Tutorials

How to Make Your iPhone Apps Run in Full Screen Mode On Your iPad

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

iPhone applications that have not been optimized for iPad yet don't look so good on the iPad. Sure you have the option to blow up the iPhone apps by hitting the "2x" button, but the pexilization is so bad that it makes this feature almost useless.

For those of you who jailbroke your iPad with the newly released Spirit (see Spirit jailbreak tutorial), there is a solution that will allow you to blow up your apps to fit the full screen, without having the dirty pixelization.

I initially saw this on Remond Pie but the instructions didn't work at all for me. So I dug a bit more and I found something on ModMyI that perfectly worked for me.

Step 1: Download iPhoneBrowser and launch it. In Cydia, download Afc2Add and reboot your iPhone.

Step 2: Plug your iPad in and navigate to /var/mobile/Applications.

Step 3: Find the application you want to hack and search for the info.plist file in the app's main folder.

Step 4: Copy the info.plist file to your desktop.

Step 5: With a text editor such as TextWrangular (for Mac) or Plist Editor (for Windows), edit the info.plist file to add the following:

<key>UIDeviceFamily</key> <array> <integer>1</integer> <integer>2</integer> </array>

Step 6: Save the file and drop it back in its location in the app's main folder.

Step 7: Reboot your iPad.

I tried the following hack on several apps. I didn't work for many of them but it did work for a few like Tweetie, and I know it works for Facebook as well. I think it completely depends on how the app is designed. Graphic heavy apps don't seem to do well, whereas text oriented apps such as Tweetie do well.

How to Jailbreak Your iPhone or iPad With Spirit

Sébastien Page ∙ May 2, 2010

Spirit has to be the easiest and quickest jailbreak ever. JailbreakMe was fast, but Spirit takes it to a whole new level. I'm not really sure a Spirit tutorial or guide is necessary because it is so simple...

Before thinking about jailbreaking your iDevice with Spirit, there are a few requirements that you need to know about. Please head over to this post I wrote earlier to read the "fine prints" and make sure you know exactly what you're doing.

I wrote this guide by jailbreaking my iPad using Spirit but the steps are exactly identical for the iPod Touch and iPhone. Steps are also identical whether you're on a Mac or PC.

Note that Spirit is a jailbreak for every device. It will NOT unlock your iPhone.

How to jailbreak your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad with Spirit

Step 1: Download Spirit from our download page.

Step 2: Make sure you have at least version 9 of iTunes.

Step 3: Back up your iPhone, iTouch or iPad in iTunes, just in case something goes wrong.

Step 4: Launch Spirit.

Step 5: Click "Jailbreak".

Step 6: Wait just a few seconds until you see this image:

Step 7: Your iPhone will reboot and you should have the Cydia icon on your springboard.

Congrats, you just jailbroke your iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad using Spirit.

Errors & Troubleshooting

Windows Vista or Windows 7 users may get the error c0000005.

To avoid this error, you have to run Spirit.exe in compatibility mode. To do so:

Right click on Spirit.exe and select Properties Select the compatibility tab Check the “Run this program in compatibility mode for” box and select Windows 98 / Windows ME

How to Save Your SHSH Blobs with AutoSHSH

Sébastien Page ∙ May 1, 2010

With the upcoming release of the Spirit jailbreak, there are a few things you need to do in order to be on the safe side should something go wrong in the future. One of these things is to prepare your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad by saving the SHSH blobs.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to save your SHSH blobs on a Windows machine, using AutoSHSH. This guide was written for an iPad, but the steps are identical for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Step 1: Open iTunes and plug your iDevice. Back it up. When done, close iTunes and unplug your device.

Step 2: Download AutoSHSH.

Step 3: Put your iDevice in recovery mode. To do so, turn it off, hold the home button while plugging your device to the USB cable. Keep holding the home button until you see a "connect to iTunes" logo. If iTunes launches, close it.

Step 4: Launch AutoSHSH. Make sure you are connected to the Internet and that you have Java Runtime installed. If not, download and install it. Also make sure your device is in recovery mode and connected to your computer.

Step 5: Click "grab my SHSH blobs automatically". AutoSHSH will start to work its magic.

Step 6: AutoSHSH will finally ask you where you want to save the file on your computer. Select a convenient location (ie. desktop).

Step 7: Reboot your device.

Done! Your SHSH blobs are now saved locally and on Saurik's server. In the event that something goes wrong, you are covered!

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.

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.

How to Copy Your iTunes Library to A New Computer

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated December 15, 2017

If you recently bought a new computer, you may have faced the issue of moving your data from your old computer to your new one. In most cases, it's pretty easy, simply put your documents (ie. photos, videos, folders, etc...) on an external hard drive and move it to the new computer.

However, it's a bit more tricky if you want to move your iTunes music library while preserving your ratings, play counts, and playlists. Fortunately, Apple made it pretty easy for us to copy our iTunes library to a new computer.

This article will show you how to move your iTunes music library to a new computer in just a few simple steps. It's simple, but it does take some time though. Kudos go to Simon for this trick.

This method will work with every item you can get from iTunes. You will be able to backup the following files:

Applications Music and Podcasts Movies, Videos and TV Shows Ringtones

In order to copy the iTunes library to a new computer we will use iTunes' backup feature.

Step 1: In iTunes, go to File > Library > Backup to Disc.

Step 2: Choose Back up entire iTunes library and playlists.

Step 3: Insert a DVD or CD and start the backup process. Depending on the size of your library, this process could take hours, maybe days... If your DVD or CD is not enough to backup all the data, iTunes will offer you the option to backup to several discs.

Step 4: Once the backup process is over, open iTunes on your new computer and insert the first disc.

Step 5: iTunes will be smart enough to recognize the backup and will ask you if you want to restore from this disc. Click restore and let the magic happen.

This works pretty well if you don't have much data to backup. However, if you have tens of thousands of songs and movies like I do, this will take you days to just copy the data.

How to Turn Your iPad Into An iPad 3G

Sébastien Page ∙ April 12, 2010

If you don't want to cough an extra $130 (+ $15 to $30/month) to get the 3G version of the iPad but still want to enjoy the freedom of 3G technology on the go, I have a quick and easy tip for you to turn your iPad into an iPad 3G.

In order to get your iPad work on 3G, you will need an iPad (duh!) and a jailbroken iPhone 3G or 3GS. The trick is pretty simple. You just need to download the MyWi app from Cydia. MyWi is a tethering app that allows you to turn your iPhone into a wireless hotspot.

I wrote about MyWi a couple of months ago here so I won't go too much into details but basically it creates a wifi hotspot so you can share your 3G with devices around you, including your iPad. My Twitter friend @LappyGirl tried it and confirms it's working great.

So here you go, you just got yourself an iPad 3G for the price of a standard iPad.

How to Save Your iPhone ECID SHSH

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated March 27, 2018

Every time a new iPhone firmware comes out, many of us accidentally update their device to the latest OS, making it impossible to jailbreak/unlock, or even downgrade to an earlier version.

In order to have a shot at downgrading your iPhone, you must have your ECID SHSH on file on Saurik's server, just in case Apple stops signing the older firmware version, just like it did a few weeks ago with 3.1.2.

How to Save Your ECID SHSH

Note that this is only valid for iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 2G/3G. iPhone 3G owners are not concerned as they can downgrade the firmware (not the baseband).

The Easy Way

If like me you are lucky and you launch Cydia and see that "this device has SHSHs on file for iPhone OS: 3.0, 3.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3", then you don't have anything to do. I have these 4 SHSHs on file but it's ok if you only have the latest SHSH on file. At the time I am writing this, the latest firmware is 3.1.3 so to date, you should make sure you have at least the SHSH for 3.1.3.

The Other Easy Way

If you don't see this message then don't worry, just scroll down a bit on Cydia's homepage and look for the "make my life easier" button. Simply tap on it and your ECID SHSH will be automatically saved on Saurik's server. Close Cydia and launch it again. You should now have a message at the top saying your SHSH is on file.

You're good to go now! But remember that anytime a new firmware is available, do not update right away. Just wait until a new jailbreak is available.

BlackBreeze: How to Fix iTunes 9.1 and BlackRa1n Issues on Windows

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

With the release of iTunes 9.1, those of you on a Windows machine and an iPhone jailbroken with BlackRa1n RC3 might experience syncing issues. Fortunately, iH8Sn0w, the developer of Sn0wBreeze and F0recast has released a tool called BlackBreeze to fix this.

How to fix syncing issues between iTunes 9.1 and iPhone jailbroken with BlackRa1n RC3:

Step 1: Create a new folder on your desktop and download BlackRa1n.exe and BlackBreeze to it.

Step 2: Launch BlackBreeze and click on Fix my Ra1n! and select the BlackRa1n.exe file you downloaded in step 1.

Step 3: BlackBreeze will patch BlackRa1n and place a file called blackra1n-fixed.exe on your desktop.

Step 4: Execute blackra1n-fixed.exe to boot your tethered iPhone. Once done, you should be able to sync your jailbroken iPhone with iTunes 9.1 on Windows without any problem.

Thanks PhilT for the tip and the tutorial!

How to Fix Push Notifications On Hacktivated iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ March 10, 2010

If you have recently "hacktivated" your iPhone, which means activating it to work with carriers other than the official ones, you may have encountered push notification issues. In most cases, push notifications don't work properly or even don't work at all.

There is a simple fix for this and it's called Push Doctor. Simply add the following source to Cydia then look for Push Doctor: http://www.cmdshft.ipwn.me/apt/

After installing Push Doctor, reboot your iPhone.

Push Doctor works very well with 3.1.3 and 3.1.2. It is free and has the support of the Dev Team, so you can go with it safely.

What Is Unlocking?

Cody Lee ∙ February 23, 2010

Unlocking is an extremely easy concept to explain, sort of . Unless stated otherwise, cell phones purchased from carrier retail stores are "locked" to that specific carrier. For instance, a Blackberry storm from Verizon won't work on an AT&T calling plan. The Sprint Palm Pre won't work on T-mobile. Even your iPhone from AT&T is "locked" to that infamous blue-mapped carrier.

So what do you do if you want to purchase a phone you like but use it with a different carrier, perhaps one that costs less or gets better reception in your area? For most folks I'd say " eh fa-gettaboutit ! " (in a pretty sweet Brooklyn/Italian accent might I add). But for those of you lucky enough to have apples on the back of your phones, there are ways to relieve your beloved iPhone from AT&T's struggling network.

Hardware Unlock Vs. Software Unlock

Technically, there are 2 ways to go about unlocking your iPhone. There is a hardware unlock, which is invasive (you have to open the phone), that I don't recommend that anyone tries unless they've got a pretty extensive background in some kind of electrical engineering.

The 2nd, much easier way, the software unlock, could be done on your lunch break by your 6th grader. Just like jailbreaking, this can be as easy as hooking your iPhone up to the computer and clicking 'start'. However the requirements for unlocking and the rules you must follow are very different.

Things to Consider Before Unlocking

There are guidelines to follow when thinking about unlocking your iPhone.

First off you need to make sure that the carrier you are wishing to go to supports the iPhones technology. I'll save everyone here stateside some time and just let the cat out of the bag. If you unlock, really your best option is T-Mobile, the other major wireless GSM carrier. Other, smaller CDMA carriers (any centennial wireless users out here??) have had users confirm the unlock to work, but chances are if your reading an article on unlocking, they are referring to T-Mobile (at least here in the states).

Secondly, you need to know your firmware version and modem firmware version (or baseband as its often referred to). This is easily discovered by popping into your iPhone settings and opening the 'about' window. Now if you can't seem to find it, I'm scared for you, but I'm here for you, I've provided some pictures below to help you out.

These 2 things are important to know, as they determine whether you can unlock your iPhone or not. If you are even thinking of jailbreaking or unlocking, best practice is to stay away from updating your iTunes or iPhone software, as the war between the Dev Team and Apple rages on, each new update could disable or prevent future unlocks.

I always check http://blog.iphone-dev.org/ to see the latest unlock available. As you can see right now, they have one working for firmware version 3.1.3 and baseband 05.11, but if you have updated your iPhone recently and have the 05.12 baseband, you're out of luck for the time being. An unlock is in the works but the ETA field is empty so, don't hold your breath.

Finally if you meet the above requirements and are ready to unlock, you must first jailbreak. Now as you can see from all the hyperlinks in this article, I wrote an article on jailbreaking, and I know Sebastien's got great tutorials in the blog's 'tutorials' section, so if you haven't done that, check that stuff out, meet me back here in 5.

Who Comes Up With Unlocks?

The last part of our segment today on unlocking is software, pioneered by the great Dev Team and the prodigy kid from New Jersey GeoHot. GeoHot, who recently announced hacking the PS3, actually received media attention for his iPhone unlock and was given a new Nissan 350z by the co founder of Certicell, not bad eh.

But the backbone of the jailbreak/unlock community, the Dev Team, have been the steady frontrunners ever since. Their software QuickPwn, RedSn0w, and PwnageTool have been staples in the iPhone hacking community for years.

Generally when you're using these programs to jailbreak they ask you if you'd like to unlock in one of the steps it takes you through. Here lately though, 1 task programs like UltraSnow have been relevant, also done by the Dev Team, also available in our downloads section.

Conclusion

Well that's unlocking in 10 minutes or less, the key really is what version your firmware/modem firmware you're running, and understanding there's no unlock for 3.1.3 firmware if you have 05.12 modem firmware (baseband).

The model of your iPhone matters as well, whether it is the iPhone 3G , 3GS, or original version. Model compatibility for any unlock software is generally noted in the description of the download. And if I haven't completely crushed your dreams yet, there's no way to downgrade your baseband (let us know if you get Fuzzyband to work, we hear the bootloader's to high). What am I talking about bootloaders, basebands, you guys should probably get out of here before things get really crazy.

Make sure to hit us up with any questions or comments.

How to Disable Automatic iPhone Backup in iTunes

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

If you're like me, you must sometimes get annoyed at how long syncing your iPhone with iTunes can take. Turns out that the syncing process doesn't take that long at all. However, the automatic backup of your iPhone is what takes the longest.

I found out thanks to JAiB about a tool called BackOff, which easily allows you to turn on and off the automatic backup of your iPhone in iTunes.

BackOff is a free PC and Mac utility enabling you to speed up the sync of your iPhone or iPod Touch by turning off the automatic backup in iTunes. Storage of large amounts of data can seriously lenghten iTunes sync. Disable iTunes Auto-Backup feature with BackOff and speed up your syncs!

BackOff is a free tool (download here) that work for both Mac and PC and is compatible with all iPhones and iPod Touch.

Patrick was able to try it out and here is what he has to say about it:

Just to give an idea of the impact this app can have, when I tested it this afternoon, a sync with backup turned on had taken over 20 minutes before I canceled it. Sync with backup turned off took under two minutes!

Looks like a winner to me. What do you think about BackOff?