July 9-10, 2013
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Sorry, jailbreakers: The latest iPhone update, iOS 6.1.3, could kill your lovely little hack.

Apple is testing a potential fix for the Evasi0n jailbreak in the most recent beta for iOS 6.1.3, Forbes reports. Davig Wang, a developer testing the new update, tells the site that it fixes at least one of the five bugs Evasi0n relies on (specifically, a flaw in the iOS time zone settings).

“If one of the vulnerabilities doesn’t work, Evasi0n doesn’t work,” Wang told Forbes. “We could replace that part with a different vulnerability, but [Apple] will probably fix most if not all of the bugs we’ve used when 6.1.3 comes out.”

Released in early February for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, Evasi0n was the first fully untethered jailbreak for iOS 6 (meaning the hack sticks even if you reboot your phone). Jailbreaks allow iPhone owners to install unapproved software (including pirated software) as well as interface tweaks that Apple would never allow (like the tweaks in the notification area above).  Not surprisingly, Evasi0n also benefited from pent-up demand for a full iOS 6 jailbreak, helping to unshackle over seven million iOS devices in its first four days.

Jailbreakers are generally aware that any Apple update could spoil their fun, but Apple’s response to Evasi0n seems surprisingly quick. Given how long it took to release this jailbreak, it’s clear that iOS 6 was the hardest to hack so far. Apple likely wants to keep a secure image of iOS 6 alive by crushing Evasi0n (and of course, fixing the recent lock screen hacks).

Photo: Joshua Bermudez/Flickr

You’re in luck: A group of hackers known as evad3rs has released the first jailbreak for iPhone 5, EvasiOn.

The EvasiOn website says the jailbreak is compatible with all iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and iPad mini models, as long as you’re running iOS 6 or the recently-released 6.1, and has released desktop jailbreak kits for Mac, Windows, and Linux. The group also says the jailbreak is safe … if you back up your phone or tablet prior to attempting the jailbreak, you can always restore your original system and data.

That is, of course, if you trust an anonymous group of hackers with complete root control of your device. What could go wrong?

Jailbreaking your phone allows you to install apps that are not authorized by Apple, and in fact a non-Apple app store: Cydia, which aggregates and installs apps that are not on the official app store. An untethered jailbreak, such as this one, survives multiple device reboots without needing to be reapplied.

As ExtremeTech mentions, this jailbreak means that Apple’s system-on-chip built into the Apple A6 processor has been cracked. No details have been released on how that actually happened, since those would then help Apple seal the leak.

One unfortunate detail, to those who want their devices to be free. According to one iOS hacker, the new software is a “userland jailbreak,” which exploits holes in iOS 6, but not the underlying layers of the system like the Bootrom. That means Apple can block it simply with a system update.

Other challenges, according to the FAQ EvasiOn has put up, include that users are experiences crashes on some standard apps, such as the Weather app. Another user reports that his iPhone was not charging after jailbreaking — which sounds like a hardware issue — and yet another user said his “sound died after jailbreaking.” And, of course, it does void your Apple warranty.

As the saying goes, YMMV.

Image credit: evasiOn.com

July 9-10, 2013
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That didn’t take long: Yesterday, iPhone hacker Grant Paul, aka chpwn, posted pictures of his jailbroken iPhone 5.

“Taller screens like Cydia too,” Paul tweeted, referring to the Cydia app store for jailbroken iPhones, and including a screenshot of his iPhone’s home screen.

Taller screens like Cydia too. http://t.co/fE14vXN2—
Grant Paul (chpwn) (@chpwn) September 21, 2012

It could have been an easy Photoshop job, but Paul has a good reputation in the jailbreaking community. He’s one of the co-authors of a 2011 hack that enabled Siri on jailbroken iPhones. He also runs a site that helps people jailbreak their iPhones. Paul posted additional images to back up his claim: one screenshot showing the Cydia store screen, plus a photo of his iPhone.

Here’s the Cydia homepage on the iPhone 5: http://t.co/w0qVYaxG—
Grant Paul (chpwn) (@chpwn) September 21, 2012

Paul hasn’t posted details on his jailbreak, and other hackers don’t seem to have replicated his work yet. Still, as one commenter wryly noted (and Paul retweeted), it suggests that iOS 6 is vulnerable to zero-day hacks.

Some people wanted the bottom row of text from Cydia, or a photo of the device itself: http://t.co/T5mSNTNQ—
Grant Paul (chpwn) (@chpwn) September 22, 2012

We’re working to get more details on the jailbreak and will follow up as we learn more.

July 9-10, 2013
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Although it might pain some Apple fanboys, a clever new theme for jailbroken iPhones shows what would happen if the Metro design of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system landed on the iPhone.

Jailbreaking your iPhone opens the door to loading unapproved applications, crazy themes, and using the phone on other carriers. The “Metroon” theme for Dreamboard can be downloaded from the Cydia Store and allows a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch to look and feel like Windows 8, which Microsoft will release in late October. The Metroon package costs $1.50, a small price to pay to freak out your Apple-obsessed friends.

Check out the clever app in the video below:

Via Jailbreak Nation

Design is determining the winners in everything mobile. The most successful players are focusing on one thing: How to make products, services, and devices as compelling and delightful as possible — visually and experientially. MobileBeat 2012, taking place July 10-11 in San Francisco, is assembling the most elite minds to debate how UI/UX is transforming every aspect of the mobile economy, and where the opportunities lie. Register here.

July 9-10, 2013
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As much as I love the new iPad, I still find it tough to multitask on the device due to Apple’s focus on full-screen apps. Quasar, a new app for jailbroken iPads by Pedro Franceschi, makes the tablet act more like traditional operating systems by letting you juggle multiple apps in windows.

Quasar looks particularly useful for running iPhone apps on the iPad, which don’t take advantage of the device’s larger screen. The app allows you to resize windowed apps easily, and switch between windowed and full screen mode, as the video below shows.

Traditionally, jailbreak hackers have given us a window into capabilities that Apple may eventually include in iOS. They crafted the ability to use folders in iOS, and developed a unified notification system for the platform, long before Apple. But given the company’s increasing focus on a single-screen experience — something that’s now made it way to OS X apps on the desktop as well — I don’t think we’ll ever see a legit windowed app solution on the iPad. (Hopefully Apple will do something else to improve iPad multitasking.)

Quasar is now available on the Cydia jailbroken app store for $9.99.

Via The Verge

July 9-10, 2013
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AT&T confirmed today that it will unlock iPhones beginning April 8 for customers whose contracts have ended and who are in “good standing.”

Unlocking an iPhone means that the customer is cut from its ties with their carrier and can use a sim card from another carrier if they like. Until this point, AT&T kept its iPhones locked, even if the contract had expired, binding those users to its service. The move is long overdue.

An unlocked AT&T phone, however, will not be compatible with Verizon’s service. iPhones built for these two carriers differ in hardware that cannot be overridden with the software unlock.

Prior to this, people had to jailbreak their phones in order to run separately from AT&T. This process is dangerous for the phone, as it nulls the warranty and makes the phone more susceptible to malware.

AT&T will begin unlocking phones on this coming Sunday, April 8. Accounts must be in good standing, have no unpaid balances, and must not be connected to a long-term plan with AT&T.

hat tip New York Times

July 9-10, 2013
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As gadget hounds are tearing into their new iPads, a hacker has revealed that he’s already successfully jailbroken the tablet — though it’s far from a final release.

iOS hacker MuscleNerd posted the above screenshot on Twitter, but added that this is merely the first step towards getting a jailbreak ready for eager hackers to use. By jailbreaking your iOS device, you can run unauthorized apps and install things like widgets, which Apple doesn’t support. MuscleNerd says there’s no ETA on when the final jailbreak will be released.

His work basically opens the floodgates for his group of iOS hackers, the infamous iPhone Dev-Team, to work on a more polished hack. He also posted a screenshot of the Cydia jailbreak app repository running on the new iPad, further proof that his hack was legit.

The hacker and his group were the first to release an iPhone 4S jailbreak, and he also pointed out a legal method way to get Siri on your iPhone 4. Today’s hack shows that no matter how much Apple tries to lock down iOS, hackers will always find a way in.

Via The Verge

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July 9-10, 2013
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Proving that anticipation was exceptionally high for a full iPhone 4S jailbreak, the folks behind the Absinthe jailbreaking tool report that it received over 1 million downloads within its first 24 hours.

Even more impressive, the number only includes downloads for the Mac version of Absinthe, as the Windows client debuted a day later, Cult of Mac reports.

The figure shows that jailbreaking — or hacking your iPhone to run unauthorized apps and services — is on the cusp of becoming mainstream. MuscleNerd, a member of the hacker group iPhone Dev Team, points out that there were over 250,000 new installs of the Cydia jailbreak app repository over the first weekend, which implies that a considerable number of Absinthe users were jailbreaking their phones for the first time.

Absinthe, developed by the hacker collective Chronic Dev Team, was the first untethered jailbreak tool available for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, meaning it can retain the jailbreak after you reboot the phone. Typically, untethered jailbreaks appear fairly quickly with the arrival of new Apple hardware, but the combination of the iPhone 4S and iPad 2′s A5 processor, together with complications from iOS 5, made it difficult for hackers to achieve the untethered hack sooner.

As Cult of Mac points out, the last time we saw such a widely adopted jailbreak was with the release of the JailbreakMe website last year, which let you jailbreak your iPhone simply by visiting a website. Absinthe isn’t as easy to use as JailbreakMe, but it’s certainly a step up over complicated jailbreaking methods of yore.

July 9-10, 2013
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Finally! Notable hacker pod2g and the Chronic Dev Team have released the first untethered jailbreak for Apple’s iPhone 4S and iPad 2.

Jailbreaking your iPhone opens the door to loading unapproved applications and using the phone on other carriers. Not surprisingly, Apple hates its devices being jailbroken and used in unintended ways, so the company regularly issues operating system updates that make it harder to jailbreak. The iPhone 4S, in particular, has taken months to find a full jailbreak.

The new jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 is called “Absinthe A5″ and it can be downloaded direct here. Unfortunately, the Absinthe jailbreak is only available now for Mac users right now, but versions for Windows and Linux are planned to be released soon.

What makes this release such a big deal is that this is an “untethered” jailbreak versus a “tethered” jailbreak. A tethered jailbreak means your phone can only be rebooted when it is plugged into the computer, while an untethered jailbreak means your phone can be rebooted anytime. As someone who’s had a tethered jailbreak on his iPhone 3GS before, I can tell you life is much easier with an untethered jailbreak.

The iPhone 4S running iOS 5.0 and 5.0.1 should be able to be jailbroken and all models of the iPad 2 running 5.0.1 should be able to run the software.

The Chronic Dev Team writes that the hardest part of the hack was getting past complications with Apple’s A5 processor:

The ridiculously complex combination of exploits-within-exploits that make this iOS jailbreak possible have consumed thousands of hours of brain-power & effort from a legion of world-renowned hackers, several of whom have been working diligently on this project since the dual-core A5 processor was unveiled by Apple last March. Ten months ago, I myself was live tweeting from a tediously long line at the nearest Apple retail store, where I anxiously waited to become one of the world’s first owners (& hackers) of the newly-released iPad 2.

At that point, I don’t know if any iOS hacker anticipated how much the A5 chip would completely change the game & up the stakes. The endless war we fight to jailbreak has become more & more difficult with each new device released, and our recent battle against A5 only proved this further. After working for months with few tangible results, Chronic Dev hackers tried a new approach – we launched CDevReporter to accumulate all your devices’ crash reports, an invaluable source of information for iOS hacking & research. You answered our call-to-arms quickly & emphatically, sending us more than 10 million of these reports in less than a week. (Keep up the good work!)

Have you given the new jailbreak a spin? Let us know how it goes in the comments.

July 9-10, 2013
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It’s taken longer than usual for hackers to release a complete jailbreak for the iPhone 4S, but it looks like one is almost here.

The above video by iOS hacker pod2G shows a fully untethered jailbreak — meaning the jailbreak is retained even after you reboot the phone — on an iPhone 4S running iOS 5.0.1. “Only a few to wait now,” pod2G wrote on his blog, hinting that the hack is almost ready for release.

Jailbreaking your iPhone allows you to run unauthorized apps and customize your phone in an assortment of ways. It’s a direct affront to Apple’s heavily locked-down app ecosystem, so the company has made each new hardware and software release more difficult for hackers to jailbreak.

The iPhone 4S jailbreak was created by Dhowett of the hacker collective Chronic Dev Team. Pod2G was also responsible for the untethered iOS 5.0.1 jailbreak for devices other than the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.

We saw the first evidence of a successful iPhone 4S jailbreak back in October, and a tethered hack has been out for some time. Since tethered jailbreaks require you to hack your phone every time it reboots, it’s not something that I’d recommend most users attempt.

Via The Verge

July 9-10, 2013
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A fully functioning port of the iPhone 4S’s hyped Siri voice assistant is now available for almost all jailbroken Apple mobile devices and huzzah, it’s legal!

The somewhat gimmicky Siri assistant has been the focus of the iPhone 4S’s advertising campaign, and the feature is suspected to be helping fuel major sales for that device. But as the program only officially works on the iPhone 4S, other iPhone owners have been wanting to get in on the action. To date, the options have been either illegal or fairly technical in execution.

But now a new hack called Spire allows for almost any jailbroken iPhone or iPad to run the lusted-after Siri. Specifically, it allows Siri to work on a jailbroken iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, third-gen iPod touch, fourth-gen iPod touch and first-gen iPad.

The free Spire app is available to download from the Cydia app store on jailbroken devices and takes about 100MB of space. The jalibreak developers who created it, Chpwn and Ryan Petrich, recommend users connect to a Wi-Fi network when downloading the app.

One issue that had plagued earlier Siri ports was legality and concerns about copyright infringement. But Chpwn writes that the new app uses a different method to obtain data that makes the app legal. He writes:

Spire uses a new method to obtain the files necessary for Siri, so it doesn’t have the copyright issues encountered by previous attempts. Similarly, rather than directing all traffic through a specific proxy server (and the associated privacy issues), Spire allows you to specify your own proxy server.

Will you give the Spire app a spin on your jailbroken iPhone or iPad?

July 9-10, 2013
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Hackers have just taken the wraps off some handy new jailbreaking tools for iOS devices.

The wares will work for any iOS devices running the 5.0.1 version of the operating system and will work for all of Apple’s mobile hardware lineup except the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2.

Thanks to iOS hacker pod2g, whose exploits form the basis of the jailbreak package, non-A5 devices can be jailbroken while untethered.

The fine folks at the Dev-Team Blog put the untethered jailbreak into redsn0w 0.9.10 (available now as a Windows or Mac download) and PwnageTool, and the Chronic Dev Team made a nice little Cydia package for your jailbreaking pleasure.

As previously mentioned, this jailbreak is compatible with most currently available Apple iOS mobile devices, including the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and the original iPad, as well as third-generation and fourth-generation iPod Touch units.

If you’re already running a tethered jailbreak, you can update to the untethered jailbreak via the Corona utility in Cydia.

An untethered jailbreak for A5 chip devices, including the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, is not yet available but is in the works, wrote pod2g just days ago.

“I know that a lot of people are waiting for the A5 jailbreak,” wrote the hacker on his blog. “I need to focus on A5 and hope I can find a path quick.”

July 9-10, 2013
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Apple’s iOS 5 has enough new features that I haven’t really missed jailbreaking my iPhone, but for those who miss tweaking their phone or downloading jailbroken apps, it looks like a completely untethered iOS 5 jailbreak is on the horizon.

The above video, released by iPhone hacker pod2g, demonstrates the untethered jailbreak — so-called because the jailbreak hack is retained even after you reboot your phone. A tethered iOS 5 jailbreak has been out since June, but that’s far more inconvenient than an untethered jailbreak since it requires hacking your phone upon every reboot. A jailbreak for the iPhone 4S was demonstrated in October, but it’s also tethered.

Casual iPhone tweakers, like this reporter, typically wait for untethered jailbreaks because the tethered alternative is far more trouble than it’s worth. This time around I’ve been less anxious to jailbreak my phone since iOS 5 includes many features formerly only available to jailbreakers, like its drop-down notifications interface. One jailbreak developer has even taken issue with how closely Apple’s notifications resemble his own design.

July 9-10, 2013
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The hunt is on for a way to port Apple’s voice assistant Siri to other iPhones beside the iPhone 4S. We’ve been following the development of one such hack over the past few months, but a recent project dubbed H1Siri now claims to be the first to enable Siri’s full suite of features on the iPhone 4.

The only problem? It’s illegal, it could put your data in danger, and it could kill your phone.

The Siri assistant is currently only available on the iPhone 4S. The H1Siri app, available on a custom repository for the Cydia jailbreak app (which is used to find and download jailbroken software), uses Apple-owned files to trick Siri into working on the iPhone 4. In October, we reported that hacker Steven Troughton-Smith was able to get his Siri hack to communicate with Apple’s servers, but he wouldn’t release it to the public because it required distributing Apple’s copyrighted files.

H1Siri’s developers, the Chinese hacking group CD-Dev Team, don’t seem as concerned about those pesky legal issues.

The hack also requires you to send your Siri commands through CD-Dev Team’s proxy servers, which gives the shady group direct access to your contacts, calendar, e-mail, location, and more personal data.

If those red flags weren’t bad enough, reports from multiple early adopters show that H1Siri can cause a variety of problems on your iPhone — including settings malfunctioning, difficulty booting, and even completely killing (bricking) the phone.

I can see why so many desperate consumers are eager to get their Siri on, but this hack doesn’t seem like it’s worth all of the headache. Either hold out for a more functional hack (which may take a while, since those copyrighted files will remain an issue), or save up for an iPhone 4S or next year’s model.

Via iDownloadblog

July 9-10, 2013
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If you’ve got a jailbroken iOS 5-running iPhone or iPad, get ready to unleash some serious majesty: We’re going to show you how to enable panorama mode on your phone’s camera.

While Apple has made jailbreaking difficult with iOS 5, but it can be done.

In addition to a jailbroken iOS 5 device with a built-in gyroscope, you’ll need iFile, a file manager and viewer app.

The device’s camera has a hidden panorama mode that you can enable with FireBreak, a jailbreak tweak specifically for enabling panorama mode.

Both iFile and FireBreak are available from Cydia, a directory of applications for jailbroken devices. iFile will set you back $4, and you’ll find FireBreak in Cydia’s BigBoss repository.

If any of this sounds confusing to you and you’re overwhelmed with anxiety at the thought of hacking on your beautiful, shiny iPad2 or iPhone 4S, just sit tight and wait for Apple to roll out panorama mode for general availability. We don’t yet know if or when that’s going to happen, though.

If you’re still enthusiastic about forging ahead, here’s a video tutorial to walk you through the steps of getting panorama mode up and running and then taking panoramic images with your iOS 5 device:

Your results might be sketchy the first time around, but keep tinkering to get better images out of your device. We’re guessing Apple is holding off on a general release until panoramic images are more consistently high in quality.

[via iDownloadBlog]

Image courtesy of sicoactiva.

July 9-10, 2013
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A member of the infamous iPhone Dev-Team, a group of hackers, has found a way to jailbreak the Apple iPhone 4S for the first time since its release two weeks ago.

Jailbreaking your iPhone opens the door to loading unapproved applications, and to using the phone on additional carriers. Not surprisingly, Apple hates its devices being jailbroken and used in unintended ways, so the company regularly issues operating system updates that make it harder to jailbreak.

MuscleNerd, the lead developer for the iPhone Dev-Team, posted two screenshots on Twitter of a preliminary jailbreak he completed on the 4S. Unfortunately for iPhone 4S owners hoping to break free, the software isn’t ready for a public release. MuscleNerd says there is “lots of work left” and that “huge missing pieces prevent public release.” On YouTube he added: “Lots of hurdles left, no ETAs.”

While this news won’t help you get your iPhone 4S jailbroken today, it does mean the Dev-Team could have something ready in the near future. The Dev-Team generally works quickly to find new hacks for each major Apple product release. Rest assured that we will let you know when the hacker group releases its solution to the public.

Below, you can watch a video of an iPad 2 running iOS 5 that has been jailbroken by MuscleNerd:

July 9-10, 2013
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Just over a week after successfully porting Siri to the iPhone 4, developers have added the popular voice control feature to a jailbroken original iPad.

Siri is arguably the most interesting upgrade in the iPhone 4S. Siri is essentially a voice assistant that fits in your pocket. It allows users to ask it questions (like what’s the weather forecast), lets you update your calendar and email your contacts, and it even finds and recommends things for you to do around the area. However, this great feature is currently only officially available on the iPhone 4S.

As VentureBeat’s Meghan Kelly previously pointed out, Apple has been known to make new features only available for its newest products to make them the most appealing. Anything that doesn’t offcially have Apple’s blessing isn’t going to work very well — even when hackers manage to get around software limitations. Therefore, porting Siri to other devices running iOS 5 doesn’t work perfectly.

Some of the functionality for Siri depends on having your device connect with Apple’s servers. By default, these servers only communicate with devices that can be correctly identified as iPhone 4Ss. And while hackers can trick these servers into thinking a jailbroken iPad is a iPhone 4S, the device still may not gain the full functionality of Siri. As Jailbreak news blog  JailbreakStory points out, Siri’s interface could be used to query Google and a few other services, nothing else.

[Source: Jackoplane via Engadget]

Rumors recently began spreading throughout Indonesia that a USB dongle was being used to play bootleg copies of PlayStation 3 games. We contacted a Sony representative, who replied saying the company is looking into the hack and has no further comment.

Sony, maker of the PlayStation, has seen its fair share of security issues with its popular gaming console and corresponding network. In mid-April 2011, hackers took down the Sony PlayStation Network for a total of six weeks, leaving players angered at Sony’s response time and communication about the security breech. Involved hackers stole private user information including a rumored 10 million credit card numbers. But the jailbreak that “JB2″ follows came even before this attack.

In early April of the same year, a young hacker named George “Geohot” Hotz circumvented the security system and distributed jailbreak software allowing users to play unauthorized games on their PlayStation 3 consoles. Sony found Hotz and entered litigation, which eventually ended up in a settlement. The jailbreak was thought to be a product of hacker collective Anonymous’ inspiration. The group was later also blamed for the Sony PlayStation Network outage, but denied involvement.

The “JB2″ is said to be a USB drive dongle that connects to the PlayStation 3. When the console is rebooted, it takes on the presence of a developer device from which the dongle can insert its code. When the process is complete, unauthorized games can be played on the machine. Games released after the 3.6 PlayStation update, however, cannot be played from the hard drive and must come in the form a bootleg Blu-ray disc, which the machine reads as authorized.

The confirmation of the hack comes from a gaming forum titled, “PS360 Crunch.” According to the post, the dongle will cost $45 with the following games available for immediate play: FIFA 2012, PES 2012, Driver San Francisco, God of War Origins, X-Men Destiny, and Sniper Ghost Warrior. More games are expected as well as instructions on how to create your own discs.

The hack has not yet been officially confirmed by Sony, but a video of the dongle has surfaced.

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July 9-10, 2013
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The notorious iPhone jailbreak hacker Comex has been snapped up by Apple as an intern, he announced on his Twitter account last night.

Comex, who was outed by Forbes as Nicholas Allegra, has gained a reputation as someone who can find obscure security holes in Apple’s iOS software. Last summer, he and his team made jailbreaking the iPhone as simple as visiting the website Jailbreak.me.

“It’s been really, really fun, but it’s also been a while and I’ve been getting bored… So, the week after next I will be starting an internship with Apple,” Comex wrote on Twitter.

According to the Forbes report, Allegra has been looking for an internship since leaving Brown University last year. It’s a smart move by Apple to offer him a job, albeit a lowly internship, since it means he’ll be using his talents to make iOS more secure. And by working for Apple, Allegra likely won’t continue his hacking work.

In June, Apple also hired jailbreak app developer Peter Hajas, developer of MobileNotifier, which fixed the terrible notification system in iOS. Hiring hackers isn’t new in the tech world, but it’s a fairly recent development for Apple, which has usually tried to squash hackers by more traditional means.

Via MacRumors

July 9-10, 2013
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Drink up your free AT&T tethering while you can, jailbreakers. AT&T has got you in its sights.

The carrier confirmed today that it will soon begin killing unlimited-data plans for users who hack their iPhones and use unauthorized tethering or hotspot apps. The new rules also apply to users of Android and other smartphones who hack their way to free tethering access.

“Earlier this year, we began sending letters, emails, and text messages to a small number of smartphone customers who use their devices for tethering but aren’t on our required tethering plan,” the company wrote in its statement to the press. “Our goal here is fairness for all of our customers.”

We reported back in March that AT&T had begun warning unauthorized tethering users that their unlimited plans would be revoked, but today marks the first time the company has declared it’s moving in that direction.

AT&T offered three choices to users in its statement:

1. Stop tethering and keep the current plan (including grandfathered unlimited plans),
2. Contact AT&T and move to the required tethering plan, or
3. Do nothing and AT&T will go ahead and add the tethering plan.

Users who continue to use unauthorized tethering apps will be moved over to AT&T’s DataPro 4 gigabyte tethering plan, which costs $45 a month.

Basically, if you’re a jailbroken-iPhone user and cherish your unlimited AT&T plan — and you should, as truly unlimited plans are a rare thing in the mobile world these days — you should consider giving up on free tethering apps. The company also confirmed last week that it would begin throttling data speeds for heavy unlimited users.

July 9-10, 2013
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Apple sure seems to be finding a lot of inspiration in the jailbreak community.

Only days after one jailbreak developer noted similarities between Apple’s new notifications in iOS 5 and his work in the app MobileNotifier, it looks like Apple has directly lifted the name, logo and functionality of the popular jailbreak app Wi-Fi Sync in its new OS as well, The Register reports.

Developed by UK-based Greg Hughes, Wi-Fi Sync was rejected from the official App Store last year (an Apple representative cited security concerns). The app lets users wirelessly sync their iOS devices with iTunes, something that normally requires plugging into a computer. Hughes went on to offer the app for $9.99 on the Cydia Store for jailbroken iOS devices, where it sold more than 50,000 copies in the last 13 months.

I’ve been using Hughes’ app for some time, and it works exactly as advertised. Apple’s version of Wi-Fi Sync has the added ability of automatically performing a wireless sync whenever an iOS device is connected to a power source, but otherwise it doesn’t appear to differ that much from its jailbroken counterpart.

“Obviously I was fairly shocked,” Hughes told The Register. “I’d been selling my app with that name and icon for at least a year. Apple knew that, as I’d submitted it to them, so it was surprising to see that.”

Hughes said that an iPhone developer relations rep named Steve Rea called him before his app was rejected to say that it was an admirable effort. Rea told Hughes that security concerns kept Apple from approving the app, but he also noted that the iPhone engineering team was impressed by it and asked for Hughes’ CV. That was the last Hughes heard from Apple.

We’ve sent an inquiry into Apple about the Wi-Fi Sync similarities and will update when we hear back.

July 9-10, 2013
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Just one day after Apple announced and released an early version of iOS 5 to developers, hackers have proven that the mobile OS is just as susceptible to exploits as past versions.

One eager beaver has figured out a way to install iOS 5 without the need for an Apple developer account (which costs $99 a year). And a prominent iPhone hacker has confirmed that iOS 5 is easily jailbroken, allowing users to run apps unapproved by Apple and tweak their iPhones in a variety of ways.

The hacks show that security concerns will remain an ever-present problem for Apple in iOS 5, and likely all future versions of the platform.

Apple fan and amateur developer Mert Erdir discovered that he could install the new OS by tricking the operating system’s Voice Over feature, Gizmodo reports. The process (which we won’t replicate here) seems simple for users already familiar with hacking their iOS devices. As with any hack, though, you do run the risk of screwing up your device should something go wrong.

“My will is not to do something harmful to anyone,” Erdir wrote in a statement to Gizmodo. “I just wanted to get the attention of Apple, the company I’m in love with; and maybe one day have a chance to talk to/meet Steve Jobs himself.” He’s currently accepting donations on his blog so that he can get a legitimate developer account.

Meanwhile, “MuscleNerd“, a member of the rogue group of iOS developers known as the iPhone Dev Team, confirmed last night on Twitter that he was able to jailbreak iOS 5. The jailbreak took advantage of the existing limera1n exploit, ReadWriteWeb reports. The existing hack is only for serious iOS tweakers though — it’s a tethered jailbreak, meaning you’ll have to connect your iOS device to a computer every time you want to reboot.

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Much has been written about the slick jailbreak app MobileNotifier, which replaces Apple’s clunky iOS notifications on jailbroken devices. The app was clearly an inspiration for the notification upgrades in iOS 5 Apple announced yesterday — the company even went as far as to hire the developer of MobileNotifier, Peter Hajas.

But Hajas wasn’t the only one behind MobileNotifier. Kyle Adams, a Nashville-based designer, spearheaded the user interface work for the app since late January. So you can imagine his surprise when Apple unveiled its revamped iOS 5 notifications yesterday, which sported quite a few similarities to MobileNotifier.

Adams was “baffled by the uncanny resemblance,” he told VentureBeat yesterday in an interview. Apple’s new drop-down notifications (above) look very similar to Adams’ work on MobileNotifier (right), as does the “Notification Center” that houses all of your collected alerts (comparison below). He also noted that Apple’s use of notifications in the iOS 5 lock screen was “almost identical” to his designs.

Adams was understandably a bit annoyed when the news first hit yesterday. He published a series of tweets pointing out the LOL-worthy similarities between his and Apple’s designs. Adams went on to say that he wasn’t mad at Apple or Peter Hajas, he just wanted to “set the record straight.”

In our interview last night, Adams elaborated on his rush of emotions yesterday: “I’ll admit I was little pissed this afternoon. for a good 5-8 hours,” he wrote. “I’ve talked to a number of people about it though, and I think I’m just at the point where I’m more flattered than anything. I should feel amazing that Apple saw what I did and thought ‘this sells, let’s use that’.”

Many iOS developers likely felt the same yesterday, as some of the new features in iOS 5 step on the toes of established apps and services like Instapaper, Remember the Milk and GroupMe (the New York Times has a great compilation of affected apps).

Adams tells me that he was particularly focused on bringing an Apple aesthetic to MobileNotifier. “I wanted to have a notification that fit right in with the existing look and feel so that it felt completely native. No learning curve, no “what does it do when I do this”… it would “just work” as Steve would say,” he wrote.

It’s worth pointing out that Apple, Hajas and Adams were likely all inspired by the drop down notifications that Android has been sporting for some time. It looks like mobile interfaces will be a repeat of the desktop arena, where Microsoft, Apple and other companies lifted design inspirations from each other without a second thought.

With MobileNotifier’s future now up in the air, Adams tells me that he’s working on bringing his design skills to an iOS instant messaging client. He’s aiming to develop something with the simplicity of Verbs IM app but with the slick aesthetic of TweetBot. Surprisingly, MobileNotifier was Adams’ first try at developing an app interface. With such a strong first showing, he’ll definitely be a designer to look out for in the future.

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Living the dream of many an (unauthorized) app developer, Peter Hajas has been hired by Apple after developing replacement notification software for jailbroken iOS devices, MobileCrunch reports.

Hajas’ MobileNotifier app replaces the annoying pop-up notifications for jailbroken iPhones with unintrusive alerts. It’s the sort of feature that drives many users to jailbreak their iOS devices — now it seems even Apple is taking notice of interesting contributions from jailbreak app developers.

Apple is expected to announce a revamped notification system for iOS 5 at its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, and we can assume Hajas is working on that project. Among his employers on Facebook, Hajas lists Apple and notes he’s been an intern there since May. MobileCrunch notes that Apple generally brings on new developers as interns to test them out.

Last year Apple poached WebOS developer Rich Dellinger, who spearheaded that platform’s gorgeous notification system. There’s been no word on his work since he joined the company, but I suspect we’ll see a similarly pretty and unintrusive notification system come to iOS 5. It’s worth noting that Android has also had an easy-to-use notification system for some time — Apple clearly has some catching up to do.

Check out a demonstration of the latest version of MobileNotifier below.

We’ll be exploring the most disruptive mobile trends at our fourth annual MobileBeat 2011 conference, on July 12-13 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. It will focus on the rise of 4G and how it delivers the promise of true mobile computing. We’re also accepting entries for our mobile startup competition at the show. MobileBeat is co-located with our GamesBeat 2011 conference this year. To register, click on this link. Sponsors can message us at sponsors@venturebeat.com.

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Hackers have fully cracked Apple’s latest iPhone OS update, iOS 4.3.1, with a jailbreak that supports all iOS devices except the iPad 2, Redmond Pie reports.

The jailbreak, which allows users to run apps unapproved by Apple and tweak their iPhones in a variety of ways, proves yet again that hackers will always find a way to crack Apple’s security. It’s also a significant release because it’s the first fully untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.3 — which is hacker-speak for a jailbreak that works even after you reboot the device.

While this particular jailbreak is nowhere near as simple as the first iPhone 4 hack from last year, which merely required that you visit a webpage on your iPhone’s browser, the process still isn’t that difficult. You just need to upgrade your iPhone, iPad 1, or iPod Touch to iOS 4.3.1 using iTunes, apply the Redsnow hack to the update, then restore your phone using the tweaked update.

Performing a jailbreak is easy enough at this point to warrant the effort, since it will allow you to access excellent apps like Notify that offer features Apple doesn’t. In fact, I’ve grown so used to the freedom allowed by jailbreaking that I find it impossible to use my iPhone without hacking it.

According to the Dev-Team blog, the hacker group responsible for a majority of iOS jailbreaks, the untethered exploit comes from Stefan Esser, a Germany-based security researcher.

Image via Gizmodo

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One of the most compelling reasons to jailbreak, or hack, your iPhone, is to run an app called MyWi that lets you share your iPhone’s mobile internet connection without paying a monthly fee to AT&T. But now it looks like the heady days of free tethering are coming to an end.

AT&T is now sending out notification emails to subscribers using MyWi and other unofficial tethering applications, telling them their service plans will be automatically updated to AT&T’s DataPro 4 gigabyte tethering plan ($45 a month) if they continue to use free tethering apps.

AT&T’s letter doesn’t specifically mention the MyWi application, which currently costs $19.99 on the Cydia jailbroken app store, but OSX Daily has confirmed that MyWi users have received the notice.

I’ll admit, I’ve taken advantage of MyWi myself before AT&T started offering official tethering support on the iPhone last year — which required users to connect their iPhones by USB cable to share their connection. Up until this month, MyWi remained a good option, since it allowed iPhone owners to create wireless mobile hotspots to share their web access. With iOS 4.3, which was released last week, iPhone owners on AT&T can finally create mobile hotspots of their own (although notably, with fewer devices than MyWi supports).

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The iPad 2 has been jailbroken already, according to a video posted this evening.

A hacker who goes by the nickname @comex on Twitter claimed tonight to have hacked the security on the iPad 2. By breaking the security — commonly known as “jailbreaking” — the hacker was able to run software on the iPad 2 that is not authorized by Apple. If that exploit code becomes available widely, users will be able to circumvent the iPad 2′s security and run software that isn’t authorized by Apple.

The video shows Cydia 1.1 running on a white iPad 2. (Cydia is a software application for the iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, that allows users to find and download apps for iOS devices.) The hacker added in a tweet, “Would’ve had it yesterday if I didn’t have to spend 15 days looking for a replacement exploit.”

The speed with which the hacker jailbroke the iPad 2 shows that it’s still pretty easy for hackers to stay ahead of those who try to protect tech gadgets from being hacked. Apple has tried to protect its devices, but hackers have jailbroken just about every new iOS device within days of getting their hands on them.

The hack is believed to have taken longer this time because Apple eliminated previous vulnerabilities with the release of iOS 4.3, which came out just ahead of the new iPad 2.

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Devoted Windows smartphone hackers had just one week of blissful operating-system freedom.

That was the length of time that ChevronWP7, the first jailbreak tool to be released for Microsoft’s new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7, was live before being shut down after the developers had a conversation, they say, with the software giant.

Released on November 25, ChevronWP7 was a piece of software designed to allow developers to load apps onto a Windows Phone 7 device without going through the official Windows Marketplace, Microsoft’s version of Apple’s App Store for iPhones. This meant developers could come up with homebrew solutions for it. (ChevronWP7 developers say they weren’t trying to encourage piracy, a common criticism of jailbreaking tools.) Today, on December 1, ChevronWP7 was discontinued, effective immediately.

According to a blog post by developers Rafael Rivera, Chris Walsh, and Long Zheng, Brandon Watson, who is the director of developer experience for Windows Phone 7, contacted them. Apparently Watson and the gang of three talked about the unlocking tool and came to a “mutual understanding” of the developers’ desire to create homebrew opportunities for the developer community and users at large. They also came to an understanding about the need to shut down the unlocking tool at once.

However, Watson seems to have left the door open for an official version of the sideloading app to be developed further. The ChevronWP7 blog post says: “To pursue these goals [creation of homebrew apps] with Microsoft’s support, Brandon Watson has agreed to engage in further discussions with us about officially facilitating homebrew development on WP7.”

So, this is not the cease-and-desist language that one would expect from a giant corporation—even though we don’t know what was the tone of the discussion that led to the mutual understanding. And Microsoft did condemn the Kinect gaming control hack in early November, saying it does not condone the modification of its products. However, this time it seems like Microsoft is willing to let people tinker with their mobile OS, which is a smart move that may actually encourage more developers to jump on the WP7 bandwagon.

[Photo credit: Andrew Morrell Photography]

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The first iPhone operating system (iOS) 4.1 jailbreak has hit the streets. Hacker Geohot’s “Limera1n” exploit lets users hack their phones to install a variety of unofficial apps and tweaks.

The exploit currently supports the iPhone 4, iPhone 3G S, iPod Touch 3rd gen and 4th gen, and the iPad. It only works on official iOS releases at the moment, so don’t expect it to jailbreak any early beta software. Limera1n is Windows-only at the moment, but Geohot says that a Mac version is on the way. He stresses that the exploit is still a beta release, which means rough edges may get smoothed over with future releases.

We reported in September that the iPhone Dev Team, a rival hacker group, had come across an exploit for iOS 4.1 (dubbed “Shatter”) that targets a low-level portion of the OS, which makes it impossible for Apple to patch the exploit with a simple software upgrade. That means all existing iOS devices will be able to rely on their exploit forever, and Apple won’t be able to fix the security hole until it rolls out new hardware. But that group hasn’t released its exploit to the general public, making Geohot the first to make a jailbreak publicly available.

It’s unclear if Limera1n is taking advantage of the same security hole as the iPhone Dev Team, although Geohot says that his exploit is similarly “unpatchable” by Apple. (It can also technically jailbreak the Apple TV, like the iPhone Dev Team’s exploit.)  By releasing his exploit first, Geohot has thrown down the gauntlet to the iPhone hacking community — potentially forcing other groups to finalize their own exploits soon. The iPhone Dev team is currently recommending that users wait for its Shatter exploit to be released, Engadget reports.

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Hackers almost immediately try to jailbreak Apple’s software whenever there’s a new release so that they can run unauthorized software on the phones. The hack was first announced by a hacker named pod2g who is part of a group called the iPhone Dev-Team. Other hackers confirmed the jailbreak. The exploit targets a low-level part of the operating system and may mean that Apple won’t be able to stop the jailbreakers without a lot of hardware changes.

Previous jailbreaks were plugged pretty quickly, as Apple released patches for its software. Jailbreaking the iPhone is now legal, thanks to a decision by the U.S. Copyright Office in response to an appeal from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

More than a million iPhone owners are said to have jailbroken their phones so they can get apps from sources other than Apple’s iTunes App Store, or change wireless providers. Copyright law says that if you pay for something, you have the right to use it as you wish as long it is not for commercial benefit.

The iPhone Dev-Team previously took credit for jailbreaking the iPhone 4.0 software in August. Jailbreaking will still void your Apple warranty, so take note if you’re planning on finding jailbreaking software.