GreenPois0n 4.1 Jailbreak: iPhone Piracy Concerns

by Alan Ng October 4, 2010, 17:05 54 Comments

For those of you waiting for the inevitable release of the iOS 4.1 jailbreak tool GreenPois0n, we have an interesting article for you to read, which discusses another inevitable prospect after installing the jailbreak – piracy.

You may think that discussion of piracy in relation to jailbreaking is pretty ironic, since people still widely criticize those who opt for the now-legal jailbreak approach, but what about for those people who plan to install cracked apps from the App Store on their iPhone or iPod Touch?

We have recently heard via Twitter that the Chronic Dev-Team will not have the ability to block piracy on jailbroken devices, even if they would like to stop it. This means that when GreenPois0n is finally available, users are free to do whatever they like on the device.

This article by AppAdvice points out that applications such as ‘Installous’ allow users to install cracked apps on jailbroken devices, which will no doubt send an instant message to Apple that this kind of behaviour is happening on their precious App Store. It is interesting that they haven’t chosen to speak out once yet, on the SHAtter exploit and GreenPois0n jailbreak tool, but we have a feeling they might if the number of users downloading cracked apps increases.

The article over at AppAdvice also mentions how easy it would be for developers to unblock Installous and other similar applications, if such a situation arose after the release of GreenPois0n.

What are your thoughts on this? For those of you who actively support the jailbreak scene, do you think it is acceptable to use cracked apps from the App Store?

Written by Alan Ng

Alan has been working for Product-Reviews since 2009 and became the Editor-in-chief in 2014. He has a passion for technology, the latest mobile phones and gadgets, and the gaming industry. Alan is a graduate of Canterbury Christ Church University and completed a B.A in Commercial Music in 2008. While expressing a keen interest in all areas that PR cover, you'll usually find Alan in the gaming section, where he'll be keeping enthusiasts up to date on all the latest news and reviews for consoles and PC.

Contact Alan Ng: alan@product-reviews.net

Guest
if i were the CDT i would just worry about getting the F**ken jailbreak done, if making it partially jailbroken takes more time, i say Screw it. if it shortens the time, which i highly doubt it, by all means go for it. im Fed up waiting on these slackers. i have a useless iphone 4 sitting in my room that i cant activate cuz its on a different Carrier. geezus
Beatdowncity
All of you who deem it nobody’s “right” to decide what we
Do with our devices are obviously the true
Definition of bliss. Obviously apple has the right
As they’re the ones giving us the service .
I’m all for jailbreaking and I know it “wrong”
But I like having full use of my toy. Yes fuck apple
But Comeon . If apple is done, jailbreaking
Dies too
Felipe
If does Apple realy care about piracy, why they still don´t sell all apps for all countries? I´m from Brasil, and I can´t buy a lot of apps just because they are not distributed to Brasil, just USA, Canada, few countries in Europe… I´m trying to buy Need for Speed but appstore allways returns: "Your request could not be completed". Why? I have all NFS for PC and PS3, all originals, all for sell on Brazilians' stores, but i still can´t have NFS for my iPad 3.2.2!!!
Steve
Apple should keep making cool idevices and leave the apps business to the developers. Fucking Apple wants to take a bite out of everything.
Anon
Just one point, which is that Installous is useful for things other than piracy. I’ve used it to install earlier versions of apps when the latest version added bugs or changed things I didn’t like (this was the reason I discovered the program in the first place).
But this is all a bit silly. Or are you seriously suggesting that the threat of piracy justifies removing the freedom of all users? I’m a little scared if so …
Fadi
For the Person who is Talking about the kill button from Apple this is totaly Fake if there is something like that apple should refund my Device gimme my Money back , i didnt Pay 1200 euros for a Device gonna Be Blocker from Apple i paid this Money so i can do whatever i Want with my device . Iam Not saying this to encourage piracy i hate piracy myself
Scott
The problem is that apps are not refundable on the app store…in addiiton, most apps do not offer a trial or free version. So if you pay $4.99 for an app, and it's absolutely horrible or doesn't do what you thought it would, you're stuck with it. They should offer a free and/or trial version with limited functionality for EVERY APP.
bugamuga
This is damn lame. Jailbreaking DOES NOT equal privacy. Whoever wrote this article has a one track agenda to ruin the whole jailbreaking scene.
You are removing yourself from restrictions set by Apple, who seem to limit a ton of excellent functionality that is A MUST. Here's the examples: 12 Icons on folder? Well, apply the jailbreak and fix the issue to have more flexibility. Need to tether your 3G connection to your laptop because there is no WIFI available in the area? Jailbreak is the solution. Do you know how useful this feature is for a business person like me, where i have to take my laptop to clients and present to them my live inventory?
It is YOUR DEVICE NOW. Apple can go f itself. I payed good money to them already so what's with them talking about jailbreak being an issue. It's the same thing as the law that says possession of guns is fine. Your mentality is making it seem as though everyone will go out and purchase a bloody gun and go GTA on each other.
Ratman
Here is something for you: what do you think about cracked cydia apps?
Sbrotator costs a few bucks if I remember correctly, but there are plenty of cracked versions available. Many themes, tweaks and all sorts of stuff on cydia is now demanding payment, although there are many sources allowing these to be purchased for free.
Should that be allowed, seeing as the act of getting cracked apps that were intended on being downloaded from the app store is frowned upon? Is cydia any different?
lisa penny
fuck apple there over priced on there mac's n phones n tv's n apps plus most of there apps are fucking shit n they dont do anything like single boost tht was shit n a rip off.
we payed lots of money for are iphones n mac's n apple tv it should be up to us what we do with it not apple BUT US u maked it but we payed for it so tht means its ares now not urs.
LET THE PPL DO WHATEVER THEY WANT WITH THERE PHONES
n as for ppl on saying saying its bad n tht downloading apps for free fuck u ur only saying tht cuz u work for apple.
Jamerican
All the self-righteous, independently wealthy people (sarcasm) "cracking" on cracked apps need to keep things in perspective. Apple with its arcane rule of not allowing refunds pushes many people to resort to using cracked apps. Each time there is a major software update the functionality of most if not all apps are compromised. Not all developers bother to update meaning folks often end up with purchases that are unusable after licensing for only a short time. I was burned twice by this fact, first at a cost of a GPS app ($33) which I owned for only 3 months but is no longer available for download from the App Store and even if it was, would surely not be functional. Second is an App $139 to access my security system at home remotely. The developer has not updated since iOS 3.0 meaning its unusable. In both these cases apple has refused to give me a refund. Subsequently, I have made a decision that as long as there are cracked apps available I will be installing on my Jailbroken iPhone. By the way, the same thing happens in Cydia, bought Pogoplank however, it is "planked" and unseable. Yeah it's only $2 but still…..
bicep100
Wanna know one SOME HUGE reasonS why Apple is against the "JAILBREAK"???
1. ATT>JAILBROKE Iphones can TETHER ON AN ALREADY OVER BURDENED DATA NETWORK AND CAN YOU IMAGINE A MILLION ATT USERS USING FACETIME OVER 3G??? INSTANT CRASH..
2. ATT>i CAN PERSONALLY PROMISE YOU ATT HAS HELPED IPOD SALES BY PUTTING AN IPOD TOUCH (IPHONE) IN A BAZILLION HANDS. AND APPLE KNOWS THIS, SO APPLE WILL JUMP THROUGH HOOPS FOR ATT. ATT HAS CREATED A NEVER SEEN BEFORE INTEREST IN THE IPOD TOUCH AND IPHONE.
APPLE PROBABLY DONT GIVE A POO ABOUT JAILBREAKING. WHY? TRUST ME, THERE IS NOT THAT MANY APPS ON CYDIA/ROCK. BUT…..MY3G AND MYWI, THE 2 MOST DANGEROUS AND I MEAN DANGEROUS APPS TO ATT. MY3G REMOVES THE 20MB DOWNLOAD CAP ON YOUR IPHONE, ALLOWING THE USER TO DOWNLOAD APPS FROM ITUNES THAT ARE 100, 200 OR EVEN 300 MEGS! MYWI, ALLOWS YOU TO TETHER ANY WIFI DEVICE TO YOUR IPHONE. THIS IS PROBABLY WHY ATT BECAME SUPER AGGRESSIVE, NOW OFFERING A DISMAL 2GB DATA PLAN FOR $25. A GREAT DETERRENT TO THOSE THAT MAY BE "TEMPTED" TO JAILBREAK AND TETHER.
William
Apps should not be free. And the Chronic Dev Team is the real deal. Keep doing your thing. Some of us really appreciate someone looking out for the little guy.
Wayne
Insanity…. Jailbreaks rock. I can’t imagine driving half of my car. Or buying a computer and Microsoft telling me I can’t run certain programs. I remember the days when Microsoft was the big bad wolf and apple was the free thinking rebel. Funny how things have come full circle. The hip free thinking party gains control and becomes worse than their archenemy they set out to compete against.
Waddy
errm when you try to add the source that allows you to download installous off Cydia it quite clearly tells you that that source has been associated with piracy and advises against downloading it.
bill
my thoughts are for you to keep your mouth shut about installous cuz not many people know about it. you're giving it publicity which of course is going to increase the rate of people using it. so STFU because i'm broke as hell. i'm in college and can't afford apps here and apps there. you're probably not even an app developer so wtf do you care? it's not like the people that makes these apps can make a living off them even if piracy wasn't around. all it does is give them pocket money to eat and i'm sorry if i can't buy apps because i have to feed myself.
Waddy
errm when you try to add the source that allows you to download installous off Cydia it quite clearly tells you that that source has been associated with piracy and advises against downloading it.
Why are people condoning the developers of the jailbreak they know it is wrong and are clearly trying to stop it.
Dude
So now the chronic dev team wants to join apple and only partially jailbreak the phone….isn’t the point of the whole thing to have freedom over the apple iPhone….I think it’s B.S. this shouldnt be a super source of income for anyone anyways…get a f’in job and quit crying if you loose a few buck from installous!!! People will always go for free stuff no matter what….and I love how all you goodie 2 shoes act like pirateing is so bad but I’m sure everyone has done it whether it be a movie or an app or a developing program or that $200 Photoshop program you use to make your fancy themes and icon….come on dont be a hypocrite!!!
James May III
What do they really think is gonna change now that the law has removed the gray area? The average joe is still going to be afraid of bricks and warrantees.On the app store side, apple might loosen up on developers, now that cydia is a viable alternative (Hooray!) For Cydia, it's just another day at the office, as they don't offer any pirate content in it's original release. You have to add pirate repositories, and, if you choose to, cydia let's you know that the repository you are adding contains pirated content. Apple may be worried about piracy, but not because of the jailbreak, apple loves jailbreaks. They watch how we choose to modify their product, so they can add our mods in their new firmwares. I'm not going to act like I know why apple isn't crying about these tools, but I like to think that it's because a large portion of people who jailbreak their devices do it for every reason but piracy. think about it, when this community created an alternative to the AppStore, they didn't create a place where you could get AppStore paid apps for free, They offered alternatives that, in many cases, were better than the originals. This community is not like the psp community, piracy in the guise of homebrew. we are genuinely about homebrew.
James
Why pay for what you can have for free?
- Orpel
  that could sound like a burglar's motto 🙂
Sean
Its about the developers! Come on you tools. Quit making it about you………
juan619
I think cracked apps are BAD for all of us. I would not like any hard work I have put into a project to be used free of charge. It’s only right. People wouldn’t go to work for free. So if this gets bad developers will probably find something else to do. Cracked Apps=Less Apps. Don’t do it developers need to earn a living too
steve
@ Farway124
You've got that right Bro. My phone, my way.
Farway124
It is totally public choice to install cracked apps…the cracked apps are old , People like me use them to test the app before buying it..(Don’t want to waste money on stupid apps)..also we pay a lot for an overpriced apple device..it’s up to us how we want to use it.
kiehtan
Using cracked apps is wrong, plain and simple. Developers, whether their apps are on the App Store or Cydia, are entitled to be paid for their work. We wouldn't have many of these great apps otherwise. It is nothing more than theft.
Jailbreaking your IPhone is another matter. If it is your phone, it is unfair for Apple Computer or anyone else to tell you what apps you can and cannot have. It is also unfair for companies like ATT to price gouge by forcing IPhone owners to pay an additinal fee to tether their phones. If you are already paying a fee for a designated amount of data per month, what gives ATT the right to dictate how one accesses that data? Thus, apps like My3G are, in my opinion, totally fair as long as you pay for a non cracked version.
Marrtee
Yeah, this article makes it seem like Greenposi0n is the first program to let us jailbreak our phones? This isn't new. And I agree with ih8sn0w, It's no different then having limewire or just using torrents on your computer. Its the users responsibility to be…uh responsible or not
Mike
I understand the consequences of pirating apps and using cracked ones. I understand maybe developers will stop making them if they can’t turn a big enough profit. I could say I care, but I just honestly don’t.
Paul Hernandez
I really want to see the jailbreak just so I can get a terminal. Apple does not offer a terminal for download which royally sucks. I heard that jailbroken devices can get a terminal window and more so I cannot wait until this comes out. This could all be avoided if Apple would allow other apps besides the ones they do have. (I cannot believe even though Apple knows that about 85% of the people use Windows you can only develop apps on a Mac. Stupid.)
Bob
Most people who jailbreak aren’t doing it so they can get free apps most people do it just so they can use the carrier unlock or use different themes on their idevices. Not every jailbreaker should be blamed just because some are stupid and think copyright laws don’t apply to them.
Kevin
Seriously, screw APPle. They make enough money already off of the people who are paying for a monochrome logo on an ordinary PC and an overblown music player. You’ll never have flash either if you don’t jailbreak, use Frash. Many people on the internet are designers, not PROGRAMMERS, flash over HTML5 and hello homebrew. iOH-SHIT is pretty limited without some 3rd party help.
Jack
Brian, so I assume you donate to people who create the jailbreak exploits and software?
Drew
I personally think that Apple should do something through iTunes to stop people with cracked apps. Maybe blocking phones until fines have been paid for every cracked app that’s on their phones?
Piracy doesn’t help quality apps being produced! Do people realise not every app is made by a massive software company like E.A or Gameloft? This can be some peoples living these cheapskates are harming!
- Sman
  well those "lower-level" producers make crap apps anyway. and what most people here are forgetting is that apple now has competition. The appstore isnt alone anymore. android is here. the more apple starts to intervene with THEIR OWN CONSUMERS' free will, the less consumers they will have, and those consumers could simply move on to android devices which are a LOT cheaper, and i heard they also have more apps than the appstore.
  i bought my ipod 4th gen because its a brilliant device. not so i could be monitored on what i do with it. apple does enough just by checking if the device has been jailbroken or not when a person goes to the genius bar for help. thats all they need to do, nothing more.
- bud
  if apple did that, they would loose customers buddy
Brian
Ive been jailbreaking my device since 2007 and I still buy apps from the app store. Some apps are a little overpriced but if you can’t afford to take 5 dollers or .99 out of your pocket (in most cases) to support someone who put the time and effort into the app, then maybe you shouldn’t own a iPhone, that’s the problem with people they always want something for free
- Sman
  illogical argument. why cough up 5 bucks for an app that you might not even like?
  second, its not up to consumers to take care of the developers who develop these apps. they do it out of their free will, and i bet all of them are aware of piracy and jailbreaking, so they know what theyre getting themselves into.
  and last, most of the world buys apps from the appstore anyway. good developers are already making the money they want. and bad developers dont deserve my money, because they just pollute the app store with useless apps that come in ur way whenever ur fishing for a decent app.
ih8sn0w
Installous on an iPhone is like having Limewire on your computer.
No one blames or goes after Microsoft or Apple for allowing their users to put Limewire on their computers, they go after Limewire, and the people who use it. Same with Installous. It's not Apple's or the Jailbreaker's fault, it's the idiots who use it.
- BEZZ
  werdd
Gary390
If people wanna use installous then crack on,after all Apple have kept us shackled for long enough!!!-
BRING ON THE JAILBREAK!!!!…,(soon plz)î€
Daniel
It’s up to us users what we want to do with the devices, Apple and it’s developers for the apps are hardly gonna lose out on money considering the majority of people buy from the app store.
nathan
i beleieve all apps should be free, yet apple should pay the developers depending on how good there app goes, because thats why people by iphones
Smoke
Fuck apple
- Lolzor
  Yay.
ryan
its no one's right to try to block anything on the iphone. the customer paid for the phone. it's the customer's right to use it as he or she sees fit. if something illegal is done, then maybe there are consequences. probably not, but maybe.
Zeus
By the way 97% of the Apps the can be downloaded from installous are older version. So where is the harm.
- iPhoneFour
  The point is it's stealing, no matter what version it is..
Joel
Jailbreaking and piracy are two completely different things.
According to the logic in this article you could say that people shouldn't be allowed to have money as they may spend it on guns to kill random bystanders. Jailbreaking doesn't create piracy.
- itslocbaby
  Couldn't have said it any better myself.
Lukie Boy
Are You Saying Once u have jailbroken it they can block it who? apple or the chronic dev team
- Boom
  If the iPhone is jailbroken,it can not be blocked unless you upgrade to the latest IOS software,but not alot of people no that apple have installed a kill switch into the software,that they can activate if they think someone is using illegal software or something. This can be de-activated tho if your jailbroken.
Dan
Wow. How late to the party are you?
It is not the Chronic Dev-team's job to police what people do with their iPhones. Nor should it be Apples. You cannot eliminate piracy, you can only make it difficult or inconvenient. Apple doesn't condone jailbreaking because they want people buying from their own store, and not a 3rd party store. Obviously the fact you can install pirated apps with a jailbroken iphone is part of that equation, but it's not the only thing.
Oh and the reason that apple doesn't directly talk about jailbreaking is because they want as few people to know about it as possible. Obviously they know plenty about it, because every new release of iOS has attempts to break each new exploit that is developed (thus prompting a new jailbreak.) They wouldn't bother to keep messing with jailbreaks if they didn't clearly want to stop the jailbreaking scene.
Duncan333033
Just me who thinks this is bullshit. Not the jailbreak its the craked apps, why do people do this is they want apps to continue to arrise stop STEALING FROM THE DEVELOPERS!!! :O 😕 :/
- Scott
  The problem is that apps are not refundable on the app store…in addiiton, most apps do not offer a trial or free version. So if you pay $4.99 for an app, and it's absolutely horrible or doesn't do what you thought it would, you're stuck with it. They should offer a free and/or trial version with limited functionality.