Muse from Meta in the App Store:

Muse AI in the App Store:

Compare the two app icons:

Muse from Meta has the app subtitle “Your personal AI agent,” Muse AI “Your professional AI Agent.”

Muse from Meta screenshot headers include “Your personal agent that takes things off your plate,” “Approve what gets sent or spent,” and “Connect the apps you already use.” Muse AI screenshot headers include “Your professional AI agent that gets work done,” “Approve what gets sent or connect,” and “Connect the apps you already use.”

The Muse from Meta app description says at the beginning, “Muse is your personal AI agent that gets things done, always working on what matters to you.” The Muse AI app description says at the beginning, “Muse is your professional AI agent that gets work done, always helping move important tasks forward.” Near the end, the Muse from Meta app description has the heading “SMART, BUT STILL LEARNING.” Near the end, the Muse AI app description has the heading “POWERFUL, BUT STILL LEARNING.”

In other words, Muse AI is a blatant copy of Muse from Meta, the latter of which is currently the #1 iOS App Store download in the United States. I don’t know where Muse AI ranks in the iOS App Store, but I do know that it’s currently the #20 Mac App Store download in the US.

This is likely because Muse AI the top search result for “Muse” in the Mac App Store, since Muse from Meta is not in the Mac App Store.

Muse AI was released in the App Store only three weeks ago and updated within the last day. The latest release notes begin, “Introduced the new Muse brand logo and refreshed app icons.” The scammer practically announced the scam to Apple app review, who nonetheless missed it somehow.

Muse AI has some expensive In-App Purchases, such as a $20 monthly subscription.

Sadly, at least one App Store user fell for the scam:

I subscribed because I confused this service with Meta Muse. Shortly after paying, I realized they are different services. I’d like to request a refund and cancel automatic renewal.

It’s an interesting commentary on the App Store that the reviewer doesn’t appear to know how to request a refund or cancel automatic renewal.

By the way, I’d also like to draw your attention to the #11 Mac App Store download, as shown in my screenshot above: App for Instagram º. Yes, the app name includes the º character, a phenomenon I’ve written about before. Instagram is another Meta app that appears in the iOS App Store but not the Mac App Store, providing an opportunity for copycats. Of course App for Instagram º is the top search result for “Instagram” in the Mac App Store, despite the fact that the app was released only two months ago.

Notice again the similarity between the App for Instagram º icon and the famous Instagram icon.

App for Instagram º has no website, and its privacy policy is hosted on the free sites.google.com, a red flag for App Store scams.

The first App Store user reviews that you see are five stars, though one of them looks more like an apartment review than an app review.

If you look at all of the reviews, however, a very different story comes to light.

What caught my eye especially were these comments:

The name and presentation make it appear to be an official Instagram app, but after installing it, you’re immediately blocked by a paywall/free-trial screen that will convert to a paid subscription. Worse, the app would not allow me to quit normally, which prevented me from deleting it without force-quitting the process.

I downloaded this app thinking it was made by Instagram for my Mac lap top. It took over my screen and asked for money without any options to close the pop up windows. Wouldn’t even respond when I clicked the “Quit App.”. I had to go around and delete the app quickly to just gain access to my screen again.

When I down loaded it on my computer I thought it was just instagram. It would not let me close the program without signing up for a subscription. I could not restart or shut down my computer without signing up for the subscriptions.

It downloaded to my desktop, and when I opened, flashed a pop up that can’t be closed. Forcing me to sign up for free trial RIGHT NOW. There should be a way to x out of this popup so I can decide what I want to do about this app (whether to sign up) but no.

I had to see this behavior for myself. When I open the app, it presents a modal Upgrade to PRO sheet that prevents the window from closing, the app from quitting (I just hear the default alert sound “Boop”), and indeed macOS from logging out or restarting.

I discovered that clicking the small print “Continue with Free Plan,” confusingly distinct from the large print “Start For Free,” dismisses the window sheet and allows you to quit. I don’t know what the “Plan” is supposed to be, if anything. In any case, most of the functionality in the app under the “Free Plan” is inaccessible, simply showing the Upgrade to PRO sheet again, which also reappears whenever I quit and relaunch the app.

The 3 day free trial for the auto-renewing monthly subscription is the minimum trial length that Apple allows in the App Store. This is another red flag for scams.

One more thing:

The top search result for “VLC” in the Mac App Store is Video Player for VLC, developed by muhammad faisal jabbar, not by VideoLAN. VLC for Mac is distributed outside the Mac App Store. You may notice a similarity between the icon of the official VLC app in the iOS App Store and the icon of Video Player for VLC.

I discussed the “X for Y” app name format in my previously linked blog post Mac App Store: What’s in a name? In this case, however, it’s unclear how the Video Player app is “for” VLC. As far as I can tell, its only connection to the VLC app is trademark violation.

Like App for Instagram º, Video Player for VLC hosts its privacy policy on sites.google.com, with no other website. And needless to say, Video Player for VLC has some expensive In-App Purchases, unlike the free, open source VLC app.

See my follow-up App Store: a few bad apples or one bad Apple?