Hackers Get iOS Applications Running on Apple TV

By , Dec 30, 2011

Those of you who have been holding out for a good reason to jailbreak your Apple TV might have just got your wish. Well-known developer Steven Troughton-Smith has teamed up with another hacker to bring iOS applications to the Apple TV.

But they’re not just trying to make it happen, they’ve done it. Troughton-Smith showed off several photos via his Twitter account tonight of his jailbroken Apple TV running a homegrown version of the iOS springboard and multiple iOS apps…

Even though Apple TV’s software is built on iOS, getting native iOS apps to run on it was no easy task. The developers essentially had to re-write the springboard from the ground up. And while the hack is no where near ready for public release, it looks promising.

This reminds us of a time when the iPhone didn’t have a native app store, so jailbreakers had to drum up an alternative. Apple noticed the attention that native third party apps were getting, and launched the official App Store less than a year later.

Maybe that’ll happen here. Stay tuned.

Update: As you can see, we’ve added a video of the hack in action. We also want to give credit where credit is due — Troughton-Smith says that TheMudKip, another developer, is responsible for most of the legwork in this project. Well done guys.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/randle1 Phil Randle

    Thats awesome! Hope this makes it to release soon, looks very promising!

  • http://twitter.com/kulcutah Michael Baker

    i will have this on both of my apple tv’s when it released to the public.

  • http://twitter.com/WeebSurfer John Horton

    Needs control to simulate touch though. Wonder if they can get a Wii controller talking too it. ???? Can’t wait to see what comes of this either way!

  • Anonymous

    “We also want to give credit where credit is do” — shouldn’t that be “…where credit is due”?!?

    • http://twitter.com/Gravemind2401 Rhys Grimshaw

      I was going to say that but my twitter login was being stupid :/ I did tweet it to @iDownloadBlog a few mins ago tho

      • Anonymous

        Great minds fink awike! Have a happy and safe gnu year! Sorry to drift off topic!

    • http://www.iDownloadBlog.com Sebastien

      Fixed. Thanks

  • Stu Rosenberg

    Finally, a reason to buy an Apple TV.

    • http://twitter.com/mattiebatslayer Matt Bona

      Have to agree with you Stu. I bought the aTV and have not been thrilled with it at all. I say that because I have a 360, PS3, Macbook, iMac, iPhone, iPad and a gaming PC; there really wasn’t a much I didn’t have covered. The airplay is about the only decent task I was able to perform that my other gadgets couldn’t.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1809949685 Sai Kiran

    Are you sure it’s not N iPad connected to. Tv ??

  • http://www.facebook.com/brett.kessner Brett Kessner

    You should probably clarify if this is the og apple tv or the apple tv 2. I’m assuming it’s the og considering the aTV 2 has no hdd.

    • http://twitter.com/Noisebag Noisebag

      It does have flash memory inside it. If im correct 8gb. They can probably use that if they could find a way to acces it.

      • http://twitter.com/JanssenSjoerd Sjoerd Janssen

        In the beginning you can see an aTV 2 ;-)

  • http://twitter.com/therealjdizzle Jason Masters

    That’s not even a tv that’s a pc monitor??

  • http://twitter.com/Jgaldos Jesse Galdos

    Thats a Dell Monitor….. Not a TV… hmmmm not saying I dont trust the source… just saying