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- Hacker News
- One interesting thing:
> Note: the original version of this post had a section here about an astronomy app I am working on that began as an astrology app and was rejected after having the astrology content removed. App store [sic] review reached out to me and let me know that they had apparently never been given the updated build and that the app should be fine to submit now.
So did the submitter submit the updated build, but it somehow never made it through Apple's process and thus was never looked at by the app store reviewer? Because that's also a bad look for Apple of "we rejected your app by mistake because we looked at the wrong version, not the new one you submitted".
by Doohickey-d - Daring Fireball is doubtful:
> Whether Godier ever submitted a build of “Asterly” to the App Store that contained no occult horseshit and only the hard-science astronomy features that were present in his “Dark Hours” website that was available for the last week, I don’t know. But I have no reason to believe that he did.
His original submission was an astrology app. He then stole someone else’s open source repo, reskinned it, and tried to pass it off as his own app.
He is not a trustworthy person. He was trying to manipulate and deceive. I see no reason to point fingers at Apple for this.
He was trying to leverage anti-Apple sentiment for free publicity for himself and he thought nobody would notice that he stole the app and, brazenly, the name “Dark Hours” from someone’s open source project.
by Aurornis - This is basically the Bill Clinton move ('is there a relationship' can be parsed differently from 'was there a relationship')...
Is there astrology in this app? No. Was there..? Yes. And the person complaining skipped mentioning that detail about their app
by firasd - It isn’t even the same app so that isn’t available.by NetMageSCW
- As Wiggy Rockstone, teenage cavegirl and astrology enthusiast, would exclaim in her melifluously operatic voice: "Oh, my stars! Starrific!"by DonHopkins
- Discussion of the original blog post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49214863
- Good retraction. The plagiarism part further down in the article shouldn't be missed. The developer has significant character issues.by 1123581321
- Terry Godier has just published a so-called "Mea Culpa" blaming Claude for cloning the open source app and denying foreknowledge.
There's no mention of or apology for how Godier deceived Gruber and the world about the astronomy/astrology App Store submission/rejection.
https://blog.terrygodier.com/2026/08/09/mea-culpa-dark-hours...
by lapcat - I suspected this was the case from the very beginning. Some years ago, there was another developer who cried foul and the tech press picked up and ran the story that he was unfairly kicked off the App Store. His entire developer account kicked and banned.
Developers and the press were equally outraged. Yet another reason that App Store was bad. Or so we all thought.
Turns out, after all the bad press for Apple, and with multiple instances where Apple helped to resolve his issue, he quietly admitted online (after weeks of controversy) that he shared his developer account with a relative who was making scam apps and doing bad stuff.
It escalated all the way to the top and Phil Schiller at Apple personally looked at the matter and confirmed that his account was indeed committing scams and bad stuff.
Bogdan Popescu.
For this fake and manufactured controversy, turns out that Terry Godier is a liar and a thief.
by thraway3837 - Anyone who trusts Terry Godier after this is a fool.by gilrain
- His word is worthless. Especially given that Gruber gave him a draft of the publication and he didn't feel the need to correct any details.
Perhaps Claude did just find the repo and reproduce it without any prompt, but also the name? Yea hmm, like 99% sure Claude would've mentioned where the majority of the project came from.
by robertjpayne - I have not that many things in life that I try to live by.
One is that when presented with contradictory evidence, evaluate it honestly and, if you evaluate it to be correct, in full or in part, change your belief freely and without apology.
The other is when you decide you have made a mistake, say so plainly and openly.
They often go together, but not always. I can’t speak to the author’s belief, but I will file this article under Epistles from Gruber to the internet because it is an inspiration to me.
- This is the right way to handle the situation like that, and kudos to the author for writing the second post.
This is also a reminder that people lie or just hide some part of the story all the time, and we as readers should question every story if it only presents an opinion of one side, and not the other's.
That being said, hearing Apple's own opinion is probably not what we could reasonably expect.
by ventana - When it comes to Google and Apple's mobile app stores, I generally assume the worst.
I have only published for Android before, and maybe Apple is running its store somewhat better.
Google is shameless. They extort a 15%/30% revenue cut from developers, and they do not hire competent staff.
Pay them $10k, and in case your app is rejected, get an automated email with a link to the TOS.
The appeal process? "Computer says No".
Admittedly I have not encountered this personally, but all reports I have seen paint this picture.
What I did face is when trying to close my Google Play Developer account: they will just not let me do it.
You'd think this would be trivial, but all I received from support were requests I update and bring into compliance a free app removed nearly a decade ago. In order to transfer it to a new account.
Only then will they graciously permit me to close my Google Play Developer account.
by user43928 - > In an uncomfortable exchange between Beher and Godier on Bluesky, Beher pointed out that Godier’s Dark Hours had the same bug as Beher’s that routed people to “random fields in Mexico”.
Stealing an open source repo and launching it as your own app is a brazen move. Launching it with the same name as the original repo is just flagrant.
This guy thought he was going to ride this controversy to some free publicity for himself, using other people’s work. He flew too close to the sun and got caught out on every level.
by Aurornis - > Stealing an open source repo and launching it as your own app is a brazen move
Do you think he stole it directly, or an LLM reproduced it complete with existing bugs?
by swiftcoder - Isn’t it MIT-licensed?
That’s not theft. The author explicitly told people he wants them to do this; the company is just taking him up on the offer.
by Filligree - > Stealing an open source repo
It's in poor taste for sure but let's not pretend that the chosen license is doing him any favors: https://github.com/mbeher2200/DarkHours/blob/813cf85/LICENSE
Hate to see people fall for the “fewer restrictions == more Free” fallacy. Profit-driven entities love when smart people publish MIT code that they can feed off of without giving anything back.
Nor is the copycat project prevented from using the name without a trademark. For instance one couldn't repackage Mozilla or Blender under those names:
- https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75558938&caseSearchType=U...
- https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=85852073&caseSearchType=U...
by Lammy - And that is how you handle things like this. He ponied up and took the hit. More importantly, he gave the back story. After years of reading so many circular psuedo-responsibility posts (by others) trying to squirm out of awkward situations, it's refreshing to see his thoroughness.by ogou