Apple cripples iBooks for jailbreakers – Updated

**** Updated 1/15/12 **** Most of you are coming into this post with the latest 5.0.1 jailbreak because it broke your iBooks app just like the 4.2.1 jailbreak in 2011. Thankfully, there’s a fix for you too. Just today, @saurik put out an update to Corona in Cydia. Version 1.0-4 is the latest edition of Corona and it’s supposed to fix your iBooks issues. Try that and you should be good to go. I just recently updated my iPhone to 4.2.1 thanks to the greenpois0n jailbreak. Yes, I jailbreak… and I’m proud of it. There are many benefits to jailbreaking your iPhone like SBSettings, Activator, Infinifolders, etc. The real reason I jailbreak: because I can. I wouldn’t consider myself a rebel but I do like having the opportunity to install whatever I’d like onto my iPhone. Jailbreaking has received negative feedback from Apple since it gained popularity in 2007. They claim it voids the device’s warranty but anyone can easily restore the device to factory state via iTunes. Up until this point, the game has always been cat and mouse. Hackers exploit code, Apple fixes said code. Today marks a new realization for me as a jailbreaker: Apple deliberately crippled [...]

Jailbreak your iOS device with greenpois0n

Sure, jailbreaks have been around for a long time now, but there hasn’t been a good, untethered jailbreak for the current iOS software until Chronic Dev released their updated greenpois0n tool last week. This Jailbreak even works with the newly released 4.2.6 Verizon iPhones. We’ve had the opportunity to put it through the paces and we liked it. Please remember, this is for jailbreaking only. Chronic Dev suggests using TinyUmbrella to preserve your baseband before you update but we’re not covering that process today. Even still, the current version of greenposi0n does not “hacktivate” the device; you’ll need to run redsn0w after greenpois0n if you’re trying to unlock your device. There still isn’t a good unlocking solution for 4.2.1 modem firmware 03.10.01. We’ll probably have to wait until 4.3 comes out… or maybe longer before we see a current, unlockable baseband. There are still plenty of reasons to jailbreak even if you’re not interested in unlocking your device. We’ll cover those in another post later. This jailbreak is only compatible with devices that can multi-task but here’s a list: iPhone 3GS iPhone 4 iPhone 4 Verizon iPad 1st Generation iPod touch 2nd Generation iPod touch 3rd Generation iPod touch 4th Generation So, [...]

Dev Team releases a new and improved Pwnage Tool

The new Pwnage Tool came out this morning right before Apple’s Live event. Obviously, we didn’t have time to cover it… and we won’t be able to cover it fully until we jailbreak our iPhone 4 and Apple TV here at the office. But, we’ll go ahead and get you the pertinent information so you know what you’re getting into. In addition to the slew of already existing iOS devices, the Apple TV is now hackable via the Jailbreak from Pwnage Tool. At this point, it’s not a feature-rich jailbreak. There’s only some command line interaction, but other things will most certainly come soon. This will open up the doors to us running third-party unofficial software that could play Hulu, maybe packages for the individual network streams, so on and so forth. We’ll always count on the Dev Team to be there and do exactly what we’re hoping Apple would do. We’ll probably see an official App Store for the Apple TV soon, but not soon enough. Thanks, Dev Team! All of the other obligatory information: don’t mess with this stuff unless you know what you’re doing. The Dev Team tries their best to make it so easy that anyone [...]

JailbreakMe is now available

One of our favorite iPhone Hackers, comex, has released a brand new jailbreak for devices running iOS4. It works with every iOS4 device and will even jailbreak 4.0.1. We find ourselves amused when we remember geohot’s blackra1n jailbreak for 3.1.2 in November… he specifically asked us to donate if we thought it was the easiest jailbreak ever. It was never the easiest jailbreak ever but it was the easiest solution of the day. We now have officially experienced the easiest jailbreak ever: jailbreakme.com (version 2). This new jailbreak utilizes what’s known as “userland” jailbreak — back from the days of the 1st iPhone OS — it is the easiest solution to any jailbreak. A userland jailbreak exploits code from the “user” side of the device’s software. There’s also the kernel side: this is how we’ve been jailbreaking devices for a long time and it required the tethered jailbreaks of blackra1n, pwnage tool or redsn0w. That brings us to explanation number two: it is done directly from your iOS device’s browser… there’s no software to install on your computer and no strings (cables) attached. Do you need to jailbreak? No… but it has some great benefits. With a jailbroken device you [...]

Library of Congress says Jailbreak/Unlock is legal

For once in my life, I like the government. The LoC has determined that jailbreaking or unlocking your mobile device is completely legal. There’s not much more to say than that. Ever since the first iPhone jailbreak appeared, legality was a question in everyone’s mind. You own the device, shouldn’t you be able to modify it in any way you see fit? The LoC thinks so. The biggest part of this ruling is the potential that Apple will need to extend their warranties to the unlocked/jailbroken community. If there is no longer a gray area, there’s no longer any reason that Apple should deny those users service. Obviously, there is a large debate coming that will hopefully allow us to use our phones as they were initially intended. Apple’s biggest fear is that we, the users, will completely mess up our phones with jailbreaking software. In the time I’ve known the Dev-Team, I’ve realized they’re out for the best. None of them would ever release software that deliberately bricked our devices. They’ve always taken their time in developing the best software and only released when they were comfortable deploying it to thousands of devices. There’s always risk… there’s risk in [...]

Userland jailbreak “Spirit” coming soon to your iPhad touch

Just for clarification: by “iPhad touch” we mean your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Spirit is an untethered jailbreak solution that will allow you to jailbreak (Not Unlock) your iPhad touch on the latest firmware without having to mess with software like Pwnage Tool, Blackra1n, Redsn0w or any of the other jailbreak solutions available. There is NOT a specific release date, but the developer has been waiting for the release of the iPad 3G… so we can expect it soon. In other words, within a few days. Spirit works by exploiting an unreleased vulnerability in the default iPhone OS. It uses that vulnerability as an injection point for the jailbreak and, once completed, will allow you access to all of the typical jailbreak software. It will only be compatible with 3.1.2, 3.1.3 and the iPad’s 3.2. Once the vulnerability is exposed, we’re certain that Apple will do whatever it takes to close the hole because it has unlimited malicious potential. Anyone with a nefarious know-how will be able to use the vulnerability to run their favorite exploits on your iPhad touch. We give and we take. We take whatever jailbreaks we can get but they often expose holes in the [...]

Untethered Jailbreak announced by George Hotz

George Hotz, better known as GoeHot in the iPhone community, has announced the ever-coveted “untethered jailbreak” for the iPhone, iPod touch and potentially… the iPad. What does “untethered” mean? We’re glad you asked, because this is an important day in iPhone hacking history. Jailbreaking has historically been done by hacking the iPhone OS with a computer application — ZiPhone, Pwnage Tool, Redsn0w, QuickPwn, Blackra1n — they’ve all required the use of a computer to jailbreak your device. In the early days, users were actually able to do it through a website, but those security flaws were patched long ago by ‘the powers that be’ at Apple. Anyways, GoeHot’s new jailbreak is done directly from the device and eliminates the need for a computer. It doesn’t appear to need the complicated steps of entering DFU mode, and it doesn’t show his pretty little face during the jailbreak. :D This will practically put all of the unlockers in the audience out of business… assuming there’s an unlock available after the jailbreak. It’s common practice for knowledgeable people to unlock iPhones (for a fee) for the less tech-saavy… take a look at the video below, it seems pretty simple to us. Here’s the [...]

Apple’s dictatorship has lasted long enough

By now, almost everyone is familiar with the fact that Apple “allows” us certain privileges with the iPhone OS. Be warned: this is an editorial piece that will most likely anger some and affirm others. Apple has become drunk with power… so drunk, in fact, that they honestly believe their users will put up with anything they do. What will it take for all of the Apple fanboys to get pissed off, or are we forever pathetically committed to a company that thinks it can control our every move? I’m surprised that we haven’t hit the point of revolution already. Take for example this past week’s removal of boob apps from the App Store: the totals for app removal are well over 5,000 at this point. Anything that references boobs, or has any sort of “sexual” content within the app has been removed from the store. Apple essentially decided to remove anything that could possibly turn us on. How can they really determine what turns us on? Even after this removal, we can still find applications with half naked men washing cars — this definitely doesn’t turn us on but could still be considered offensive material in some circles. They [...]

iPhone firmware updated to 3.1.3

Apple let loose the 3.1.3 firmware update this morning. Here’s what it includes: Improved accuracy of reported battery levels on the iPhone 3GS. Fixed an issue with some third-party applications that wouldn’t launch. Fixed a bug that caused some applications to crash when using the Japanese Kana keyboard. If you are running Apple’s unmodified iPhone OS, then feel free to press the update button. The iPhone Dev-Team is strongly encouraging people who are Jailbroken and Unlocked to stay away from this update until they have had time to work with it. So far, some anxious Dev-Team followers are reporting that redsn0w 0.9.2 still works by using the 3.1.2 firmware with the iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G and the iPod touch 1G. If you have an iPhone 3GS or a 2nd generation iPod touch… don’t mess with this; it will only cause you pain and frustration. A general rule of thumb for the Jailbreakers in the audience: always check with CTA or the Dev-Team before updating your firmware. At this point, the Dev-Team is unsure of what this means for the Unlockers out there. New firmware typically means modem updates, thus more work for the Dev-Team (or in some instances Geohot) and [...]

CTA Presents: The State of the Jailbreak Address

We follow the Jailbreak/Unlock scene very closely here at CTA… not because our iPhones are necessarily running on T-Mobile (we want 3G not EDGE) but because we don’t want to be restricted in the Applications we install on our Apple mobile devices. Unfortunately for us and for you, there hasn’t been any new iPhone unlocking news for nearly three months. This is partially due to the fact that Apple hasn’t released new firmware in that amount of time… one of the longest periods we’ve seen so far. In the remainder of this post, we’ll cover the Cydia Store, the Rock Your Phone app store, the Dev-Team, Geohot, the redsn0w 0.9.2 released just hours ago, and how Jailbreaking could affect the iPad. Check back soon for The Ultimate 2010 Jailbreak Guide brought to you by Cocoa Touch Apps. Saurik (Jay Freeman) has been doing everything possible to make time for his Cydia Store in order to keep it attractive to the Jailbreakers out there. We’re seeing things from Cydia that we never expected and have to give him a tremendous amount of thanks. He’s also devoting some of his efforts to the WebOS (Palm) and Android (Google). For those who don’t [...]