess infested with fake apps.

Fake apps have infested the Windows marketplace

A search for the popular Traffic Rider game yields tens of fake apps that have nothing to do with the official game, but since Microsoft does not seem to exert any control on these apps, they just sit there to confuse users. Try finding the real Traffic Rider game (which is in fact available on Windows 10 for phones) among the dozens of fake apps with a similar name. Sure, once you start looking closely, you will see that most of them are spelled with a typo on purpose: there is 'Traffic.Rider.', then there is 'Traffic Rider.....", then 'Traffic Rider_', and the list just goes on and on.

Truth be told, there is a dropdown that allows you to specify that you are not just looking for apps, but for games in particular, and if you are clever enough to pick that option, you will only see the real game, but for most people, searching for Traffic Rider in the Marketplace will result in a ton of confusing results and the chance of downloading a fake app is quite high.

Will the real Slim Shady... ergh, apps please stand up?

Naturally, this is terrible user experience, but with fake apps for many popular releases, this also artificially inflates the number of apps on the Windows 10 Marketplace, giving a very delusional value to the number of apps available. Microsoft seems to have just let it all slide with Windows 10 for phones, but if it has any plans of reviving the platform, it should resolve those issues ASAP.

reference: Windows Central

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Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.