Since Apple unveiled Siri as an iPhone 4S-exclusive feature back in October, the entire jailbreak community has been waiting for it to be ported to older devices. We’ve seen videos of hackers running the digital assistant on non-4S hardware, but never a public release.
Tonight it would seem like the wait is finally over, as a new jailbreak app entitled Spire has just surfaced in Cydia. The utility, created by prominent jailbreak developers Ryan Petrich and chpwn, is a tool for installing Siri on unsupported, jailbroken devices…
From Chpwn’s Spire announcement:
“Spire is my (along with Ryan Petrich) new tool for installing Siri on previously unsupported, but jailbroken, devices. Spire is a small download, but while installing it will download Siri itself (directly from Apple).
…However, Spire is not a complete solution. Apple still requires authorization to use Siri, so information form an iPhone 4S is still required. To insert this information, Spire allows you to enter your own proxy server address.”
Chpwn then goes on to say that if you (or someone close to you) own an iPhone 4S, you can use this SiriProxy fork method to setup your own proxy. He also says that he will post other solutions for proxying Siri in the future, once they are developed.
Perhaps the biggest component of Spire is that it uses a method to obtain the files necessary to run Siri on unsupported devices in a way that doesn’t infringe on copyrighted material. Questions of legality have long been an issue in the hunt for a successful Siri port.
We are installing Spire as we speak, and will post a tutorial and other information as soon as it is available. Stay tuned.
Update: As we continue to play around with Spire, we’ve come across a few things. First, installing the app does not create an icon on your spring board. If done correctly, Spire installs into your Settings app. And once you have your proxy server setup, you can activate the Siri GUI by navigating to Settings > General > Siri.
Next, it appears that Spire doesn’t play well with BigBoss’ SemiTether. So if you rely on it, you may want to stay away from Spire for the time being. And finally, chpwn has setup a FAQ page for Spire on his blog. It’s not very in-depth, but some of you may find it helpful. We’re still working on a tutorial and will post it up as soon as it’s ready.
