quietrobot/improve-the-microsoft-store

Track apps that are misleading or shouldn't be in the Microsoft Store

Introduction

The goal of this repository is to help track spam apps in the Microsoft Store. This list will be updated over time. We'll also come back and remove app names from this list once they're removed from the store. Pull requests are welcome.

Apps can be reported directly from the Microsoft Store but we recommend adding them to this list as well so that they can be tracked. IP and copyright owners can follow the instructions found here: https://www.microsoft.com/info/Marketplace.aspx.

What counts as spam?

It's a bit of a grey area but for the sake of this list we're going to define it as apps that are misleading or serve no purpose. Apps may be considered spam if they meet this criteria but each app is different and will be reviewed before being added to the list.

• funcitonal but the features are already present in the OS and the app doesn't provide any additional value
• is a duplicate or can be merged with an existing app from the same dev
• serves as a wrapper for YouTube video or text document (eg. Guide for Google Chrome)

What counts as misleading?

• third party app that presents itself as the official client or service
• presents itself as free but requires the user to pay to access the features once downloaded
• fork of an oss project that doesn't add any value over the original and charges unsuspecting users

Contributing to this list

Contributions are welcome. Please note that the list is sorted by reason so please try to stick with this pattern when adding a new app.

Tracker

Application	Link	Reason	Notes	Publisher
Tutorial for Bitmoji User	9NHFZVBT29GH	Spam		Chiu Lab
Tutor for VPN	9NK5SG3KJTG1	Spam		Chiu Lab
Driver Download for Canon Printer	9MVKZW06XC8B	Spam		Software Driver Support
YouTube Download for Windows	9NFMKPLRG42M	Spam		Marabelove
Real Ebooks Reader For Kindle On Windows	9P1B3NTMVSPZ	Spam		Marabelove
Driver Download For Canon Scanner	9PD466D4RVNP	Spam		Hanni studio
Driver For Brother Printer.	9N5C8X2FG1KS	Spam		Hanni studio
Driver For Samsung Printer	9NHK5QSNL7HS	Spam		Hanni studio
Computer Controller from Google Assistant / Amazon Alexa	9NMXJ0JWVC80	Spam		Hanni studio
Tutorial for Blender 3D	9PD4R3H5D6MH	Spam		Shek APP
Guide for Digital Calendar	9P4QMRBRBDGD	Spam		Shek APP
Guide For Ableton Live	9P928JVK6K4N	Spam		Shek APP
Guide for Google Earth Pro	9N183GKKGTVQ	Spam		rpsapps
Guide for Animal Crossing New Horizons PC	9PGZM04RDJ58	Spam		rpsapps
Guide for Fall Guys : Ultimate Knockout	9P5MVZ9JX1TJ	Spam		rpsapps
Beginner's Guide For GarageBand.	9NBLGGH67DC7	Spam		macProVideo.com
Driver for HP Printer	9NFWCNTJD1KX	Spam		RRT Software
Tutorial for Adobe Illustrator	9MX4B94D0MLZ	Spam		syncoinapp
Solidworks Tutor	9N2ND0KGHQMR	Spam		syncoinapp
Autocad 2020 Tutor	9PGT5WV34806	Spam		syncoinapp
PDF to Excel Converter Pro	9NGQXVNN0XMG	Spam		Lockie studio
Connect to AirPods Pro	9NZ31TCFPCBT	Spam	Tricks users into believing that they need to buy this app to connect their AirPods Pro. This functionality is already built into Windows.	Lockie studio
WindRAR	9MSVVS8TVB28	Misleading		ENAGA
7-Zip Pro	9NRLP032XWRR	Misleading	7-Zip clone that costs money. Claims it is free in the description despite charging money.	广州色蕴动漫科技有限公司
7 Zip - RAR files, Zip files	9NCBSRQKVKVS	Misleading	7zip clone that costs money	GNUStudio
7-Zip for Store	9NT4HZPHT8BC	Misleading	7zip clone that costs money	winuwp
Cloud Drive Permission Manager	9N5KHD73FGKH	Misleading	Misleading icon that looks like the Google Drive icon	Lifeboatse
Street Earth Map Pro 3D World Globe	9NZPW5RFTTTG	Misleading	Misleading icon and ripoff of Google Earth	Teodorovici
File Manager - File Explorer for Windows 10	9ND2N28DX22H	Misleading	It appears to be a copy of Windows File Manager with blue shade and removed help menu. The app might have followed the MIT license, but charging over $10 for that feels quite unethical at best.	InternetOfThingsDev
Ultra Screen Recorder for Free	9N7D4XKG96KM)	Misleading	Obs clone XPFFH613W8V6LV	CompuClever Systems Inc.
GIMP EASY	9P3GS1PX4KKG	Misleading	GIMP clone that costs money.	RepackagerExpress.com
Quick Time Play	9N79MJSFVQH2	Misleading	Uses Apple's QuickTime logo to get people to believe this is the official QuickTime player.	MYNA APPS
Word Converter - 1 Click Word Convert	9MV17TJM3L8D	Misleading	Uses the Microsoft Word logo	Evlar
Ultra Office for Free	9N161BJRLC1D	Misleading	LibreOffice Clone	CompuClever Systems Inc.
Ultra Paint	9PHMZWPMN859	Misleading	MyPaint Clone	CompuClever Systems Inc.
Font Downloads for Discord	9N5PK2WG3QQ4	Misleading	Based on screenshots this app uses multiple companies logos either for the app icon of as part of the app GUI. It is also not possible to download a font for Discord (whatever that means).	Ming Ya
realone player	9NNPJSTTCSRH	Misleading	Uses the old RealPlayer logo to trick people to believe this is an official RealPlayer app.	MYNA APPS
PuTTY Pro - SSH and telnet client	9NZKN8K3M111	Misleading	Clone of PuTTY. Claims to be a "PRO" version despite offering the same functionaltiy.	Nice Monday Studio
News Reader for BBC News	9NQ9JCP3DR1R	Misleading	App logo makes it look like official app	Fetisenko
Unofficial News Reader for CNN	9N2810CK45SX	Misleading	App name clarifies it's unofficial but the logo is misleading	Fetisenko
All-in-One Video Meeting for Teams	9PCJ9DLJ0JFN	Misleading	Uses Microsoft Teams logo	Epon Scanner
Show Hide Taskbar	9NM26HJZXGJQ	Unnecessary	Doesn't provide any functionality that's not already in the OS	y8ngl
Complete Shutdown	9MWJ9M6QVJF0	Unnecessary	Doesn't provide any functionality that's not already in the OS	MKA Solutions
Finder - file explorer for Windows 11	9P09W6PH7MW6	Duplicate	Duplicate of File Explorer - Tabs, ZIP, RAR, 7z for Windows 11 9PJB9045P4ZQ	LLC "SKYSPARK CORP"
Document Manager for Windows 11	9N913N4Z9JBC	Duplicate	Duplicate of Document Manager for Windows 10 9N913N4Z9JBC	vNext.Dev
vNext PDF Editor for Windows 11	9P51586BZKNG	Duplicate	Duplicate of BlossX Lightroom 11 - Photo Editor 9P4WPFZ0GS16	vNext.Dev
Real PDF Editor PLUS	9PL85CG11X0M	Duplicate	Duplicate of Ultra PDF 9NJKG17K9H0D	Xiaoya Lab
Daily Notebook - Simple Memo Diary and Photo	9PJMWXKTNP45	Duplicate	Duplicate of Private notes and journals 9P9Q1CPTMBL7	Youngpingapps
Merge multiple PDF files	9N0BSQCPR22X	Duplicate	Duplicate of PDF multi-file merge 9NTT9HHG32ZP	Youngpingapps
Convert HEIC image to JPEG format	9N7RB309LZ9D	Duplicate	Duplicate of Convert HEIC images to PNG and JPEG 9PDTSR53RVHM	Youngpingapps
My Private Diary Notebook - Private notes, group management note content, password note diary	9N1VCGG6816V	Duplicate	Duplicate of Daily Notebook - Simple Memo Diary and Photo 9PJMWXKTNP45	YongWenHu

Devs who publish the same app on multiple accounts

There are a number of bad actors in the store who publish the same application on different accounts. In addition to tracking the individual apps, we're intrested in tracking the publishers behind them and grouping them together.

Publishers
YONGPINGAPPS, LiRenApps, YongWenHu