App Store Scam of the Week: ‘Update My Phone & Apps: Guide’ by Tair Olzhasev

“Update My Phone & Apps: Guide” is an iOS app from developer Tair Olzhasev. By default, the only thing it does for free is give you a “Check for Updates” button that launches the system Settings app. It doesn’t even take you to the General → Software Update screen. It just takes you to the root level of Settings.

Everything else it purports to do requires a $15/week subscription. That’s $780 per year. (It does offer a three-day free trial before weekly billing starts.) These other features, gated behind the “pro” subscription:

• Clear device status: iOS version and storage usage at a glance
• One-tap shortcut to system update settings
• Tip of the Day with practical hacks and best practices
• Lightweight, private, and fast — no accounts or tracking
• Optional Premium for extra guidance and tools

In other words, the app does nothing that iOS doesn’t automatically do for all users. Absolutely nothing. I came across it from a user on Mastodon who discovered their father was paying $8/week ($416 per year) for it. It seems like the esteemed Mr. Olzhasev, savvy businessman that he is, changes the subscription price frequently.

Olzhasev’s other two apps are Thermal Camera Filter Effects (a neat trick, given that iPhones do not have thermal cameras or heat sensors) and Settings App: Simulator, a $15 app that admittedly gives you just what it says on the tin. It’s an inaccurate mirror of the Settings app “so you can practice without changing the real system.”

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