Why is PUA.OSX malware available in the App Store?!

That's a great question, but technically PUA isn't malware. I suspect most everybody here will agree that it's at least scamware in that it's mostly interested in getting your money while doing little if anything to benefit the user, but it's not exactly malicious in the strictest sense of the word.

None of that should be taken as endorsement of Apple's policies with regard to the App Store. They have made recent promises to clean things up and we all hope that apps such as this will be part of that. For years Apple has only screened apps to make certain they abide by App Store rules and a few apps that improperly used user information improperly have been booted, but that's been the extent of it up to now.

As you mentioned, another feature that has been badly abused is the Review process. Developers have frequently offered discounts or other benefits to users that give them good reviews. This developer has apparently programmed bots to post thousands of 5 star reviews without being detected. I understand that Apple announced at WWDC steps to prevent apps from constantly pestering users for a review, but I'd also like to see them do more to police the other parts of the review process.

Oh, and ClamAV has a very liberal licensing policy, so at least that part is OK. It's also being freely used by macOS Server, ClamXav, Sierra Cache Cleaner and most recently Drive Genius 5.

chase_daniel wrote:

So why and how is pua.osx being distributed as #3 app in the App Store? Is it over? Should people divest?

No one here can answer questions about why Apple does or does not do something. Speculation about their policies is also prohibited by the Terms of Use. Submit your feedback as LucoBrasi suggests.

If you're using "divest" in its common meaning to pull all your investments out of Apple, well, that's entirely your decision. In my opinion, doing that on the basis of one questionable app is just a bit of an overreaction.

there are a myriad of fake, rogue and cloned apps in the app store.

no action taken even after I sent an email to support and was informd]ed they would take action.

i will get to the bottom of this, god willing.

examples:

Awesome Notepad by MOKKA MAHESH

https://appsto.re/ca/-pEOab.i

today I found another pearl:

Sketch.Up - Learn Draw.ing,Scribble in Paint Board by MD. ULLAH

https://appsto.re/ca/c8AB3.i

Doodle Art - Draw.ing,Paint.ing,Sketch.ing Studio by MD. ULLAH

https://appsto.re/ca/saBIZ.i

Sketch.Book - Draw, Drawing.Pad & Paint Scribble by Odyssey Apps Ltd.

https://appsto.re/ca/nwMn7.i

A few weeks back, Apple announced that they would be "cleaning up" the App Store, starting with apps that crash.

I haven't seen a lot of progress there, but at least they appear to be applying additional resources to that area.

A colleague of mine and frequent contributor here, was successful in getting at least one such app removed, only to find it reintroduced with a new name a few weeks later.

Please keep up the fight and perhaps others will join.

Send your feedback to Apple : https://www.apple.com/feedback/