AppValley, one of the popular installers for iOS, recently got hijacked by one of its co-founders. Here’s all you need to know about it.
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What’s the deal with AppValley?
The drama started in February when one of the founding members of AppValley hijacked its domain name and Twitter handle, changed all the passwords, and rewrote the code.
Currently, there are two accounts operating under the same name – @appvalley_vip and @App_Valley_vip.
Ironically enough, both of these accounts claim to be the official accounts and continue to distriute two different versions of the same installer app.
Colin and Jake, the original founders, posted the following message on Reddit a few days back regarding the hijack.
According to this post, they have shifted their operations to a new website – app-valley.vip.
A Twitter user named “YoureWinnerPlenix”, who is supposedly a member of the original team, has been notifying everyone about how the main account was hijacked.
This account has been hijacked, please follow the real account, as they can help you. @App_Valley_vip. The new official website is https://t.co/LsvOdGG7sW.
— YoureWinnerPlenix (@Winner_Plenix) February 28, 2019
The co-founder-gone-rogue, however, was quick to refute these claims.
He published a string of messages on Twitter that he supposedly exchanged with Colin, who apparently hacked the website and changed all the passwords.
That’s not all though. The new administrator of the account has threatened to make more messages public in the future.
Interestingly, the drama doesn’t end here.
Apparently, the new team that’s in charge of the original Twitter handle indulges in risky business with data.
Their domain leaks sensitive user information stored on their servers as confirmed by a former team member.
We don’t know what prompted the ex co-founders to hijack the app.
I believe it’s a classic case of a small project becoming too big for its own good. It is less than two years old and has built up a sizeable user base just by distributing hacked games and applications.
Is AppValley safe?
A few months back, AppValley courted quite a bit of controversy by distributing a non-uninstallable malicious profile.
Prior to that, a lot of users complained that AppValley and TweakBox stole sensitive data from their Apple device.
The new team intends to fix this issue as soon as possible. If you want to stay safe, use the new website and you will be good to go.
I gave the new installer a try and installed its webclip on my iPhone 7 plus. The new version is unsigned and won’t let you install an app or game.
When will the app go online?
Per the purported official account, the app will go online within a few hours once they fix the revoke.
The developer team is still signing the apps with an enterprise certificate. So far, the following apps have been signed –
- Cotomovies
- LootVal
- Minecraft
- Spotify++
If you, like many others, find yourself embroiled in the installer quagmire, I highly recommend switching to a better installer.
Alternatively, you can just go ahead and install the real deal – unc0ver jailbreak for iOS 12.0-12.1.2 – on your iPhone or iPad. It will allow you to sideload apps without the need to resign them or run them as separate apps.
For more news and updates from the sideload community, give us a thumbs up on Twitter and Facebook.
Hi Gian, this is @Winner_Plenix from Twitter. I know this article is old, but I want to clarify some stuff. Could you please DM me on Twitter? Thanks
Yeah, sure. Messaging you soon.