"Did gemtoon get hacked?": a pirated webtoon reader renamed itself, and in two weeks went from 2 thousand to 48k installs

MyComics describes itself on Google Play as a "manga creation tool," but users who install it are actually reading webtoons for free. It had almost no users for three months after launch. In Oct 22 it added a taken-down pirate brand name, "AceToon," to its title. Over the next two weeks installs grew more than twentyfold and it entered the manga free charts in 19 countries. This piece explains how it took off, where the money comes from, why I don't recommend copying it, and which move in it works even for legitimate products.

A one-star review

In 2026 Oct 19, a user named Vivian Chenh left a review of this app on Google Play:

ok is gemtoon hacked or something? I'm not using this app to run AI through some comic. It was fun while it lasted.

When she installed it, the app was called GemToon, and the store listing read "Read webtoons and track your reading list". Just a webtoon reader. When she opened it that day, though, it looked like an app that "processes comics with AI". Three days later the Oct 22,1.1.5 version went live under the name "MyComics: AceToon & Manga", with the listing changed to "MyComics Photo Studio – Simple Photo Editor", pitching filters, cropping, and rotation. Oct 28 it changed again: the name shrank to just "MyComics", the listing became "Discover a world of exciting comics with Comic Lab!…explore comic-inspired creative features", and the one-line pitch was "Create manga-style comic art".

The store page kept changing its skin, but what the users who stayed wanted didn't change. On Oct 8, a user named shrimp wrote:

It's nice, and it allows me to catch up on the green-flag comics I've stopped reading after bato was banned. However…some, most, or all of the pages are blurred in a chapter or more.

Bato was the pirated manga site taken down in January this year. This one review pretty much sums up what the app is: a free pirated webtoon reader disguised as a creation tool and still listed on Google Play. The developer is listed as "Fic---Anja" with a Gmail address, and the entity registered on third-party data sites is in Morocco.

The curve is a single step

(Google Play installs, recorded daily from 10-29 onward; earlier figures are third-party estimates.)

Ratings went from 92 on 10-29 to 269 by 11-06, averaging 3.6. On the charts, in the Comics category free chart it climbed from #15 to #4 in the UK and from #27 to #17 in the US, and reached #4 in the Philippines and #3 in Malaysia. 11-06 it appeared on the Comics free chart in 19 countries, ranking #6 and #7 in places like Brazil, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Singapore, Vietnam, the Netherlands, and South Africa (Google Play charts, 11-06).

The Comics free chart has a low bar: a few thousand installs a day can get you into the top ten in many countries. Making the chart brings exposure, and installs keep rising from there. But the first push came from the rename.

Why the word "AceToon" was worth money

AceToon: Comics & Manga was a webtoon reader listed on Google Play in April this year. It reached 710K installs and 1,842 ratings in two months, then was pulled in June (AppBrain). Its iOS version is still listed, with 7.5K ratings.

On TikTok, AceToon and QToon are two names for the same thing in the mouths of the same people: the BL (boys' love) webtoon readers, many of them young Spanish speakers. A video tagged #qtoon #acetoon from May 15 says "ya lo acomodaron pero no es el mismo 🙁" (they fixed it, but it's not the same anymore), with 290k views. A day earlier, another one says "I was really happy when I found it, but it still can't replace QToon", with 166k views (TikTok, 11-06 views). Going back further, two videos mourning Bato from Jan 20 and Feb 7 each got over 200K views.

After the original was pulled, people still searched "acetoon". A reply on r/mangapiracy said AceToon "has been down for weeks now, anything using the name is a scam or a knockoff". Google Play has a whole string of these knockoffs:

Two other apps using the AceToon name have also been removed. MyComics came late to the name grab, four months after MangaMuse, and is more than ten times smaller.

Why users keep showing up

On the demand side, the spillover kept going all year. In January Bato.to and about 60 linked sites were shut down; in April TuMangaOnline, the biggest Spanish-language site, closed; in October the KaliScan and MGJinx domains were frozen; from Oct 17 Comix began blocking third-party reader apps. On the licensed side, Kakao announced on Sep 22 that Tapas would shut down on Mar 31 of 2027. Each site that goes down sends a batch of people to the store to search "free manhwa" or the name of the dead site.

Installing one app on Play beats fiddling with APKs or adding sources to an open-source reader. That convenience is the entire pitch of these knockoff apps. The experience isn't good: reviews repeatedly mention "really blurry images" and chapters failing to load. People stay for the free content, not the product.

Where the money comes from

No in-app purchases, just ads. The app includes AdMob and Meta Audience Network, plus AppsFlyer attribution (third-party SDK scan, 10-21). AppGoblin estimates monthly revenue below $10K. The AppsFlyer SDK suggests it may have bought traffic, but I couldn't find its ads in the Meta Ad Library or on TikTok. Unverified.

Who it's competing with

Two groups. One is the legit platforms: WEBTOON (194M installs on Play), WebComics (16.8M, running heavy paid acquisition on TikTok with "search codes"), Manta, MangaToon, and MANGA Plus, which sell official titles and paid chapters. The other is the knockoffs: since 4 through September, dozens of clones have appeared in the Comics category, many borrowing names from pirate sites or open-source readers (Mihon, Tachiyomi, Mangadex, MangaFire, Comix, ToonGod...). The big ones include Permen Comic (1.68M), Qivora (1.38M), StoryToon (580K), and Toonhub: Premium Comics (37K installs). 11-06 ranks #3 on the UK Top Free comics chart (Google Play, 11-06).

Product-wise, MyComics is no different from these knockoffs: same template, webtoon reading plus ads, wrapped in a "creation tool" shell. It took off for two reasons only: timing, and picking the right word to ride.

If it were you

In one line: D. This is a business of repackaging pirated content, riding other brands' names, and sneaking past review by disguising itself. It can earn a little ad money, but dozens of people are doing the same thing, and getting removed is just a matter of time. Understanding how it gained traction is enough; I don't recommend copying it.

Who it's for: people who want to learn how store search traffic moves in the days after a brand gets pulled. That also holds for legitimate products.

Who it's not for: anyone building a long-term product. It violates Google Play's intellectual property and metadata policies. The original AceToon and several knockoffs each lasted only a month or two. The content itself is infringing, so this isn't a gray area but real legal risk. And if the developer account gets banned, all installs go to zero.

How to do it (compliant version): there's only one move worth borrowing. Watch for the moment a similar product gets pulled or a platform announces a shutdown, and be ready to catch those users right away. For example, Tapas shuts down on Mar 31 of 2027, and users who bought chapters won't get refunds, so they'll be looking for a new place to read. Build an aggregator of licensed webtoons, a shelf-migration tool, or a "where to read after Tapas shuts down" guide page, with store titles and web copy using the words users actually search for (without impersonating anyone's trademark).

How to get users: store search and category charts. The Comics category can put an app in the top ten with a few thousand installs in many countries, and the search spike from a shutdown is enough to push a new app onto the chart. On TikTok, people who read webtoons film their own "where else can I read this" videos, so posting under those tags is cheaper than paid acquisition.

When to move earlier: follow the event. The next clear milestone is around the Tapas shutdown, in Q1 of 2027.

What would prove this read wrong: ① MyComics kept gaining installs after dropping "AceToon", still adding tens of thousands a week at the end of November, which would mean the main driver was charts or paid acquisition, not the name; ② MangaMuse-style knockoffs go three months without being removed, which would mean Google enforces less strictly than expected and the window for this kind of business is longer than I thought (the risk remains); ③ the licensed platforms absorb Tapas users themselves (for example, Kakao routes users to other apps), which closes the gap that made room for this.

--- Data and sources: Google Play store pages, reviews, installs, and charts (10-29 to 11-06; installs before 10-22 are third-party estimates); historical store-page snapshots from AppBrain, AppGlint, and apkcombo (the GemToon period and the two renames, 10-22 and 10-28); AppGoblin's SDK scan and revenue estimates (estimates, unverified); TikTok videos tagged #acetoon #qtoon (11-06 view counts); r/mangapiracy (only search snippets were read); reporting on the Bato.to, TuMangaOnline, Comix, and Tapas shutdowns (comicbook.com, CBR, OtakuDown, GameRant). Where I write "estimated" or "unverified", the figure is an estimate or I couldn't confirm it.