Month: April 2010

How to Prepare Your iPhone or iPad for the Spirit Jailbreak

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated March 5, 2018

Even though Comex delayed the release of Spirit, we know that we're just a few days away from the official release date. Spirit will sure be able to jailbreak your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, but the exploit used will most likely be patched in a matter of days by Apple.

To protect yourself in the event of an "accidental upgrade" to a newer firmware which would make you lose your jailbreak, you will have to save your SHSH blobs.

What is SHSH and why save them?

Taimur gave us a pretty good description of what SHSH are and why they are important:

"So first up, what exactly is SHSH blob or ECID SHSH? Well, it is basically is a unique signature which is checked against Apple servers whenever you decide to restore the firmware on any of your iDevice (iPhone, iPad and iPod touch). Once a new firmware is released, Apple stops signing the older firmware, hence making it impossible to restore back to the older firmware from iTunes.

Now to “why is it important to save SHSH blob”: The creator of Cydia has setup a new server which basically mimics Apple’s verification server and can save your older signature (SHSH blob) so that you can downgrade or restore back to the older firmware. This is important because if you don’t have your SHSH blob saved, and accidentally update to new firmware, you’ll loose your jailbreak and furthermore, you wont be able to downgrade back to older firmware to re-jailbreak your device."

The Dev Team warned us yesterday about the consequences and gave us simple directions on how to save our SHSH. There are 3 ways to do that:

If your iPhone is already jailbroken, you can save your SHSH on Saurik's server. If you're not jailbroken yet (ie. you have an iPad), you can use Firmware Umbrella to create a local copy of your SHSH blobs As an alternative to Firmware Umbrella, you can use autoSHSH

Note that saving or backing up your SHSH blobs is not vital or mandatory. It's just a safety step that will allow you to restore or downgrade should something go wrong in the future.

Spirit Jailbreak Release Delayed

Sébastien Page ∙ April 29, 2010

I don't know if it's just a bad joke but Comex, the developer behing the userland jailbreak Spirit, just said on Twitter that he was delaying the release of this new jailbreak.

This decision came after Comex read a year old article about how quick Apple was at patching a security hole in firmware 3.0.

If true, this piece of news is a a huge let down. Everyone was really waiting for Spirit to be released. I fail to understand the logic behind this decision. Whatever date the jailbreak will be released, there will always be the risk of Apple patching the firmware at some point.

Cross your fingers! Maybe Comex is just playing with our nerves... How do you feel about that?

How to Remove Cydia Ads

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 12, 2019

Sure ads in Cydia are the bread and butter of underground developers, but sometimes ads can just be a little too intrusive or overwhelming. Worse, it can alter the whole user experience by slowing down the performances of Cydia.

Our buddy over at FSM found a nice way to get rid of the ads in Cydia. If you want to increase Cydia's performance, this simple hack is for you.

SSH into your iDevice and browse to /Applications/Cydia/ and create two copies of package.js computer ( one is your backup and you will edit the other one ) . Inside that file search for var depiction = package.depiction .

Edit that line so that depiction = package.depiction will become depiction = null .

Now save the file and copy it back to /Applications/Cydia/ , overwriting the original one. That’s it. Now restart Cydia and enjoy.

Pretty simple, isn't it? If you like this hack, make sure to thank @MurdaFSM on Twitter.

Spirit Jailbreak for iPhone,iPad and iPod Touch Coming Tomorrow

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 10, 2018

A few weeks ago I was telling you about Spirit, a new userland jailbreak by Comex that would supposedly jailbreak all iPhones and iPod Touch 3.1.3, no matter what model, as well as the iPad 3.1.2.

After a month of painful wait, the official realease date finally came from Comex himself. When someone asked him on Twitter when we could expect his Spirit jailbreak to be released, Comex said "Friday".

It is pretty unclear what Spirit will look like. It was originally believed to be a browser-based jailbreak like jailbreakme.com but Chpwn confirmed a few hours ago that Spirit doesn't work out of a browser. He also made it clear that Spirit will work for the latest firmware of the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

That is indeed good news for some of us who "accidentally" updated to 3.1.3 and got stuck without a jailbreak. It's important to note that Spirit is a jailbreak only. It will not unlock your iPhone! There is no word about a 3.1.3 iPhone unlock and if I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath. I suspect we won't see a 3.1.3 unlock until iPhone OS 4 is released in a few weeks.

If you're going to be using Spirit for your iDevice, MuscleNerd recommended NOT to update iTunes to the latest 9.1.1 version. According to MuscleNerd, iTunes can detect Spirit and remove it, so make sure you stay away from this "update" button.

I just got my iPad and I was feeling really miserable without all my jailbreak apps. I'm glad I'm going to be able to take full advantage of this beautiful device as soon as I jailbreak it with Spirit.

What about you? Are you excited?

What The Heck Is Going On Here?

Sébastien Page ∙ April 29, 2010

Dear iPhone Download Blog reader,

Over the past few months, I've been receiving a few emails, tweets, and comments from some of you complaining about the site. Your main concerns seem to be that what I write about is not new to you (ie. you've seen it on other blogs before) and that the topics covered are somewhat boring.

In this post today, I would like to acknowledge your concerns and explain myself to you.

I take it as my responsibility to update the blog at least once a day. No matter what happens, there is always something new on the blog every single day. You make me the honor to visit my site and I want to give you something fresh every time you come. That's my goal, and for the last 12 months, I haven't failed once to deliver one article a day.

My fiancee and I have been traveling through South East Asia for the last 6 months. We went to countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, and believe me, it's not always easy to find Internet in some of these countries. Besides there is a time difference of about 10-14 hours, which means that when you go to sleep, I usually get up, and vice versa.

The point I'm trying to make is that it's been incredibly challenging for me to keep up with the news and find the time to blog about it. Traveling is exhausting, and it's rarely convenient for me to pull out my laptop and write about stuff, especially when I'm sick like I've been for over a month now.

I understand that this is not your problem. You come here to get the latest news, hacks, and info and again, it is my responsibility to give you what you come here for. I just want you to know that I haven't given up on the blog, that I am very well aware that it hasn't been as good as it was, and that I do take your concerns very seriously.

Today, I would like to ask you to bear with me for another few weeks. I'm currently in France and it seems it should be a little easier for me here but the blog will not be back to 100% until I go back to the States in a month and a half.

I'm sorry if I haven't delivered to your expectations. Instead of keeping this on the down low, I thought it'd be better for me to explain what's going on and be completely honest with you.

I value you as a reader/commenter/online friend and the last thing I want is to disappoint you. I am sorry if I have and I can promise you that things will be back to normal soon. As a matter of fact, things will be even better than it ever was soon!

Thank you for reading, and thank you for caring enough to let me know when I underdeliver. Your opinion is important to me and I will always respect your views.

Yours truly,

Sebastien

Snappy: the Fastest Camera App for iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ April 28, 2010

Have you ever missed a great picture because your iPhone camera app was to slow to launch? If so, then read on because Snappy might be the answer to your frustration.

Snappy is a jailbreak app available from Cydia that allows you to quicky launch the camera app simply by tapping and holding the status bar.

Look at this demo to see how Snappy works.

Snappy is the kind of app that makes me wonder why Apple hasn't implemented this yet. I mean, it's pretty basic, yet very useful.

Have you tried Snappy yet? What's your take on it?

30 iPhone Experts to Follow on Twitter

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 12, 2019

I am often asked on Twitter who people should follow for good iPhone information. I thought it would be useful to create a list of my favorite iPhone people on Twitter. You may follow all these people in one click by following my iPhone List on Twitter.

I included myself on this list but you're already following me on Twitter, right?

30 iPhone People to Follow on Twitter MacRumors Gizmodo Just Another iPhone Blog Simple Reviews iSmashPhone Apple Insider The Unofficial Apple Weblog Apple iPhone School TiPB iPhone Alley Mac World iPhone in Canada iPhone Savior iPhone Hacks FSMdotCOM iPhone CTO KRAPPS The App Era Simon Blog 9 to 5 Mac iClarified iPhone Dev Team MuscleNerd ziPhoneApps iEvoluti0n Mod My i AppAdvice Appy Sebastien Page iPhone in Canada

If you have people you'd like to see on this list, please add their Twitter username in the comments.

GeoHot: I Have So Much To Finish Before I Work On The Jailbreak

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

Yesterday I was telling you about LimeRa1n, a new potential jailbreak by GeoHot for all iPhones and iPod Touch. It seems that many people have gotten in touch with GeoHot by phone or even by showing up at his house (this info can be found in the whois records of his websites), asking for the jailbreak.

Apparently, and for obvious reasons, GeoHot wasn't particularly pleased, and I guess he's growing tired of people bugging him about a new jailbreak.

He made this clear today by saying on Twitter that we shouldn't be expecting a jailbreak from him anytime soon.

What do you guys think of all this? Do you think he's trying to mislead us to surprise us better soon? Or is he just not working on a jailbreak after all?

How to Install Android On iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

Last week I posted about iPhone hacker PlanetBeing who successfully installed Android on an iPhone 2G. For those of you who would like to replicate this hack, Android A Lot has written a very detailed tutorial on how to install Android on an iPhone 2G.

Installing Android on a jailbroken iPhone is not for the faint of heart. It involves quite a few steps and if you don't have basic technical knowledge, I suggest you stay away from it. If you think you're up to the task, then head over to Android A Lot to read the detailed tutorial.

Additionally, you might find this video guide to installing Android on iPhone pretty useful. Note that this hack is for iPhone 2G only. As usual when messing around hacks live this one, understand you're doing this at your own risks.

If you decide to install Android on your iPhone, please share the results with us in the comments.

LimeRa1n: A New Jailbreak-It-All By Geohot

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 9, 2010

A few weeks after teasing us with a video showing an untethered jailbreak for all devices, an iPad jailbreak and an iPhone 4.0 jailbreak, GeoHot is now rumored to be releasing a new jailbreak called LimeRa1n in the next few days.

The rumor started when iHackinTosh got tipped about a new website called LimeRa1n.com. After checking the whois info, it appears that registrant info for both LimeRa1n and BlackRa1n is in the name and address of GeoHot.

The questions on everybody's lips is now when will GeoHot release LimeRa1n and what device will it allow to jailbreak? LimeRa1n should be available in the next few days and it should work on all devices, including the iPhone and iPod Touch 3.1.3, as well as the iPad.

A jailbreak for these devices has been around for a while now but they've never been released in order to prevent Apple to patch the exploits in a future OS update.

While, LimeRa1n has no set release date, you can still jailbreak you iPhone with BlackRa1n, PwnageTool, and RedSn0w.

Excited about LimeRa1n?

UPDATE: LimeRa1n is making the headlines again. Check our LimeRa1n page for all the latest information about this jailbreak.

UPDATE 2: LimeRa1n jailbreak for iOS 4.1 released.

iPhone News You Missed This Week

Sébastien Page ∙ April 25, 2010

This is a summary of the articles that were posted on iDB this past week.

This is the next iPhone The "next iPhone" debacle. How it all happened Survey confirms the iPhone is a chick magnet Apple drops the J-word: Jailbreaking 17 pink iPhone themes Android on the iPhone Mini review: Reeder for iPhone

Mini Review: Reeder 2 For iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

A few months ago I wrote about the best RSS readers for iPhone. At the time, Byline was my favorite, even though it was missing a couple important features such as being able to share articles on Twitter.

The Byline app description in the App Store has been saying for months they are working on version 3 which will add tons of new features. Turns out they "worked on it" for so long that someone else outdid them.

My new favorite iPhone RSS reader is Reeder 2. I'm not going to get too much into details but I'd rather give a short and sweet review of it.

Pros:

Easy to use and well thought UI It is incredibly fast. Items sync in just seconds Ability to share on Twitter Ability to save to Delicious Quickly "star" an item Easily browse starred, new or all items

Cons:

I don't really like the light-colored UI I wish it gave a larger preview of items

See, many pros and very few cons. Reeder definitely took over the Byline spot in my iPhone dock. If you're in the market for an RSS reader that syncs with Google Reader, then give Reeder a try. At $2.99, it is the best RSS reader for iPhone you can get.