While many of us are perfectly content not to know the inner workings of how apps are sold on the App Store, no one likes to be cheated -- such as a developer with lower scruples swapping out screenshots after an app has been approved.
As noted by iMore on Wednesday, Apple is plugging yet another hole in its App Store, notifying developers that app screenshots will now be locked once the title is approved, and cannot be changed again until a new binary is uploaded to accompany them.
The move is intended to thwart an increasingly thorny problem on the App Store, where developers get their title approved with the proper screenshots, then swap them out after the fact for something more sinister, such as images from products they don't own or have a license to.
This kind of bait and switch has become common on lesser-known titles in the App Store, which try to pass themselves off as something more popular to attract sales from customers who don't know any better.
"Beginning January 9, app screenshots will be locked in iTunes Connect once your app has been approved," Apple's brief news to developers noted on Wednesday.
"New screenshots may be uploaded when you submit a binary for an update to an existing app or a new app. For more information on capturing and using screenshots, read the Xcode User Guide."
Kudos to Apple for plugging this hole, although we're sure developer scammers will just find another way to cheat us out of our hard earned money instead…
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