Software

iPhone 5 Probably Won’t Be Seen at WWDC This Summer

Alex Heath ∙ Updated February 24, 2017

A series of new developments has shed some light on Apple's product roadmap for the coming year. First, we thought that Apple would be holding a media event in April for iOS 5 and MobileMe. TechCrunch followed up on those rumors by saying that iOS 5 would be pushed back to the fall, and that the iPhone 5 would be released this summer running a version of iOS 4.

Today, Apple announced the dates and information for their annual World Wide Develepors Conference this June. Apple's focus for WWDC this year will clearly be on software, and, unless they've got a big surprise up their sleeve, we probably won't see the iPhone 5 launch during the expected time frame...

Camera+ is Back in The App Store

Alex Heath ∙ Updated February 16, 2018

The Camera+ fiasco has been an interesting one to follow. The popular photography app was a sensation when it was first released in the App Store. Then, it was pulled. Just like that. The app was updated with a backdoor to allow a volume button camera shutter, which apparently Apple didn't like.

At the time of it being pulled, Camera+ was considered the crème de la crème of photography apps. Most felt as though Apple should have lightened up on Camera+ by not pulling the app for simply adding a cool and innovative feature. The problem was that Camera+ violated Apple's guidelines on how an app can interface with the iPhone's controls.

We recently reported that Camera+ had announced that its return to the App Store would be very soon. After many months of silence, Camera+ is back and better than ever...

Tip: How to Quickly Respring your iPhone

Alex Heath ∙ Updated January 17, 2018

Many of us jailbreakers know how frustrating it can be to debug the modifications we make to iOS. When installing an app in Cydia, if the app requires it, Cydia gives you a prompt to restart your springboard.

There are two types of restarts you can have on your iPhone: a hardware restart and a software restart. A hardware restart takes considerably longer, and it is when you see the Apple boot logo (or your own, modded logo). A simple software restart usually does the trick for installing new packages on your iPhone, and it also helps with ironing out the bugs you may be experiencing...

Saurik’s TED Talk, “Even Software Should Have Screws”

Alex Heath ∙ November 9, 2010

Jay Freeman, better known as saurik, recently gave a TED talk on the philosophy of mobile software. He compared the iPhone's App Store and the jailbreak mentality to how consumers buy and modify cars. He made the case for what he has based his career on: that consumers do not want the software limitations that Apple maintains on iOS.

The first half of saurik's TED talk explains the state of the car industry, and the consumer approach to buying and modifying cars. His comparison is interesting, and it definitely merits his point about Apple's App Store philosophy...

Why Does Apple Lead All Tech Coverage?

Guest Author ∙ September 28, 2010

I can say from first hand experience that there are thousands of tech related stories that come across the wire each day. Sifting through them all to bring you relevant stories for the iPhone allows me to see just how much of a daily media buzz surrounds the Apple world.

The news surrounding Apple is mostly positive and is the most plentiful according to Mashable. Their report shows a study done by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism that has Apple leading the news race with just over 15% of all tech stories including Cupertino as the main topic...

Apple’s iOS Gets Cloned onto an HTC Device

Guest Author ∙ September 12, 2010

iOS is a wonderful operating system in my opinion. That doesn't mean I think that other phones should necessarily run the Apple created software. Apparently a certain HTC owner didn't think the same because it appears that the OS has been successfully been morphed over another platform.

9 to 5 Mac has the story and it appears the device runs the operating system like an iPhone 3G running 4.0.

iPhone Firmware 2.2 is Out. Jailbreakers Should Not Update!

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

The rumor was right... Apple did release firmware 2.2 last night and for once, it seems that we have some useful features added:

Enhancements to Maps:

Google Street View public transit and walking directions display address of dropped pins share location via email

Enhancements to Mail

resolve isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email improved formatting of wide HTML email

Other Enhancements

Improved stability and performance of Safari Podcasts are now available for download in the iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular networks) Decrease in call set-up failures and call drops Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages Pressing the Home button from any Home screen takes you the first Home screen Preference to turn on/off keyboard auto-correction

Apparently, iPod Touch users don't get the Google Maps upgrade that includes the addition of Street View as well as public transit and walking directions.

Like they did earlier this week, the Dev Team warns us about updating the iPhone using iTunes.

So, as anticipated our friends the misfits have recently released the long awaited 2.2 update. We can confirm that this update SHOULD NOT be applied using iTunes if you want the chance of a soft-unlock in the near future.

If you want to keep that option of a ‘soft-unlock in the near future’ available but you want the new features of 2.2, you will be able to update to 2.2 using a PwnageTool created custom ipsw file that disables the baseband update. You will be able to do this using an updated version of PwnageTool that will be released sometime soon.

Some facts -

The 2.2 firmware for 3G contains a baseband update for the 3G iPhone The 2.2 firmware for 2G (1st gen iPhones) doesn’t contain a baseband update and the baseband is still at 04.05.04 We believe that our Pwnage technique (and therefore the Jailbreak) isn’t affected, but PwnageTool and QuickPwn do not support this release as yet, so DO NOT install 2.2 using iTunes as you will lose your jailbreak If you apply this update and you previously relied on PwnageTool or QuickPwn to activate your phone, it may become temporarily deactivated and unusable (until we release the new version of PwnageTool or QuickPwn). PwnageTool and QuickPwn updates will be released as soon as possible that will allow a safe update path to 2.2 the release of these updates is inevitable but not imminent, we are creating the modifications right now and we need to put the new software through the usual testing process. If you apply this update and you have third-party (non AppStore) applications that you rely on they will stop working. 2G (1st gen) iPhone users who cannot wait for the new PwnageTool or QuickPwn can safely “Update” to 2.2 using iTunes, this will preserve the existing activation. However “restoring” to 2.2 using iTunes will return the iPhone to the unactivated state. If you are in any doubt just wait. NB: This works for 2G ONLY. The use of SIM-Proxies (small circuit boards/chips that sit underneath the SIM card) to provide GSM/UMTS service on your locked iPhone 3G is a method that we have always advised against. Early reports suggest that the 2.2 update disables the functionality of these devices. The techniques used were always unreliable and we are surprised that they have lasted this long. We are not working on the 2nd generation iPod touch at the moment, so we cannot comment on what the the 2.2 software update may do to this specific model

So, as always, if you are in any doubt whatsoever please delay the install of this firmware on any of your devices until we have investigated the release in more detail. Watch this space ;-)

Also, iTunes 8.0.2 is out now. I doubt this will make much difference either way, but ask yourself, why bother. Just because a new version is out doesn’t mean you want it. I would hold off on this also.

iPhone Firmware 2.2 and iTunes 8.0.2 are both available from the downloads section of our blog.

DiskAid wants to be iPhoneBrowser

Sébastien Page ∙ October 17, 2008

After SSH, I believe that iPhoneBrowser is the best way to manage your iPhone files. It is easy and quick to use, especially if you want to play around with your themes or fonts. This being said, it's gonna be hard for a new software to make me stop my relationship with iPhoneBrowser.

Now comes DiskAid, a free software which does most of what iPhoneBrowser does, but "most of" is not enough... I want DiskAid to do more than that. Let's see what Digi DNA, the company behind DiskAid says about it:

DiskAid is a tool for PC and Mac which enables to use your iPhone or iPod Touch as external Disk. With DiskAid you can transfer files and folders between your iPhone or iPod Touch and your Computer.

* DiskAid is a Freeware, 100% free of charge * PC Windows & Mac OSX compatibility * Supports iPhone 1, 3G and all iPod Touch * Auto detection feature, just plugin it in ! * Copy Files & Folders between your iPhone or iPod Touch and your Computer * Files & Folders Browser * Drag & Drop * Features rich file organization including folder creation, renaming... etc. * No jailbreak needed * Supported firmware versions : 1.1.1 to 2.1

Looks pretty good. One big benefit of using iPhoneBrowser over DiskAid is that iPhoneBrowser provides a file preview which is very helpful when editing themes or icons. Like iPhoneBrowser, DiskAid does NOT allow you to change file permission.

DiskAid also pretends to transfer music files from your iPhone to your computer. That's true, you can do that. What they don't tell you though is that you will not be able to know what files you're moving as music files are encoded and look like something like this F0012-0848463. So unless you know that F0012-0848463 is the song "Lounge Act" by Nirvana from the album Nevermind, you'd never find out by yourself. I say: useless!

I'll stick with iPhoneBrowser...

Mind Maker Mindmap application for iPhone/iTouch

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Although many people I work with use mind mapping software, i am much more of a "draw it out on paper" person and it has never felt spontaneous to capture my thoughts using such a tool. I don't like to lug my laptop to every meeting and when I got spontaneous ideas while walking or working out, paper always seemed to be the best approach.

So as I was browsing through new apps in the App Store, I saw the Mind Maker [iTunes Link] app developed by Ultravague, and the idea of having mind mapping software that is a lot more portable and always accessible might make the difference in usability for me. So I decided to give it a try.

So for two days now I have had it installed on my iPhone and I have tried to use it for all my meetings (which are considerable these days!). It takes some time to reorient yourself from linear written notes to the relationship-based tree concept but I like the end product. Much easier to navigate through when you are trying to drill down and go back and add more detail later.

The tool is pretty intuitive. It was easy to make new branches and nodes. I kept trying to connect a node to more than one parent and I guess you can't do that. I think that one of my problems with these types of tools is that my mind doesn't always link things in an hierarchical fashion.

But my personal issues aside, I was able to create a tree really quickly and and organize it the way I wanted to. I couldn't figure out how to export it so after a quick browse at the web site I found out that the next version 1.1 (which they say is almost ready to submit to Apple), will support exporting mind maps to images and the following version 1.2, will allow mindmaps to be published to the web and exported in a variety of formats.

Features that I would like to see added:

The ability to associate a text, images, or url's with the nodes, this will be especially useful when version 1.2 comes out and I can publish my mind maps to the web. The ability to create cross associations (a node has more than one parent) so that I can map more complex relationships The ability to name the relationships because connections are sometimes the most important thing to remember.

All in all it is a good deal at $4.99.

iPod.iTunes 4.0 Released

Sébastien Page ∙ June 12, 2008

crispSofties has released iPod.iTunes 4.0, the latest version of its synchronization software for Mac OS X. iPod.iTunes synchronizes songs, videos, playlist and meta data in both directions between iPods and iTunes libraries.

The new version, a 1.6 megabyte download, adds the following features and fixes:

Full support for jailbroken iPhones and iPod touches Auto sync suppression to keep iTunes from deleting songs on the iPod that the user plans to transfer back into iTunes The ability to eject an attached iPod or iPhone from within the application

iPod.iTunes 4.0 requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, and is priced at 24.90 Euro (about $39) for a single user license. A demo version is also available.

iPhone 2.0 Firmware to be out on June 27th

Sébastien Page ∙ June 11, 2008

It's not official yet but the Australian site of Apple is showing a release date of the AppStore for June 27th. Steve said during its keynotes that the iPhone 2.0 software as well as the AppStore would be launched early July. Waiting for an official confirmation...