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PSA: Fake 'Canabalt' clone for iPhone and iPad in iTunes App Store

PSA: Fake 'Canabalt' clone for iPhone and iPad in iTunes App Store

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What appears to be an unofficial clone of the popular iOS game Canabalt has gone on sale in Apple's iOS App Store

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Fake Canabalt HD for iOS
Fake Canabalt HD for iOS

There's a big update on the horizon for iOS classic Canabalt, but unfortunately it appears that a developer is trying to take advantage of the game's popularity by offering a fake version on the iTunes App Store. Being sold by Picks Mano, the game goes under the name Canabalt HD — the sanctioned Android port of the game uses the same title, while on iOS the official game continues to be known simply as Canabalt — and aside from including a different icon and limited language support, it appears to be a working representation of the game, albeit one that won't reap any fiscal rewards for the individuals that created the title from scratch.

Mano has other apps for sale on the App Store as well, several of which appear to be nothing more than image slideshows packaged as apps. While the origins of the fake version of Canabalt are unclear, it's important to note that the game is also available for play on the web as a free Flash game, and Manos' app could have its roots in that version. How the app was allowed into the App Store in the first place is another question entirely, although Apple's team has been known to make similar mistakes more often than we'd like. In any case, the official version of Canabalt is available for 99 cents as a universal app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. We've reached out to Canabalt developers Semi Secret Software for comment, and will let you know of any further developments.

Update: As two of our readers point out below, the origin of the app is likely quite clear. Semi Secret Software open-sourced the code for Canabalt back in 2010, even allowing it to be utilized for commercial projects, provided no game-specific code, art, animation, or other assets were used. Given the similarity between the two apps — to say nothing of the names — it seems unlikely those mandates were met.

Thanks, John Reindoer and nothingreal!