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Introduction

The goal of this repository is to help track spam apps in the Microsoft Store. This list will be updated over time. We'll also come back and remove app names from this list once they're removed from the store. Pull requests are welcome.

Apps can be reported directly from the Microsoft Store but we recommend adding them to this list as well so that they can be tracked. IP and copyright owners can follow the instructions found here: https://www.microsoft.com/info/Marketplace.aspx.

What counts as spam?

It's a bit of a grey area but for the sake of this list we're going to define it as apps that are misleading or serve no purpose. Apps may be considered spam if they meet this criteria but each app is different and will be reviewed before being added to the list.

  • funcitonal but the features are already present in the OS and the app doesn't provide any additional value
  • is a duplicate or can be merged with an existing app from the same dev
  • serves as a wrapper for YouTube video or text document (eg. Guide for Google Chrome)

What counts as misleading?

  • third party app that presents itself as the official client or service
  • presents itself as free but requires the user to pay to access the features once downloaded
  • fork of an oss project that doesn't add any value over the original and charges unsuspecting users

Contributing to this list

Contributions are welcome. Please note that the list is sorted by reason so please try to stick with this pattern when adding a new app.

Tracker

Application Link Reason Notes Publisher
Tutorial for Bitmoji User 9NHFZVBT29GH Spam Chiu Lab
Tutor for VPN 9NK5SG3KJTG1 Spam Chiu Lab
Driver Download for Canon Printer 9MVKZW06XC8B Spam Software Driver Support
YouTube Download for Windows 9NFMKPLRG42M Spam Marabelove
Real Ebooks Reader For Kindle On Windows 9P1B3NTMVSPZ Spam Marabelove
Driver Download For Canon Scanner 9PD466D4RVNP Spam Hanni studio
Driver For Brother Printer. 9N5C8X2FG1KS Spam Hanni studio
Driver For Samsung Printer 9NHK5QSNL7HS Spam Hanni studio
Computer Controller from Google Assistant / Amazon Alexa 9NMXJ0JWVC80 Spam Hanni studio
Tutorial for Blender 3D 9PD4R3H5D6MH Spam Shek APP
Guide for Digital Calendar 9P4QMRBRBDGD Spam Shek APP
Guide For Ableton Live 9P928JVK6K4N Spam Shek APP
Guide for Google Earth Pro 9N183GKKGTVQ Spam rpsapps
Guide for Animal Crossing New Horizons PC 9PGZM04RDJ58 Spam rpsapps
Guide for Fall Guys : Ultimate Knockout 9P5MVZ9JX1TJ Spam rpsapps
Beginner's Guide For GarageBand. 9NBLGGH67DC7 Spam macProVideo.com
Driver for HP Printer 9NFWCNTJD1KX Spam RRT Software
Tutorial for Adobe Illustrator 9MX4B94D0MLZ Spam syncoinapp
Solidworks Tutor 9N2ND0KGHQMR Spam syncoinapp
Autocad 2020 Tutor 9PGT5WV34806 Spam syncoinapp
PDF to Excel Converter Pro 9NGQXVNN0XMG Spam Lockie studio
Connect to AirPods Pro 9NZ31TCFPCBT Spam Tricks users into believing that they need to buy this app to connect their AirPods Pro. This functionality is already built into Windows. Lockie studio
WindRAR 9MSVVS8TVB28 Misleading ENAGA
7-Zip Pro 9NRLP032XWRR Misleading 7-Zip clone that costs money. Claims it is free in the description despite charging money. 广州色蕴动漫科技有限公司
7 Zip - RAR files, Zip files 9NCBSRQKVKVS Misleading 7zip clone that costs money GNUStudio
7-Zip for Store 9NT4HZPHT8BC Misleading 7zip clone that costs money winuwp
Cloud Drive Permission Manager 9N5KHD73FGKH Misleading Misleading icon that looks like the Google Drive icon Lifeboatse
Street Earth Map Pro 3D World Globe 9NZPW5RFTTTG Misleading Misleading icon and ripoff of Google Earth Teodorovici
File Manager - File Explorer for Windows 10 9ND2N28DX22H Misleading It appears to be a copy of Windows File Manager with blue shade and removed help menu. The app might have followed the MIT license, but charging over $10 for that feels quite unethical at best. InternetOfThingsDev
Ultra Screen Recorder for Free 9N7D4XKG96KM) Misleading Obs clone XPFFH613W8V6LV CompuClever Systems Inc.
GIMP EASY 9P3GS1PX4KKG Misleading GIMP clone that costs money. RepackagerExpress.com
Quick Time Play 9N79MJSFVQH2 Misleading Uses Apple's QuickTime logo to get people to believe this is the official QuickTime player. MYNA APPS
Word Converter - 1 Click Word Convert 9MV17TJM3L8D Misleading Uses the Microsoft Word logo Evlar
Ultra Office for Free 9N161BJRLC1D Misleading LibreOffice Clone CompuClever Systems Inc.
Ultra Paint 9PHMZWPMN859 Misleading MyPaint Clone CompuClever Systems Inc.
Font Downloads for Discord 9N5PK2WG3QQ4 Misleading Based on screenshots this app uses multiple companies logos either for the app icon of as part of the app GUI. It is also not possible to download a font for Discord (whatever that means). Ming Ya
realone player 9NNPJSTTCSRH Misleading Uses the old RealPlayer logo to trick people to believe this is an official RealPlayer app. MYNA APPS
PuTTY Pro - SSH and telnet client 9NZKN8K3M111 Misleading Clone of PuTTY. Claims to be a "PRO" version despite offering the same functionaltiy. Nice Monday Studio
News Reader for BBC News 9NQ9JCP3DR1R Misleading App logo makes it look like official app Fetisenko
Unofficial News Reader for CNN 9N2810CK45SX Misleading App name clarifies it's unofficial but the logo is misleading Fetisenko
All-in-One Video Meeting for Teams 9PCJ9DLJ0JFN Misleading Uses Microsoft Teams logo Epon Scanner
Show Hide Taskbar 9NM26HJZXGJQ Unnecessary Doesn't provide any functionality that's not already in the OS y8ngl
Complete Shutdown 9MWJ9M6QVJF0 Unnecessary Doesn't provide any functionality that's not already in the OS MKA Solutions
Finder - file explorer for Windows 11 9P09W6PH7MW6 Duplicate Duplicate of File Explorer - Tabs, ZIP, RAR, 7z for Windows 11 9PJB9045P4ZQ LLC "SKYSPARK CORP"
Document Manager for Windows 11 9N913N4Z9JBC Duplicate Duplicate of Document Manager for Windows 10 9N913N4Z9JBC vNext.Dev
vNext PDF Editor for Windows 11 9P51586BZKNG Duplicate Duplicate of BlossX Lightroom 11 - Photo Editor 9P4WPFZ0GS16 vNext.Dev
Real PDF Editor PLUS 9PL85CG11X0M Duplicate Duplicate of Ultra PDF 9NJKG17K9H0D Xiaoya Lab
Daily Notebook - Simple Memo Diary and Photo 9PJMWXKTNP45 Duplicate Duplicate of Private notes and journals 9P9Q1CPTMBL7 Youngpingapps
Merge multiple PDF files 9N0BSQCPR22X Duplicate Duplicate of PDF multi-file merge 9NTT9HHG32ZP Youngpingapps
Convert HEIC image to JPEG format 9N7RB309LZ9D Duplicate Duplicate of Convert HEIC images to PNG and JPEG 9PDTSR53RVHM Youngpingapps
My Private Diary Notebook - Private notes, group management note content, password note diary 9N1VCGG6816V Duplicate Duplicate of Daily Notebook - Simple Memo Diary and Photo 9PJMWXKTNP45 YongWenHu

Devs who publish the same app on multiple accounts

There are a number of bad actors in the store who publish the same application on different accounts. In addition to tracking the individual apps, we're intrested in tracking the publishers behind them and grouping them together.

Publishers
YONGPINGAPPS, LiRenApps, YongWenHu