iPhone hacker says the device 'calls home' to Apple

[dmiller68]

iPhone hacker says the device 'calls home' to Apple, allows apps to be remotely disabled

According to iPhone Atlas and iPhone hacker-extraordinaire Jonathan Zdziarski, Apple has readied a blacklisting system which allows the company to remotely disable applications on your device. Apparently, the new 2.x firmware contains a URL which points to a page containing a list of "unauthorized" apps -- a move which suggests that the device makes occasional contact with Apple's servers to see if anything is amiss on your phone. In Jonathan's words:

"This suggests that the iPhone calls home once in a while to find out what applications it should turn off. At the moment, no apps have been blacklisted, but by all appearances, this has been added to disable applications that the user has already downloaded and paid for, if Apple so chooses to shut them down.

I discovered this doing a forensic examination of an iPhone 3G. It appears to be tucked away in a configuration file deep inside CoreLocation."

Now honestly, we don't expect the folks in Cupertino to suddenly start turning off apps that you've paid for and downloaded, but if Apple is indeed monitoring iPhones or touches (even passively) for applications it doesn't want or like, it signals a problem deeper than a company simply wanting to sign-off on software for the device. Even on platforms like Symbian -- which require apps to be signed -- the suggestion that a process of the OS would actively monitor, report on, and possibly deactivate your device's software is unreasonable, and clearly presents an issue that the company will have to deal with sooner or later. Oh, and Apple -- we're not going to buy the "for your security" angle, so don't even bother.

iPhone hacker says the device 'calls home' to Apple, allows apps to be remotely disabled - Engadget

[KEEZY]

Muy interesante! Maybe this is another way of stopping custom apps that could somehow be installed?

[MadBryan]

Just a way to keep the phones running well if a dud slips through.

[Serren]

It could be Keezy. I bet Sprint wishes they could do this to me. There are sites where people have figurd out how to rip programs off of Sprint phones, and then share them for free. I have been using TeleNav Navigator for many years for free. It is a turn-by-turn driving gps program that works really good. It costs $10 a month to use this program if you acquire it legally.

I also have a ton of games that I installed from these sites. The best is Trivial Pursuit. It is just like the board game, and make travel really fun.

So I can see Apple putting sniffing software into the phone to make sure users "own" all of the programs on the device.

[dmiller68]

Honestly it could be for several reason some good some bad... I'm guessing it was originally put in place so that they can report cool numbers. Tracking use, etc is very powerful. Then there are the bad reasons like being able to deinstall apps, track your phone if you crack it...

[Wondermonkey]

I'd only be concerned if my phone would call Peench sporadically. I don't want to talk to that dick ever.

If you don't think every cell phone company and government agency isn't already tracking you, you haven't been paying attention.

I use the words "Anthrax," "Patriot" and "BrewCity" at least once in every conversation just to make sure they know where I am at all times. At least if I get lost I can call them for directions that way.

[KEEZY]

It's like On-Star for your phone. Only the authorities they send disappear you and offer your kids sports cars and millions of dollars to plant evidence on you. By then, you end up killing yourself.

I'm glad there is awareness of this though. People give MS shit for dialing home. Here here for dialing Wendy!

[Serren]

I guess it will depend on how or what Apple does with this "feature".

If Sprint started removing my hacked programs, I think I would be really pissed. Of course for Apple, it all goes back to iTunes contolling everything on a stock iphone. They must be scared shitless of people figuring out ways to bypass itunes as a software shop. For sprint phones, its just a matter of finding the .jar file. If people could swap iphone apps that easy, itunes would be cut out of the loop, costing Apple billions.

[MadBryan]

Amazon is nipping at itunes heels for sure.

[Wondermonkey]

It's all true!