Sébastien Page

Sebastien is the Founder and Editor in Chief of iDB. Once a BlackBerry user, Sebastien instantly fell in love with the iPhone when it was first announced in 2007. Shortly after, he decided to start sharing his knowledge of the iPhone and its nascent ecosystem, which led to the creation of this blog. Sebastien currently owns 14 iPhones, 4 iPads, a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, a MacBook Air, 2 Apple Watches, 3 Apple TVs, countless HomePods and AirTags as well as a few pairs of AirPods.

Could Not Activate Cellular Data Network: You Are Not Subscribed to a Cellular Data Service

Sébastien Page ∙ August 29, 2009

If you recently updated your iPhone firmware, or jailbroke/unlocked your iPhone to use it with a different carrier, you may have encountered the following error: Could Not Activate Cellular Data Network: You Are Not Subscribed to a Cellular Data Service

This error often appears after jailbreaking and/or unlocking and it is mostly characterized by the fact that your iPhone can't connect to the internet using the cellular data network, and you can't send text messages anymore.

The first thing to do in that case is to reset the network settings and reboot your iPhone. If it still doesn't work, then there is a more radical fix that will put everything back on track.

First, get on wifi and visit this website http://www.unlockit.co.nz/#_Custom from your iPhone. You should see this page, which will allow you to create a custom APN.

Under "Carrier", tap the drop down menu and choose your carrier. Note that there are many carriers listed there and that it might take you a bit of scrolling down to get you where you want. So choose the right carrier and tap "Done". This should populate the custom APN info.

Once the custom APN fields are populated, tap "Create Profile" and wait a bit. It will exit Safari, and take you to the settings application. Finally, just tap “Install” and this will set up your custom APN on your iPhone. Reboot your iPhone and you should now have Edge and 3G connectivity.

iPhone Safe Mode – Have You Seen This Before?

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

Yesterday night, I was quietly watching some bad reality TV when a push notification showed up on my iPhone. I grabbed the phone, looked at the notification and I slid to unlock the phone in order to launch the mail.app.

To my surprise, the following screen appeared.

What's strange is that I wasn't doing anything with the phone. That day, I did nothing but installing a new app (TomTom), and I am 100% positive I didn't mess with any of the settings.

I had heard about the iPhone safe mode before but I had never experienced it until today. I know the iPhone can only get into safe mode on jailbroken iPhones and that it has something to do with the fast respring. That's about all I know about this issue.

I simply tapped "OK" and turned off the phone. For a minute, I was scared that the problem would persist after rebooting the iPhone but it didn't.

Has your iPhone been into safe mode before? If so, why do you think that happened?

iPhone 3GS Tethering Makes My Wifi Jealous

Sébastien Page ∙ August 27, 2009

I've been in the Midwest for the last 3 weeks, traveling around Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan with very few opportunities to get on wifi. Worse, most of the places I went to didn't even have 3G coverage, forcing me to rely on the slow Edge, when available. I am currently in Chicago (for one last day before finally going back home to San Diego) where there is some very fast 3G coverage.

The first thing I did when arriving in Chicago was to enable tethering with this simple hack. It took about a minute to get it to work and to get my laptop going. It was the first time I actually tethered my iPhone 3GS and I have to admit that I am incredibly impressed with the speed.

I didn't make any scientific test to see how fast it really is, but it seems to me that my wifi at home is not faster than that. Every once in a while there is a little downtime but nothing really annoying.

If you want to use your iPhone to get internet on your laptop (also known as tethering), I suggest you have a look at this hack.

Prediction: MMS Coming to the iPhone Within Two Weeks

Sébastien Page ∙ August 26, 2009

I am no psychic but if you read this blog on a daily basis, you should know that I am usually right when it comes to making predictions on future events or features coming to the iPhone.

My latest prediction is that within 2 weeks, Apple will release firmware 3.1. This is actually pretty obvious as they are about to unveil a new line of iPod Touch at an Apple even on September 7.

I also predict that this new 3.1 firmware will come with some type of carrier update that will allow AT&T users to finally be able to send and receive MMS through their iPhones.

As usual, as a measure of precaution, I want to say that I might be completely wrong and that Apple won't unveil a new iPod Touch, and that there won't be any 3.1 firmware or MMS for a while, but someone something tells me otherwise ;)

PrivaCy Prevents These iPhone Apps From Spying on You

Sébastien Page ∙ August 25, 2009

Last week I wrote an article about how certain applications are spying on you and tracking some of your personal data. Although the practice is legal, it is nonetheless very controversial.

Thanks to the collaboration of Saurik, BigBoss, and the major companies tracking your apps stats, it is now possible to opt out of being spied on via an application appropriately named PricaCy.

Pinch Media realized this fact, and took the lead in contacting me regarding getting this feature out there to all the users of jailbroken devices: they care.

With BigBoss, we then contacted all of the other providers, getting not only their blessing, but also their technical expertise in disabling their systems.

The result is PrivaCy: a new Settings panel that allows you to selectively opt-out of sending anonymous usage statistics to each of these providers.

This extension was a team effort, and was able to be executed as quickly as it was thanks to the help and interest of the companies involved.

I am positively surprised to see how the major tracking providers were proactive and willing to address the matter by collaborating with Saurik and BigBoss.

If you're slightly concerned about your privacy, I suggest you download PrivaCy, which is available for free from Cydia. Hopefully, Apple will release a similar feature to allow the opt out from data tracking for non-jailbroken iPhones also.

Gpush Brings Gmail Push Notification to the iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

Gpush is a new application available in the App Store that brings Gmail push notification to your iPhone. I have been using Gpush for a few days now and it works as advertised.

I initially installed this app because I was waiting for an important email and I didn't want to refresh my inbox every 5 minutes. So I paid the $0.99 and downloaded Gpush.

The set up is very easy and straightforward. You just have to enter your Gmail username and password and click "save". Then you can go to the settings and choose how you want to be notified. You can be notified with a sound (same as the new voicemail sound), an alert (the pop up showed in the image above), and a badge.

Right after installing Gpush, I tried it out by sending an email to myself from my Hotmail account. The push notification came almost instantly, both on my iPhone and my PC. I was really impressed! But notifications don't always come that quickly. I sometimes receive notifications a couple minutes after receiving the email on my PC.

One downside to this app is that you only get notifications of new emails. You don't actually get the email in your inbox. So after receiving a notification, you still have to launch the mail.app and retrieve the email.

Another downside, somewhat bigger, is that these push notifications seem to drain my battery very quickly. I'm not sure about that because I've been way deep in Michigan for a few days with no wifi, only running on Edge, which is notoriously bad for battery. I don't know if it's my constant twittering or my girlfriend playing too much Bejeweled, but it does seem my battery life hasn't been really good since I installed Gpush.

All in all, Gpush is a good and cheap application that does exactly what it's supposed to. However, it can become very annoying if like me, you receive a couple hundred emails a day.

You can download Gpush [iTunes Link] from the App Store for $0.99. I look forward to reading your thoughts about this application.

Weekly iPhone Wrapup: TomTom, Torrents, Yahoo Calendar, Videos, and More…

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

Here is a summary of the articles that were posted on the blog this week.

TomTom for iPhone Now Available in the App Store

After making its debuts in New Zealand, Australia, and Europe, the TomTom iPhone app is finally available for download in the App Store.

Your iPhone is spying on you

Some applications available in the App Store are spying on you, tracking your personal data and reporting this information “home”.

Download torrents on your iPhone with Torentula

Ever wanted to download torrents on your iPhone? It is now possible thanks to an application called Torrentula.

How to sync Yahoo calendar with your iPhone

Until now there was no way to sync Yahoo calendar with your iPhone calendar but Yahoo wrote a blog post about how to do that over the air.

Edit videos on your iPhone 2G or 3G

Here is a hack that allows you to view the videos you record with Cycorder or VideoRecorder directly in your Camera Roll. Additionally, you can trim the videos, exactly like on an iPhone 3GS.

iPhone Nano into the wild

We took this mini iPhone for a ride at the local Apple Store in San Diego.

iPhone Nano Into the Wild

Sébastien Page ∙ August 22, 2009

That's what my cousin brought back from his last trip in Hong Kong. They proudly call it "i-phone Nano" (not iPhone Nano). The interface is very similar to the iPhone but obviously with much less functionality.

We took this mini iPhone for a ride at the local Apple Store in San Diego. A few people (including a couple Apple employees) really thought it was some type of prototype. It was fun messing with them for a minute...

Edit Videos on Your iPhone 2G or iPhone 3G

Sébastien Page ∙ August 21, 2009

iPhone Download Blog reader kper sent me a very good hack for iPhone 2G or 3G owners who would like to have the same video editing capabilities as the iPhone 3GS. Basically, this allows you to view the videos you record with Cycorder or VideoRecorder directly in your Camera Roll. Additionally, you can trim the videos, exactly like on an iPhone 3GS.

How to Sync Yahoo Calendar With Your iPhone Calendar

Sébastien Page ∙ August 19, 2009

A couple months ago, I wrote an article on how to sync Google calendar with your iPhone calendar. Until now there was no way to sync Yahoo calendar with your iPhone calendar but Yahoo wrote a blog post about how to do that over the air.

It's very simple but it does require you to run the latest 3.0 firmware. It is also important to note that "once you start syncing your Calendar with your iPhone you will be upgraded to Yahoo! Calendar Beta automatically. You will not be able to go back to the old calendar product once this is complete".

How to sync Yahoo calendar with the iPhone:

1. Go to Settings > Mails, Contacts, Calendars >Add Account > Other

2. Tap "Add CalDAV Account"

3 . For the Server settings, simply type "yahoo"

4. Type in your Yahoo! username and password you use to signin to your calendar.

5. Click "Next" and it should verify your information.

6. You're done :)

Next time you open the calendar app on your iPhone, you will be able to choose to view your Yahoo calendar. Every time you will load the yahoo calendar, it will sync over the air.

Your iPhone is Spying on You

Sébastien Page ∙ August 18, 2009

I just read an interesting article by the Dev Team showing that some applications available in the App Store are spying on you, tracking your personal data and reporting this information "home".

The apps in question are applications using Pinch Media, a mobile analytics company that aims at helping developers figure out how their users interact with their apps (ie. how long they spend on the app every day, is it accessed over 3G or wifi, etc...). Apparently, apps that use Pinch Media are doing much more than reporting your interactions with the app and go as far as tracking the following information:

iPhone's unique ID iPhone Model OS Version Application version (in this case, camera zoom 1.x) If the application is cracked/pirated If your iPhone is jailbroken Time & date you start the application Time & date you close the application Your current latitude & longitude Your gender (if Facebook enabled) Your birth month (if Facebook enabled) Your birth year (if Facebook enabled)

Pinch Media says the company is no spyware as it requires YOUR approval to track the data, but as the Dev Team explains:

Being an approved app, it must first ask you for permission to use your location. If you tap “Don’t Allow”, it will ask you again in about a minute, the next time its ad changes. So you either stop using this app (because it pesters you so much about the location question), or you finally submit and tap “OK”. From that point on, your location and path info (your actual physical path through your area each time you launch the app) belongs to Pinch Media, Inc. We think that’s a Pinch too much.

I don't know how concerned you are about your privacy and I assume most people wouldn't care about that. Although the data being recorded is anonymous, I am not necessarily excited about a company that doesn't disclose what type of data is collected, and more importantly, how this data is used.

What do you think?

TomTom for iPhone Now Available in the App Store

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

After making its debuts in New Zealand, Australia, and Europe, the TomTom iPhone app is finally available for download in the App Store.

TomTom for iPhone doesn't come for cheap though... Priced at $99, this fully featured turn-by-turn GPS system is more expensive than some dedicated GPS units. At least TomTom doesn't require you to get a $10/month subscription fee like AT&T NAvigator.

There is still no word about the TomTom Car Adapter Kit but I suppose it will be available soon.

I haven't tried the TomTom app myself yet and I'm still wondering if it's really worth it compared to the $35 competitor CoPilot Live. I guess I will wait for a while and read more reviews to figure out what seems to be the best GPS out there.

Download Links:

TomTom US & Canada - $99.99 TomTom Western Europe - $139.99 TomTom Australia - $79.99 TomTom New Zealand - $94.99

If you've already tried the TomTom for iPhone application, please leave a comment below and tell us what you think.