Hackulous
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Hackulous was the operator of a well-known iOS app piracy ecosystem for jailbroken devices. Its flagship product Installous let users download cracked versions of App Store apps for free, and AppSync let them sync cracked apps with iTunes; a web partner, Apptrackr, served cracked apps through a browser interface. At one point Hackulous aspired to be a Napster for pirated apps, claiming millions of devices had its software installed, with ads served to users each time they used it.
02 / Hackulous FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Hackulous's stated reason for shutting down was that its community had stagnated: its forums had become a 'ghost town' and were hard to keep online and well-moderated despite the staff's devotion. Observers were suspicious, though — TorrentFreak noted the sites had seemed healthy with plenty of users, and speculated the shutdown could be related to rumors that there might be no jailbreak for Apple's latest iOS 6, or to pressure from Apple. The simultaneous abrupt closure of its partner Apptrackr added to the suspicion.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Shut down
On December 30, 2012 Hackulous announced it was shutting down; Installous and AppSync were killed, and partner service Apptrackr also abruptly closed.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
On December 30, 2012 Hackulous posted a short announcement that it was shutting down, saying its community had become stagnant and its forums a ghost town.
- 02
Its flagship Installous app (for installing cracked apps on jailbroken iOS devices) and AppSync were taken down.
- 03
Its web partner Apptrackr, which served cracked apps via a browser interface, also abruptly closed, fueling suspicion of Apple pressure.