GCal and Sideryn: familiar brands, different sellers.

The screenshots tell the story.

Apple identifies the seller as Chandalis Meas. The privacy page linked by that same app identifies Thomas Leyne. All six current original Apple promotions are also preserved.

See all 6 additional screenshots

A real cross-account link, with an ownership question still open.

The name on the listing.

App name

GCal for Google Calendar™

Developer / seller

Chandalis Meas · Apple seller; Thomas Leyne · linked legal operator

Developer country · App ID 1107163858

Unknown · No app-linked business country established.

Apple Germany/Ireland non-trader disclosures; E3 / E4.

The account connection, step by step

This investigation finds a verifiable public connection between two Apple seller identities. GCal’s listing directly links to soriian.com. That site names Thomas Leyne as its developer/operator. Thomas Leyne is also the exact seller name on Apple account 6790026406, whose two apps link to Sideryn legal pages naming him.

A second, independent identifier strengthens the link: both sites use the same website-analytics destination and site number. This documents shared declared operation and analytics configuration. It does not establish that Chandalis Meas and Thomas Leyne are the same person, which person controls the Apple credentials, or whether a legitimate licensing, development or ownership arrangement explains the names.

E6; E7; E8; E10; E13; E15; E16.

Meet+: Google’s older camera mark inside a new tile

Meet+ uses the recognizable red/yellow/blue/green camera associated with Google Meet’s earlier visual identity, placed inside a bright blue rounded tile. The camera proportions, diagonal colored segments and right-facing green lens closely reproduce that historical mark. The added tile changes the treatment, but keeps the brand-recognition cue.

The comparison deliberately includes both the historical multicolor Google reference and the current official yellow camera. Using only today’s icon would miss the resemblance to the older brand asset. Meet+ remains an independently published Mac product from Thomas Leyne, not Google’s own application.

E29; E34; E31; E25. Google brand guidance is relevant; no permission or enforcement decision was obtained.

Meet+ promotions repeat Google’s name and mark

The first original promotion combines Meet+, the old Google camera logo and the words for Google Meet. The next line advertises easy access to Google Meet on Mac. The second shows a video-call window and a meeting-calendar panel with Google service icons. This repeated Google identity can make the independent wrapper feel like a Google-published desktop product.

These images are promotional illustrations, not proof of a tested call or an independently copied codebase. The description includes a Google-independence disclaimer. Its position in the longer text does not make the visible icon/name combination disappear, and it does not itself establish branding permission.

There is also specific customer-complaint evidence: three visible reviews from 2019 and 2020 report that a paid download would not open or showed a blank screen, with refund requests. Native examples are reproduced below. They are historical allegations attached to this app ID, not new purchase tests and not proof that the current Thomas Leyne operation caused those older failures. A favorable review says calling, messaging and the calendar work; it is retained alongside the complaints.

The currently checked US listing is Free and displays no IAP list. The old money-back comments cannot be presented as evidence of a current subscription scam. Together, the brand imitation and historical delivery complaints justify a consumer warning; they do not establish intentional fraud.

E29; E35; E11. Exact dates are preserved; publication history does not establish who operated the app when older complaints were posted.

PhotosApp: an Apple-style flower sold under a Google Photos name

PhotosApp’s app icon is an eight-part rainbow flower on a white rounded square. Its central arrangement, ring of colored petals and overall visual vocabulary resemble Apple Photos more closely than Google Photos’ four-part pinwheel. The shapes are stylized and not pixel-identical. The originals below make that distinction visible.

The branding problem is therefore a combination of familiar signals: an Apple Photos-style flower icon, the PhotosApp name and Google Photos prominently in the listing and advertisements. This can blur whether the publisher is Apple, Google or an independent developer. Apple records Thomas Leyne as the seller; the description states that the app is independent of Google.

E30; E33; E32. These are branding comparisons, not a rights-holder ruling.

Four PhotosApp promotions surround the product with Google Photos branding

The first promotion places Google Photos immediately after PhotosApp and repeats Google’s pinwheel around the illustrated library and file folders. The other three advertise uploads/downloads/transfers, format conversion and control over what moves between accounts. Google branding remains visible inside the depicted app interfaces.

The repetition supports a brand-confusion warning: a service name and familiar icon can dominate the buying/download impression even though the seller is independent. It does not prove the advertised transfers are fake. The listing describes use of Google Photos APIs, selected media and review steps; no installation, Google sign-in or transfer was performed.

PhotosApp is currently listed as Free with no visible IAP list. No customer-review text or independently documented paid-loss case was found in the checked US pages. The evidence supports the visual-branding allegation, not a claim that this app has demonstrably charged or defrauded customers.

E30; E36; E32; E14. Promotional claims are not verified app behavior.

Three current apps across the two linked accounts

Both related products are directly identified by Apple’s records, not attributed through a similar name. This table describes the connection; it does not turn the two related products into independently proven fraud cases.

E5; E10; E11; E12; E13; E14.

Before and after: the name stayed, the business presentation changed

The archived records establish continuity of a Google Calendar utility. They do not show a harmless unrelated app later turning into a Google-branded product. In October 2019, GCal already used its Google Calendar name, linked to Yellow Monkey Studio and explicitly denied Google affiliation.

By 10 July 2026 the paid download was $4.99 and still linked to Yellow Monkey Studio. By the 26 October capture it was a free download with purchase options and Soriian links, while the Apple seller and numeric IDs remained unchanged. Apple dates version 4.0.0 to 15 October 2026. The website/legal change is documented, but no acquisition or account-transfer agreement was recovered.

E18; E19; E20; E5.

Three earlier WrApp associations

Secondary catalogs and an older technology article associate three additional app IDs with Chandalis Meas. Those records are preserved as historical leads. They are not as strong as a recovered Apple account record, and dates such as a catalog’s relative last-update label were not adopted.

All three exact-ID Apple lookups returned no software result and all three product pages returned 404 in each of US, DE and IE on 5 November. That supports checked-store unavailability. It does not establish a developer ban, who withdrew them, or why. GCal’s developer account remains live.

E26.

Google Calendar references: resemblance is not the whole finding

The current original icons above share the calendar number 31 and a blue/white palette. GCal adds a pale date tile, rounded blue frame, colored marks and a different calendar shape. They are not identical images, and a calendar date is also a functional convention. The more relevant branding question is the combined icon and prominent Google Calendar name.

The listing explicitly says the app is independent and is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Google. This statement also existed in the recovered 2019 text. It does not by itself establish brand permission, but it materially distinguishes the presentation from an unqualified claim to be Google’s own app. No rights-holder decision or proven impersonation complaint was found in the checked material.

E2; E18; E25. Current official icon: app 909319292, publisher Google.

Local calendar processing, website analytics and optional AI access

GCal’s privacy policy says that calendar and task information is processed locally, credentials are stored in macOS Keychain, and Soriian servers do not collect the calendar/task data. It separately discloses website analytics. The Apple listing says Data Not Collected. Neither Google synchronization nor a website tracking script alone disproves the Mac app’s label.

The optional MCP feature is described more fully in the help guides: an assistant selected by the user can request event/task details through a local connector, and that assistant’s provider may process what it receives. Credentials are per connection, access can be revoked, and an event draft must be reviewed before saving. This is an explicit user-enabled feature, not evidence of hidden exfiltration.

The general policy nevertheless says Google-derived data is not shared with third parties or transferred off the device. Read beside the assistant documentation, that broad wording leaves the optional sharing boundary insufficiently explained in the main policy. The mismatch concerns documentation scope; the app, login flow and actual network behavior were not tested.

E7; E22; E23; E24.

Paid once before; yearly or lifetime now

GCal’s current US offers are a $9.99 yearly subscription after a stated three-day trial, a $19.99 lifetime license, and a $14.99 loyalty lifetime upgrade. No weekly subscription is listed. Germany and Ireland display €9.99, €22.99 and €17.99 respectively. These are listing prices, not a tested charge.

The publisher expressly says that existing paid customers keep established Classic features without upgrading, and that Premium adds newer capabilities. Its help guide says a Classic user can close the offer, keep Classic access, and return to Classic after a Premium subscription ends. This materially counters a blanket claim that all earlier purchasers were forced to buy the same app again. Actual receipt restoration and feature entitlements were not purchase-tested.

E2; E4; E21.

What the evidence establishes

The clearest finding is account transparency: the Apple seller differs from the operator named in the app’s own legal pages, and that named operator has a second, independently identifiable Apple account. Shared analytics configuration corroborates the web connection. The commercial relationship between the two seller names remains unexplained.

GCal and both Thomas Leyne apps display non-trader statements in Germany and Ireland. No business country was established from those records or an independently matched company registration. Names, French-language pages, domain registrars and hosting locations do not establish nationality or operating country.

The research establishes a two-account legal/analytics connection and app-specific branding concerns. Meet+ uses Google’s historical mark and has older refund/non-function complaints; PhotosApp mixes Apple-like iconography with Google Photos marketing. The material does not establish a developer ban or deliberate fraud. Current free pricing, independence disclaimers, older-complaint dates and the positive Meet+ review remain material to that assessment.

E3; E4; E27; E28; E18; E21.

The records behind this report.

The written investigation is followed by all 20 pages of the supplied analysis, including US/IE page captures and the original website/privacy appendix. The referenced raw evidence ZIP was not supplied; source-PDF checksum independently calculated. Archived HTML, original artwork, current policy checks and the legal/analytics connection were researched separately. Public support identifiers shown in original source pages remain visible. No app installation, sign-in, payment, developer contact, analytics dashboard access or private backend inspection was performed. The expanded related-app investigation includes both Meet+ promotions, all four PhotosApp promotions, native complaint/positive review cards and original official Google/Apple icon references. The related apps remain separately assessed; old customer claims are not treated as current test results.