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Hackers Want to Hijack Your iPhone Via SMS

Sébastien Page ∙ July 29, 2009

If you receive a strange looking SMS on your iPhone this Thursday, you'd better turn it off right away as it might enable hackers to infect your iPhone and take control of it. That's what a Forbes article is reporting today anyways.

Using a flaw they've found in the iPhone's handling of text messages, the researchers say they'll demonstrate how to send a series of mostly invisible SMS bursts that can give a hacker complete power over any of the smart phone's functions. That includes dialing the phone, visiting Web sites, turning on the device's camera and microphone and, most importantly, sending more text messages to further propagate a mass-gadget hijacking.

Why would they do that? Simply to show Apple how vulnerable this iPhone bug really is. Apparently, the hackers notified Apple about a month ago, but Apple didn't bother responding to them.

We've known about this SMS bug for a while now and Apple will probably release the patch in the next OS update 3.1, supposed to be available sometimes in September (that's what the rumor says).

I think the chances you receive such a SMS are pretty thin, but you never know...

Apple Unveils New iPhone 3GI

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 15, 2017

A little over a month after the launch of the iPhone 3GS, Apple unveiled a newer model called the iPhone 3GI. The "I" stands for Invisible, as it is only visible to Apple's most loyal customers.

The Onion really did a great job at putting up this fake story that I think is absolutely hilarious.

Here are some my favorite excerpts:

In a move expected to revolutionize the mobile device industry, Apple launched its fastest and most powerful iPhone to date Tuesday, an innovative new model that can only be seen by the company's hippest and most dedicated customers.

"The new 3GI is as light as air," said Apple senior vice president Philip Schiller, reaching inside an empty display case, apparently to remove the mobile device. "See how thin that is? It's like it's not even there."

"Those who really understand what we do here at Apple are going to love this new product," Schiller continued. "Unless, you know, they happen to be totally lame."

Retailing for $599, the iPhone 3GI offers only the most special Apple consumers—the ones who believe in the company more than anything else in the world, and who would never, ever dream of questioning it—the ability to open dozens of powerful applications at once. In addition, the new multimedia device will provide true Apple fans with a high-definition video camera, one-tap editing with Final Cut Pro, and cut and paste.

"Daddy isn't talking into anything at all," said 4-year-old Ella Conrad, pointing at her father, Paul, who has been obsessively staring at, playing with, and customizing the invisible phone since purchasing it Monday. "Daddy's pretending to be on hold with an operator."

Check out the Onion for the full story.

Apple Says Jailbreakers Must Be Drug Dealers or Other Criminals

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated July 24, 2016

Apple doesn't want you to jailbreak your iPhone and it's doing everything it can to legally prevent you from doing so. In its latest attempt to make jailbreaking illegal, Apple has argued in a filing with the US Copyright Office that iPhone owners who jailbreak their iPhones and change the ECID can very well be drug dealers.

Each iPhone contains a unique Exclusive Chip Identification (ECID) number that identifies the phone to the cell tower. With access to the BBP via jailbreaking, hackers may be able to change the ECID, which in turn can enable phone calls to be made anonymously (this would be desirable to drug dealers, for example) or charges for the calls to be avoided.

The filing also goes on and on about how evil jailbreaking is. Pure propaganda if you want my opinion.

Come on Apple, with all the money you spend on these legal fees, you could at least make the effort of finding good reasons for not jailbreaking. On my end, I do have as much as 30 reasons to jailbreak ;)

Next thing you know, Apple will tell you that every time you jailbreak an iPhone, a puppy dies somewhere.

Via Slight Paranoia

Enough With Apple Dictatorship

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 9, 2018

I am growing tired of Apple's ridiculous app approval process. There is not one day going by without Apple making the headlines of tech blogs for their absurd abuse of power over developers. At first, I covered these nonsensical rejections, but there's been so many that I stopped reporting them.

The latest grotesque rejection from the App Store is GV Mobile, a Google Voice application that was approved last April by Phil Schiller himself, Apple’s senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing... Fast forward 3 months later and the app is rejected because it is "duplicating features that the iPhone comes with (Dialer, SMS, etc)". What a nonsense!

Last month, Apple rejected iLaugh Lite for no reason at all, saying that it reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject an application for any reason. If this doesn't sound like a pure dictatorship, I don't know what it is...

What really annoys me is that people don't seem to care much and just deal with it. If it was Microsoft doing the same thing, people would be ranting all over the web. But it's Apple, the great innovative, customer oriented company so that makes it ok... To me it doesn't!

Apple is taking the risk of seeing the most innovative developers jump over to Android or the Palm Pre, but does it really care? It seems to me Apple cares more about money coming in through fart applications than it cares about really pushing the limits of innovation in the App Store.

If you were looking for yet another reason the jailbreak your iPhone, then here you go. This is an opportunity for developers to flip their third finger to Apple and make their apps available on jailbroken iPhones. That's exactly what the developer of GV Mobile is going to do has done as GV Mobile is now available for free on Cydia. I just wish more developers would follow the jailbreak way. No one, including Apple, should dictate what I can and cannot do with my iPhone.

What do you think of the app approval process? Do you think it's ok for Apple to reject whatever it wants, or do you feel that you, the end user, should decide what's good or not for you?

As a side note, you can see that my Photoshop skills are very limited... If any of you guys want to make a better image for this article, feel free to get in touch with me.

Get AT&T Navigator GPS App Free For One Month

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

About a month ago, AT&T released its GPS iPhone app called AT&T Navigator. The app is free to download in the App Store but you will be charged $10/month to use it, which will automatically be added to your bill.

If you're not sure about the app and would like to give it a try, iPhone Download Blog reader Jenster sent us a great tip. You can call AT&T at 611 and talk to a representative. Tell them you would like to try AT&T Navigator and ask them if they would mind giving you a free trial.

They will gladly set you up with a free 30-day trial. But be careful because if you don't call them and cancel within 30 days, your trial period will be over and AT&T will start charging you $10/month.

For those of you who are still not sure about this AT&T Navigator, remember that a TomTom app should make it to the App Store soon. If your iPhone is jailbroken, you have the option of using the free xGPS application that basically does the same thing.

Are you gonna give it a try?

Add an Extension to A Contact’s Phone Number

Sébastien Page ∙ July 26, 2009

If you know the extension of the person you're trying to reach, you may enter it anytime or press 1 for more options. Hi, please listen carefully since our menu has changed. For sales and marketing, press 2. For customer support, press 3. For accounting, press 4...

You know how annoying these long messages can be, especially when you know exactly what extension you want to reach. Today, thanks to iPhone Download Blog reader Carn, I'd like to give you a quick tip on how to add an extension to a contact's phone number, so you never have to type this extension ever again.

1. Create or go to an existing contact.

2. Edit his phone number.

3. Make sure the cursor is at the end of the phone number and tap " + * # " at the bottom left of the keyboard.

4. Tap "pause", which will add a space and a coma after the phone number.

5. Enter the extension and click "Save".

That's it. Now every time you call this number, you will be directed to the contact's extension.

iPhone Hacking 101: Removing Passcode and Encryption

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 11, 2018

While Apple is struggling to get the iPhone adopted by business users, some more problems come their way as iPhone hacker NerveGas found yet another security hole that can allow anyone with a little technical knowledge to bypass the passcode and access encrypted and protected information on your iPhone 3GS. You can see NerveGas hacking an iPhone 3GS in the video below.

Zdziarski said it’s just as easy to access a user’s private information on an iPhone 3GS as it was on the previous generation iPhone 3G or first generation iPhone, both of which didn’t feature encryption. If a thief got his hands on an iPhone, a little bit of free software is all that’s needed to tap into all of the user’s content. Live data can be extracted in as little as two minutes, and an entire raw disk image can be made in about 45 minutes, Zdziarski said.

If you're an average iPhone user like me, chances are you don't care much about this security hole. However, if you're a business person, that can be a big threat to you.

Hey Apple, why don't you stop worrying about the jailbreakers out there and start working on making the iPhone a more secured device?

Thank you David for sending this in.

Record Videos On Your iPhone 2G/3G With Cycorder

Sébastien Page ∙ July 24, 2009

Are you an iPhone 2G or iPhone 3G owner feeling left out by the lack of video recording on your iDevice? Rejoice because I have good news for you. You don't have to spend $$$ on the new iPhone 3GS to get video recording capability.

This might sound like old news to some of our readers, but for those of you who don't know, it is possible to record videos on your iPhone 2G or iPhone 3G thanks to an application called Cycorder. I wrote about Cycorder in the past but I think this app deserves more attention, especially from all the iPhone noobies (no offense).

Cycorder allows you to record videos on your iPhone at the maximum speed of the iPhone camera (6-15 frames per second). That's not great, but it's better than nothing...

How to record video on your iPhone 2G or iPhone 3G?

First, if you haven't already done so, you'll have to jailbreak your iPhone. If you're hesitant about jailbreaking, understand it's very safe and besides being able to record videos, there are many many other reasons to jailbreak your iPhone.

Then simply launch Cydia and install Cycorder.

One installed, open Cycorder and start recording videos. It's that simple!

When you record a video, it is stored as a .mov movie on your iPhone in /var/mobile/Media/Videos. Use iPhoneBrowser or SSH to get the video from your iPhone to your computer and then you can email it or put it on YouTube.

Here is a video I shot a few weeks ago with Cycorder. It will give you a good idea about the quality of sound and images.

30 Excellent Reasons to Jailbreak Your iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ July 23, 2009

Why jailbreak your iPhone? To me, every application available in Cydia is a good reason to jailbreak your iPhone. Simply said, jailbreaking your iPhone will allow you to use many applications that are not available (and will probably never be) in the App Store.

Here are 30 excellent reasons to jailbreak your iPhone:

It's risk-free. Worst case scenario, you can restore your iPhone to factory settings Install third-party applications with Cydia Get MMS with SwirlyMMS Add custom notification sounds and ringtones for free Use a free turn by turn GPS with xGPS Get video recording for your iPhone 2G or 3G with Cycorder Stream live videos with Qik Use Voice Over IP apps over 3G and Edge with VoIPover3G Enable Flash with iMobileCinema Download and save YouTube videos on your iPhone with MxTube Tether your iPhone with PDAnet View your iPhone on your TV with TVOut Play Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, NES and PlayStation games with emulators Watch every single episode of South Park, American Dad, Family Guy, the Simpsons, the Office, and Futurama for free Filter incoming calls with iBlackList Email your voicemails with Voicemail Forwarder Customize the look and feel of your iPhone with WinterBoard Quickly manage your settings preferences with BossPrefs Sort your apps into folders with Categories Run apps in the background with Backgrounder Quickly reply to SMS with iRealSMS Track your lost/stolen iPhone with iLocalis Display information such as emails, SMS, calendar and more directly on your lock screen with IntelliScreen Spoof your caller ID with 123Spoof Change your iPhone fonts with FontSwap Get haptic feedback for your keyboard with HapticPro Show a picture of your contacts in your contact list with Cyntact Transfer files via Bluetooh with iBluetooth Enable battery percentage on the 2G and 3G with Battery Percentage Unlock your iPhone

Can you think of more reasons to jailbreak? If so, please add them by leaving a comment below.

Dear AT&T, Where Are MMS and iPhone Tethering?

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

When Apple introduced the new iPhone 3GS in June, they unveiled two new features that had been long awaited: MMS and iPhone tethering. Unfortunately, AT&T was not one of the major carriers that were going to offer these features right away and said that they will be available "later this summer".

Later this summer, as part of the 3.0 software, AT&T will make multimedia messaging (MMS) available at no extra cost to customers with a text messaging bundle. And, in the future, AT&T will offer tethering capability for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

Very well, but we're already one month into the summer and we haven't heard anything at all from AT&T. No one on the major tech websites or blogs seems to really care about it either.

Hey AT&T, where the hell are my MMS and iPhone tethering?

I think AT&T has been taking its customers for granted. Not only it has overcharged its iPhone customers since day 1, but it doesn't even provide a quality of service that would make it up for the high prices.

As MG Siegler wrote, AT&T is a big, steaming heap of failure and it is walking on thin ice right now. Its exclusive contract with Apple will expire next year and maybe it's time for Apple to reconsider their partnership.

What do you think of AT&T? Are you satisfied by their service?

19 Most Original iPhone Cases Ever

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 13, 2019

I'm not that much of an iPhone case guy because I think it is a device that is too beautiful to be hidden in a case or in a sleeve. However, I have to admit I have a thing for some of these. This article covers 19 extremely creative and original iPhone cases.

iPhone 3GS A Month Later. Still A Lot Missing

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

It seems it was yesterday that I unboxed my iPhone 3GS for the first time. Of course it was love at first sight. It is fast and elegant, but now that I've been using it for a month, I notice there is still a lot missing to make it the perfect phone.

Copy/Paste is Clunky

Woohoo, the iPhone finally has copy/paste. It only took Apple 2 years to implement this basic feature... The reality is that they did a terrible job. I think copy/paste on the iPhone is clunky and intrusive. Now everytime you touch your iPhone screen, you have this annoying popup asking you if you want to select/copy/paste. Apple products usually are about amazing user experience and copy/paste for the iPhone is a big fail.