The OG App

OG App, what exactly was your end game here? • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 10, 2022Posted in Apps, business model, copyright infringement, Instagram, Opinion, Startups, The OG AppNo Comments

A couple of weeks ago, Apple removed the OG App from its app store, and today Google followed suit, booting the app from its platform as well. And I’m left scratching my head wondering what the end game was for the founders of the OG App. As far as I can tell, the company basically made a new version of Instagram that strips the advertising out, and brings back the non-algorithmic feed. Don’t get me wrong, I would love that, but there’s no universe in which it was going to be a good idea to essentially steal a bunch of content from Meta (née Facebook), repackage it and feed that content to users. You see, businesses have to make money, and in the case of Instagram, that means showing advertising to its users. “Everyone knows Instagram sucks. We made it better and got a lot of love from users. But Facebook hates its own users so much, it’s willing to crush an alternative that gives them a clean, ad-free Instagram. Apple is colluding with Facebook to bully two teenagers who made Instagram better,” the startup said in a statement to ZebethMedia for Ivan’s story. And that’s where I’m just left shaking my head — that isn’t hating your users, that is protecting the only way you have to make money. Literally any company in the world would fight to protect its bottom line, and stealing wholesale from a mega-corporation with a $360 billion market cap is not a great way to build a startup. The app — and its tens of thousands of downloads — does illustrate one thing though, which is that people are getting pretty bored of Instagram’s ad-heavy business, and according to Sarah’s recent reporting, things are going to get a lot worse. But if you don’t like it, your option is to stop using the offending platform and switch to another. The people behind the OG App will be extraordinarily lucky if it turns out that getting the app yanked from the app stores is the worst thing that happens to them, and as much as I want to encourage young entrepreneurs, I’m really confused why nobody around them stopped them for long enough to say “uhm, maybe this isn’t a great idea.”

Google removes The OG App from the Play Store as founders think about next steps • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 10, 2022Posted in Apps, Google, Instagram, play store, The OG AppNo Comments

Almost a week after Apple removed The OG App from the App Store, an Instagram client that promised to provide an ad-free and suggestion-free feed, Google followed the suit and booted the app off the Play Store. In a Twitter thread, co-founders of Un1feed, the company that published The OG App, said that the startup won’t be able to serve its users following the app’s removal from both iOS and Android’s app stores. The app makers said in a brief period the app was live it attracted more than 25,000 downloads. However, following our removal from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store – OG will be unable to continue serving users through our mobile app. — The OG App 🔗 (@TheOGapp_) October 7, 2022 ZebethMedia has reached out to Google for a comment, and we’ll update the post when we hear back. Late last month, Un1feed launched The OG App with a promise to provide users with a customizable Instagram experience. To do so, it reverse-engineered Instagram for Android API. However, that created a lot of issues that potentially risked users’ privacy and security. Following the launch, Instagram owner Meta said that the app violated its policies and that the company is “taking all appropriate enforcement actions.” But it didn’t provide any details about the steps it took. Around the same time, Apple removed the app from the App Store saying that it was accessing Instagram’s service in an unauthorized manner. The Cupertino-based tech giant added that The OG App breached App Store rules. These that prohibited apps from displaying content from third-party apps by violating their terms of use. In a note displayed on The OG App’s website, the founders said that they are still thinking about the next steps and will provide some clarity in the coming weeks. After going through a ton of security mishaps, Meta has tightened its rules around access to user data and has limited its APIs to show a limited amount of information outside its family of apps. It’s not surprising that the company was swift to crack down on a solution that used unofficial APIs to display content.