Thursday, June 12, 2025
LBNN
  • Business
  • Markets
  • Politics
  • Crypto
  • Finance
  • Energy
  • Technology
  • Taxes
  • Creator Economy
  • Wealth Management
  • Documentaries
No Result
View All Result
LBNN

Apple Pulls Popular Movie Piracy App Kimi From the App Store

Simon Osuji by Simon Osuji
February 13, 2024
in Artificial Intelligence
0
Apple Pulls Popular Movie Piracy App Kimi From the App Store
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Watching pirated movies on your iPhone just got a little harder. After climbing the charts of Apple’s App Store, the trendy Kimi app, with its collection of bootleg movies, has just disappeared. Pretending to be a spot-the-difference vision-testing game, the widely downloaded app ranked above Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video in Apple’s top charts this week for free entertainment apps before it was removed.

Without having to pay for anything or log into any kind of account, iPhone owners could previously use Kimi to browse a wide selection of bootlegs for popular movies and TV shows. Many of the movies up for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars were on Kimi, at varying levels of quality.

Poor Things was included in a grainy, pixelated state, but a high-quality version of Killers of the Flower Moon was on Kimi to stream, although an intrusive ad for online casinos was splashed across the top. That definitely isn’t the viewing experience Martin Scorsese imagined for audiences. Not just limited to movies, viewers were also able to access episodes of currently airing TV shows, like RuPaul’s Drag Race, through the Kimi app.

Who was behind this piracy app? It remains a mystery. The developer was listed as “Marcus Evans” in the app store before Kimi was taken down, and this was the only app listed under their name. Likely a pseudonym, WIRED was unable to reach Evans or anyone involved with the Kimi app prior to publication.

Apple is known for being meticulous and protective of its “walled garden” for safe-to-download apps, so it’s surprising to see a piracy streaming option, like Kimi, climb so high on the charts before being axed. Kimi received more than 100 user reviews in the App Store, many of which blatantly mentioned the free movies hidden within the app, and it had a 4-star user rating. A representative for Apple did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

This isn’t the first a piracy app that has garnered tons of downloads in the App Store, though. Back in 2015, WIRED spoke with the developers behind Popcorn Time, a similar app. Security reporter Andy Greenberg wrote, “With Popcorn Time, the complexity of BitTorrent search engines, trackers, clients, seeds, decompression, playback, and storage is reduced to a single click.” It’s unconfirmed how exactly Kimi was providing the streams, but the process of watching bootlegs was definitely simplified for users—just download the smartphone app and press Play.

The Kimi app’s saga is emblematic of a new resurgence in online piracy. A serious challenge for rights holders and movie and TV studios, piracy is once again on the rise. As streaming services crack down on shared passwords and budget-conscious users search for cheaper entertainment options, the black market for bootlegs will likely continue to blossom.



Source link

Related posts

How Waymo Handles Footage From Events Like the LA Immigration Protests

How Waymo Handles Footage From Events Like the LA Immigration Protests

June 12, 2025
An Experimental New Dating Site Matches Singles Based on Their Browser Histories

An Experimental New Dating Site Matches Singles Based on Their Browser Histories

June 12, 2025
Previous Post

Cardano (ADA) Could Rally 24% and Hit $0.68: Predicts Analyst

Next Post

Boss of Forres firm AES Solar to step down after 40 years

Next Post
Boss of Forres firm AES Solar to step down after 40 years

Boss of Forres firm AES Solar to step down after 40 years

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECOMMENDED NEWS

ZATCA completed procedures of 6mln customs declarations and more than 1.6mln Zakat & tax returns in 2023

ZATCA completed procedures of 6mln customs declarations and more than 1.6mln Zakat & tax returns in 2023

1 year ago
AU Declares Slavery and Colonization as Genocide in Landmark Decision

AU Declares Slavery and Colonization as Genocide in Landmark Decision

3 months ago
Singapore’s Likee Is an Unlikely Winner of the TikTok Ban

Singapore’s Likee Is an Unlikely Winner of the TikTok Ban

5 months ago
AfDB funds to support women and youth in agribusiness

AfDB funds to support women and youth in agribusiness

2 years ago

POPULAR NEWS

  • Ghana to build three oil refineries, five petrochemical plants in energy sector overhaul

    Ghana to build three oil refineries, five petrochemical plants in energy sector overhaul

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • When Will SHIB Reach $1? Here’s What ChatGPT Says

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Matthew Slater, son of Jackson State great, happy to see HBCUs back at the forefront

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Dolly Varden Focuses on Adding Ounces the Remainder of 2023

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • US Dollar Might Fall To 96-97 Range in March 2024

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 LBNN - All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Markets
  • Crypto
  • Economics
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate
    • Infrastructure
  • Finance
  • Energy
  • Creator Economy
  • Wealth Management
  • Taxes
  • Telecoms
  • Military & Defense
  • Careers
  • Technology
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Investigative journalism
  • Art & Culture
  • Documentaries
  • Quizzes
    • Enneagram quiz
  • Newsletters
    • LBNN Newsletter
    • Divergent Capitalist

© 2023 LBNN - All rights reserved.