iPhone App Blog

Well, it was only a matter of time before the folks at the iPhone Dev Wiki developed a free and open source iPhone unlock. With iPhoneSIMFree retailers selling their software unlock for up to $90 it was a practical as well as challenging goal for hackers to unlock the thing for free. It’s just the way it should be.

The minute iPhoneSIMFree started selling their software unlocks I knew the hacker community would be on it like white on rice. I, for one, don’t think it’s right to sell the unlocking software for a fourth of what the device actually costs, if at all. The iPhone should have been born free, as free as the wind blows, as free as the grass grows in the first place.

Anyway, the unlock is a little tricky at this point and requires jailbreaking the device as well as using some command line finagling. Good news is that the folks at iPhone Dev Wiki haven’t given up and are in the process of developing a one-click GUI version. Right now Gizmodo is hosting mirrors of the software because the Wiki is completely deluged.

Of course this doesn’t mean that the unlock won’t be fixed in Apple’s next firmware update. Even though Apple’s marketing guru Greg Joswiak said that Apple will remain neutral in regards to hacking and native third-party applications, they do not support third party hacks and unlocking efforts. So, as always, hack with caution.

Last week’s announcement of teenage hacker George Hotz’s successful iPhone unlocking has generated a deluge of programmers promising easy unlocking software. Most notably iPhoneSIMfree had promised iPhone users a simple unlocking tool that would take only “2 minutes” to render the gadget usable on non-AT&T networks. iPhoneSIMfree even went so far as to demonstrate their hack for CNN.

After weeks of promising the hack will be on sale “next week” or “in 48 to 72 hours” iPhoneSIMfree has started selling bulk orders of the unlock. The bulk orders run from 50 licenses for $36 each to 5,000 licenses for $25 each. The hackers at iPhoneSIMfree are most likely trying to cover their collective butts due to the questionable legality of the product they’re selling.

So instead of just putting their butts on the line they ask you to become sort-of partners in their reselling scheme. This is mainly because, according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, unlocking a phone is protected, but distributors of unlocking software are not. iPhoneSIMfree switching from retailer to wholesaler also opens up opportunities for folks to sell unlocked iPhones for insane prices.

Many iPhone users are rightfully sceptical of iPhoneSIMfree’s unlocking software. They offer no guarantee that the software will work once new firmware updates are launched, and there’s the questionable legality of the whole thing. While most folks agree that Apple probably doesn’t mind the hackers, AT&T is all up in arms about it. So if you’re chomping at the bit to get your iPhone unlocked, I’d wait until the guys at the iPhone Dev Wiki or some other hackers make a free, open-source version.

For more information check out the relevant articles at iTWire and ars technica. There’s also a heady discussion going on in the comments section over at Engadget’s article.

If you want to get super cool sweet third party apps on your iPhone, but lack the skillz to hack it then you’re in luck! Installer.app is a new UIKit based package manager for the iPhone that is super easy to download and use. It features a simple one line command download scheme that makes it easy for even the most technologically inept iPhone user to hack the phone.

The single command installer automates not only the Installer.app installation, but jailbreaking your iPhone as well. Right now the software is in its beta stages and isn’t backed up by any warranty or guarantee, but has been getting decent reviews. Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz did a full step-by-step install for Mac OS X users complete with very nerdy joke picture at the top of the article.

Another good package managment tool for the iPhone is pxl. If you have a little more technical skill/courage pxl is a fairly easy and well recieved hack to get third party apps on your iPhone. To get pxl going on your phone you’ll have to jailbreak it yourself; a daunting task for non-hackers. Fortunately iPhone Central has a very long and detailed jailbreak how-to.

The breaking news today is that the folks over at the Bladox forums are reporting that they’ve completely unlocked the iPhone. By using a Turbo SIM card (available from Bladox) you can remotely encrypt your iPhone to accept any carrier’s SIM card. Testers are reporting this method allows you full calling, texting, and SMS/GPRS data capabilities.

Unlike other unlocking methods floating around this method requires no extra hardware like card readers and doesn’t rely on your SIM card version. Unlocking the iPhone through this method requires some hacking skills, but the instructions are pretty straightforward and easy to follow. First, though, your iPhone must have been activated through official or unofficial means.

You should probably also make sure that your mobile carrier doesn’t know what you’re doing. AT&T’s exclusivity agreement with Apple could make some trouble for you and your mobile carrier if any higher ups found out about it. So, you know, keep it on the downlow if you’re going to be trying this.

The Turbo SIM card costs about $80 and is available from Bladox. If you don’t want to wade through the 15 plus page forum topic on their forums, My iTablet has a condensed version of the basic instructions. Of course if you run into troubles, you’re probably going to want to visit their forums for specific help.

If you’re the kind of person who likes to stand back and see if someone is going to crash and burn before you take your turn the folks at Gizmodo have volunteered to be an iPhone hacking guinea pig. I for one am pretty excited to see where this leads and whether or not Apple will care.

Well, it looks like iPhone hackers are finally doing something useful with their time. “Have they unlocked the iPhone?” you ask. Goodness no; they’ve created an iPhone NES emulator. Now you can play your favorite NES classics right on your (hacked) iPhone.

The first stage of this app was floating around a few days ago. Created by stepwhite, the first gen iPhone NES emulator was way too slow to be played properly and there were some control issues. As stepwhite noted on Google Code, “using an image of an actual controller, while cute, sucks.”

Fortunately, hackers extraordinaire NerveGas and Nightwatch have created an optimized version of the original NES emulator. According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog the new version is “blazing fast” and has multi-touch support. So now the controller is cute and functional? Awesome.

Some of the games included in the emulator are Super Mario Bros 1 and 3, Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Punch Out, Mega Man 2, and lots more. The good thing about NES emulators is that you get to play some of the best console games without paying for the actual cartridges (some which cost quite a lot) or dealing with the often-finicky 20 year old NES console.

Of course you can only get this super fun and time wasting app if you’ve hacked your iPhone. The current version has no sound, but at least it’s fast enough to actually play. I don’t know if there’s any save feature, but then again most original NES games didn’t either. If it doesn’t, longer games like Final Fantasy will be a little long to play all in one go.

So if you’ve already hacked your iPhone or aren’t afraid of voiding your warranty for the sake of classic gaming this hack is for you.

There’s been a lot of talk going around about possible security flaws on the iPhone. That zombie botnet, browser dialing concerns, and other security issues have buzzed around the iPhone since its release. The main concern with iPhone’s security is that it is basically a computer that holds all the personal information of a cell phone without many of the security features of a computer.

The guys over at Independent Security Evaluators have thoroughly exploited this.

Independent Security Evaluators is basically a hacking company. Not a malicious hacking company by any means, but a hacking company. You hire them and they rip your software or hardware or new technology a new one by finding all the security flaws inherent in the system. They did this to the iPhone for fun.

Good thing, too, because they have informed Apple of the iPhone’s security issues that allowed them to pretty much break into and control iPhones that become compromised. They designed a toolchain embedded in a malicious website that would give an attacker access to SMS messages, contact lists, call histories, and voicemail data stored on the iPhone.

There are many points of attack. Links sent through e-mail or SMS messages may re-direct to the malicious website as could a misconfigured forum link. Perhaps the most deceptive way would be through an attacker controlled wireless access point. The iPhone learns access points by name so if an attacker copied the name and encryption code of an already trusted access point they could replace any page browsed with a malicious webpage.

Another exploit developed by ISE allows an attacker to actually control the iPhone. In their tests they made the iPhone “vibrate for a second.” Using this same hack it would be possible to make calls, get passwords, and even record calls turning the iPhone into a portable bugging device.

This is possible because the iPhone’s version of Safari recognizes the arbitrary code with administrative privileges. All of iPhone’s main programs have administrative privilege so once you have broken in you have access to everything.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to hide your iPhone in a drawer and not touch it until Apple issues a patch to fix it. Just use the same security steps you would on your laptop or other computer. Only visit sites you trust, only use wi-fi networks you trust, and don’t open links from e-mails or SMS messages.

For more info on this exploit check out this New York Times article.

Ever since the iPhone came out there have been hackers and hacker communities writing code to open the iPhone. There have already been many hacks that allow iPhone users to make custom ringtones, use pay-as-you-go SIM cards, and even activate the iPhone without an AT&Tcontract. Of course most, if not all, of the sites that offer these hacks have a very large disclaimer that doing any of this could brick your iPhone, void the warranty, or even get the law after you.

However, today there was a big step in the process of hackers opening the iPhone up to third party downloadable apps. The folks over at the iPhone Dev Wiki have finally started to make inroads in opening up the iPhone. A hacker named Nightwatch has apparently sequestered himself for weeks working on his special project; the first independent “Hello, World” application for the iPhone.

The iPhone Dev Wiki’s front page sums it up pretty nicely:

After many, many hours of intense work from “Nightwatch”, the first independent “Hello World”* application has been compiled and launched on the iPhone. This was made possible using the “ARM/Mach-O Toolchain“, Nightwatch’s “special project”, that he has been working on so carefully over the past few weeks. Certain parts of the toolchain (such as the assembler) are being refined and tested and these will be released as soon as possible.

It should be noted that Nightwatch has been instrumental in creating these tools, working in near isolation to get them finished.

The folks at the iPhone Dev Wiki has asked that people don’t link to their website because of the last time the URL was linked on a site (digg) the wiki had problems (it crashed). But a quick search on, say, Google should hook you up.

Anyway, this simple little hack is pretty exciting for those looking to download third party apps onto their iPhone. From here it’s not out of the question to start seeing full third party applications in the near future. For more info on iPhone hacks and the “Hello World” hack check out Hack The iPhone or this article from The Unofficial Apple Weblog.