They need to rethink their anti-piracy strategy

After legally purchasing, via the App Store, App for WhatsApp, all of a sudden I started getting a ridiculous message when I opened it. The screen is black with a giant red stamp that says SOFTWARE PIRACY ALERT and the copy includes, among other things, the line “You can try as often as you like, but the copy of App for WhatsApp you’re using is and will be detected as being pirated.” What?!? Perhaps this is happening because I’m using plane and/or Starbucks wifi lately; in a small font at the bottom of the page, it says that if I beleive my copy is legit, I can delete and re-download or contact Support using an email link that doesn’t work.

Here’s my thing - if they know that there’s a problem with their app that causes it to be inaccurately identified as pirated when on public wifi, why on Earth would they use such ridiculous accusatory language? Marketers or customer retention specialists, they’re not. And this is the only app I’ve ever had this kind of trouble with, so apparently they’re not great developers, either.

Sleepy27 about App for WhatsApp, v3.5.0