![\"apps\"](\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/apps-brazil.jpg\")
Over the past decade, mobile applications have become the standard platform for most people to consume content online.<\/p>\nOver the past decade, mobile applications have become the standard platform for most people to consume content online.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s for shopping, news, or entertainment, there is a mobile app available for any type of content.<\/p>\n
This shift in consumption patterns is not limited to legal content; streaming piracy has gone mobile as well. Pirate streaming apps often have to be sideloaded onto devices but can be occasionally found in official app stores too. <\/p>\n
App store operators Apple and Google clearly state that copyright-infringing apps are against their terms and conditions, but some still get through. In Brazil, the situation appears to be getting out of hand. <\/p>\n
Local news site Tecmundo spotted<\/a> that several of the most popular entertainment apps in the local Play Store give access to pirated streams. Apps such as \u201cCine Vision V5\u201d and \u201cMegaFlix\u201d rank higher<\/a> than Netflix, HBO and Disney. <\/p>\n This isn\u2019t a recent trend either. Streaming piracy apps have been dominating the top charts for weeks on end, if not longer. And there are many alternative versions in circulation as well.<\/p>\n The apps in question, which include \u201cMegaFlix\u201d, stream pirated copies of movies and TV shows. These are then monetized through ads. This can be quite lucrative, as some of the apps have millions of downloads. <\/p>\n Over time some applications have been removed from the Play Store, but the ones at the top of the rankings today have been listed there for a while without running into trouble. <\/p>\n Looking at the Play Store reviews<\/a>, it\u2019s immediately clear that these aren\u2019t just a few fringe apps. Cine Vision V5, for example, has over 82,000 reviews at the time of writing and the vast majority are positive.<\/p>\n \u201cIncredible! [Cine Vision V5] has content from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Apple TV, among others. It\u2019s as if I had subscribed to all these streams, only without paying anything,\u201d one reviewer writes.<\/p>\n \u201cVery good app. Episodes can be marked as watched and do not confuse later to continue. Few ads,\u201d another adds.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n These appear to be legitimate reviews and similar positive comments are regularly made on social media. Strangely enough, however, this hype is mostly limited to Brazil. In most other countries, the app doesn\u2019t appear to have gathered much steam. <\/p>\n The positive comments are local too. When we first looked at the reviews, the ones we saw mostly complained<\/a> that the app only listed trailers, not the full content. After changing to the Brazilian store, the rave reviews<\/a> appeared. <\/p>\n This suggests that some of these apps function differently depending on what country they\u2019re downloaded from. And indeed, this is also what our own experience confirms. <\/p>\n After failing to find a copy of \u201cCine Vision V5\u201d in our local Play Store, we managed to install \u201cMegaFlix\u201d. To our surprise, the app only listed trailers. This is also confirmed by various negative reviews<\/a>. In Portuguese<\/a>, however, the feedback is mostly positive.<\/p>\n Apparently, the developers purposefully limit the audience of their full apps to a few locales. It\u2019s possible they\u2019d rather not attract attention in certain countries and that may also help apps pass the Google review process.<\/p>\n While this is an interesting approach, flying under the radar is hard when the apps consistently appear in the \u2018most popular\u2019 charts. Eventually, copyright holders will take notice.<\/p>\n From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\n5M+ Downloads, 82K Reviews<\/h2>\n
![\"cine](\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/cinevision1.jpg\")
<\/center><\/p>\nA Local Problem?<\/h2>\n