iPhone Atlas

Facebook 3.0 introduces new navigation, notifications, events, and more.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

The third major edition of Facebook for iPhone has just crept into the iTunes App Store. It's a huge update, with numerous advanced features that make Facebook more interactive than before and which bring the app as close to the desktop experience as it's ever been.

Facebook for iPhone opens on your news feed as usual, but the upper left corner now sports a tiny grid icon that serves as the main organizing feature for this new build. Click it to see a screen equipped with a search bar on top, a notification alert area on the bottom, and a grid of nine activities you can perform in the middle. These include the news feed, your profile details, your message in-box, Facebook chat, friend requests, events, photo albums, and notes.

Those who use Facebook on the iPhone frequently will notice that quite a few of these actions are brand new, like viewing events and submitting an RSVP from your phone. You'll also be able to view friends' birthdays and upload photos to any album. Anyone sporting an iPhone 3GS gets the added bonus of uploading video.

Photos received a lot of attention in this update. You'll now be able to zoom into photos, create albums and delete them, as well as upload and delete photos and photo tags, all from the Facebook interface. In addition, you can upload a new profile picture.

Facebook has also poured energy into how it deals with friends. ... Read More

A video posted recently on YouTube demonstrates, on an iPod Touch, a potential security risk for users of iPhone OS 3.0. The bug allows e-mails that have already deleted to be viewed by searching for the title of the deleted message.

The results of the search display two copies of the message. Selecting either one of these the first time will cause Mail to crash. The second time you select the messages, the iPhone may display the original message or you may get a warning that states: "Message cannot be displayed because of the way it is formatted." You should note that the message is displayed in Mail as "1 of 0" and it is "partially downloaded." The download button used to retrieve the remainder of the message doesn't work.

Fortunately, one developer said this problem appears to have been resolved in iPhone OS 3.1 beta 3, since the developer was not able to recreate the bug after upgrading.

Update 08/19/09 at 8:19 PM PDT: The iPhone OS bug described in this post does not affect IMAP e-mail accounts, but it does affect POP e-mail accounts.

The iPhone OS 3.0 Camera Roll is running out of film for some iPhone users. A handful of photographers on Apple's discussion board are reporting that pictures taken with the iPhone camera and screen captures are disappearing from the iPhone's onboard photo library.

The bug, according to these reports, occurs when the photo names generated by the iPhone reach IMG_10000.xxx or higher, where the xxx represents either a JPG for photos, PNG for screen snapshots, or MOV for videos. Once you've reached this 10,000 mark milestone in your iPhone photography career, the Mobile Photos app no longer displays additional media files. Luckily, however, the photos are still there--they simply don't display on the phone.

Some users found help using the Phoneview utility from Ecamm on their Macs--the free demo version worked long enough to uncover the missing photos. PC users may be able to find their shots via iPhone Browser.

Spotlight search: Handy addition or forgotten feature?

Spotlight search, one of the high-profile features introduced with OS 3.0 last month, lets you search contacts, appointments, music, mail, and more without first loading their respective apps.

In other words, it's a time-saver. In theory.

Confession time: I haven't touched Spotlight once since installing OS 3.0 on my 3G. On a few occasions I've flicked past my apps and landed on the search screen, invariably prompting the same reaction: "Huh. Forgot that was there."

I have used Mail's new in-box search, which frequently proves invaluable. But Spotlight strikes me as a backward approach. Maybe it's me; I'm accustomed to running apps first and looking for data second. That's how I do things on the desktop, so it feels natural to do likewise on my iPhone. Old dog, old tricks.

What about you? Do you think Spotlight is the greatest addition since copy and paste, or does it sit, forgotten and unused, to the left of your apps? Cast your vote below!

(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

Apple has updated a support document that details MobileMe enhancements for an iPhone running iPhone OS 3.0. The updates include the following features.

Mail
On an iPhone or iPod Touch, a user can search all messages including those stored on the MobileMe "cloud" (server). You can search in the From, To, and Subject fields.

Gallery

• iPhone 3GS users can publish videos to a Gallery album.
• If no Gallery albums exist, an album is automatically created when publishing a photo or video from the iPhone.

Push Contacts and Push Calendar

• There's an option to merge existing contacts and calendars on first sync from iPhone/iPod Touch.
• Deleting a MobileMe account or turning off contact and calendar sync on iPhone/iPod Touch allows users to keep a copy of the data on the device.
• iPhone contacts that sync with MobileMe maintain ringtone associations.

Details regarding Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe are included; we've covered both topics previously.

Apple has a complete list of MobileMe service updates since August 2008 .

(Credit: Apple Inc.)

Some iPhone Atlas readers, and posts on Apple's Discussion boards, have reported additional problems--some large, some small--after upgrading to iPhone OS 3.0 or the iPhone 3GS. The following procedures will solve a number of the reported problems.

• Reset your iPhone by holding down the Sleep and Home buttons until the Apple logo appears.
• Restore your iPhone: In iTunes, click the Restore button under the Summary tab. Restoring the phone will erase contacts, calendars, photos, and other data on the phone, but will restore automatically backed-up information including text messages, notes, call history, contact favorites, sound settings, widget settings, etc.

Yet, even after performing these steps additional issues have persisted. For more detail, read on.

Sound issues
Though listed on discussion boards here and here, I've also heard sound distortion when making a call, listening to the other phone ringing, and receiving an incoming SMS text message at the same time. The second sound, Glass (my SMS tone), has a buzzing noise as it plays.

An theAppleBlog report has mentioned an audible whine on recorded iPhone 3GS videos. There does not appear to be a fix for this at this time, so I'm hoping that Apple addresses it via a software update.

Here's the video from theappleblog.com Web site and a direct link to the isolated sound here.

A suggested short-term workaround is easy enough to implement; some people might even learn to live with the problem. Prior to recording a video, either plug in your headphones or manually place the iPhone into "silent" mode by moving the ring selector to vibrate. The entire post is worth reading as it includes more examples and the steps to recreate the problem on the iPhone 3GS.

Wrong or "changing" icons
Apple's discussion boards here, here, and here are reporting a problem that I've encountered as well. In my case the problem occurs when I remove apps from the iPhone using the delete feature in Springboard and then install new apps.

The newly installed apps can inherit the icons from the apps that were deleted from the same location. This is a known bug documented under Apple Bugfix 6906853. The only fix that I've been able to find is to reinstall the apps affected by the bug and hope it does not happen again. Hopefully, Apple will get this really annoying bug fixed soon.

Last week we covered a number of other issues with iPhone OS 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS. Check it out for additional troubleshooting advice.

Tell us about your iPhone OS 3.0 or iPhone 3GS upgrade problems in the comments.

Though everyone knows the iPhone OS 3.0 brought welcome and long-awaited changes like multimedia messaging; a landscape keyboard; and cut, copy, and paste, there are a host of other tweaks from the software update that Apple has not publicized. According to Apple, the update offers 100 additions to the iPhone, but we covered just a handful in our iPhone 3GS review.

What other features are new? Well, a week after Apple released the update to the world we have a better idea. We've done our own exploring, but last week we also asked for your help in finding the update's hidden treasures. Thankfully, you responded in force, so we're glad to offer you this list. It's still not complete, so we'll be adding more as we (and you) find them. (Note: I've only included features not listed in the review.) Also, Apple has posted a handy chart detailing which OS 3.0 features are available on the iPhone Classic and iPhone 3G.

The iPhone hacking group known as the Dev-Team has released UltraSn0w, an unlocking utility for 2G and 3G iPhones running iPhone OS 3.0. The new utility is easy to use and lets you unlock your jailbroken iPhone for use on a variety of carriers (such as T-Mobile or AT&T in the U.S.). However, it does not support the iPhone 3GS at this time, but, according to the Dev-Team, future releases will support the new hardware.

Jailbreaking iPhone 2G/3G with OS 3.0

To unlock your iPhone with UltraSn0w, you must first jailbreak it. iClarified has posted a good tutorial: How to Jailbreak Your iPhone on OS 3.0 Using RedSn0w (Mac). It will accomplish the jailbreak and install Cydia on the SpringBoard.

Unlocking iPhone 2G/3G with OS 3.0

After jailbreaking, you are ready to unlock your iPhone using UltraSn0w. iClarified has posted another good tutorial on how to unlock your iPhone called How to Unlock the iPhone 3G Using UltraSn0w. It will free your iPhone from its original carrier.

The following iClarified YouTube video tutorial guides you through the use of UltraSn0w.

We've seen a gradual relaxation of iTunes App Store restrictions over the last few months. One recently lifted major restriction allows apps that provide turn-by-turn directions, including's Tom Tom future GPS app or the recently released AT&T Navigator. Despite these relaxed restrictions, the Dev-Team is still moving forward with new hacks and a dogged determination to keep the iPhone open.

Are you still jailbreaking your iPhone even as Apple removes iTunes App Store restrictions? Or have you recently had a change of heart and plan to use your AT&T iPhone as is? Tell us all about it in the comments.

(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

• Reset your iPhone by holding down the sleep and home buttons until the Apple logo appears.
• Restore your iPhone: In iTunes, click the Restore button under the Summary tab. Restoring the phone will erase contacts, calendars, photos, and other data on the phone, but will restore automatically backed-up information including text messages, notes, call history, contact favorites, sound settings, widget settings, etc.

However, some issues chronicled below persist:

Visual Voicemail wasn't accessible by many users from their iPhone 3G S after restoring from a previous model's backup. Users are required to reenter their voicemail pins when prompted by the iPhone 3G S. If you've forgotten your pin, you can reset it by taking the following steps:

• Log onto AT&T myWireless
• Click on Phone/Device
• Click on Reset Voicemail Password
• Press the Submit button

A text message is sent to your phone with a new Visual Voicemail password.

Passwords previously saved for numerous applications were reported lost in the transfer to the iPhone 3G S. Users had to reenter passwords for a number of apps, including (but not necessarily limited to) AIM, LogMeIn, Loopt, MySpace, Palringo, Sirius XM, Tweetie, and Wallet. (Wallet's database had to be recovered from MobileMe). The password recovery problem is likely attributable to the hardware change from a previous iPhone to the iPhone 3G S.)

Compass has to be reset periodically when it struggles with interference, which happens often enough that iPhone 3G S users are complaining about it. Apple offers some information about calibrating Compass on its Web site, as well as in a support document, iPhone 3G S: Re-calibrate Compass. These explain that the recalibration isn't always necessary; sometimes you need to just ignore the recalibration messages while Compass self adjusts.

Compass calibration message

(Credit: David Martin)

The iPhone 3G S' Oleophobic screen coating is rumored to be incompatible with screen protectors, so we called several Apple stores to investigate and were told this isn't true. The sales associate said that we could come into any Apple store and purchase a screen protector for the iPhone 3G S. Protectors for the 3G should also work on the 3G S.

Duplicate Contacts are being reported by a number of users on Apple's discussion boards. We stumbled upon a nice explanation for and solution to this problem in this article: "About duplicate contacts and calendars on iPhone [OS] 3.0," via Mac OS X Hints.

Find My iPhone remembers all your devices, including the old iPhone that you just turned off when you upgraded to a new handset last weekend. MobileMe does not appear to support a mechanism that will allow you to remove the tracking of an iPhone or iPod Touch from Find My iPhone. We contacted Apple through MobileMe support via online chat and asked about this.

According to Apple tech support, removing a device from the list involves sending the device a Remote Wipe command. MobileMe will then attempt to send this command for up to two hours and if unable to contact the selected device, it is deleted from Find My iPhone. This information is contrary to the Apple support document, "MobileMe, iPhone OS 3.0: Troubleshooting Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe" which states:

Previously-owned iPhone/iPod Touch appears at me.com/account
If your iPhone/iPod Touch was configured with your MobileMe account, it may still appear when you log in to www.me.com/account, even if you no longer possess the iPhone/iPod Touch. Currently, a device is removed from your account page list only after it is successfully wiped. This article will be updated as more information becomes available.

Note: we think the last sentence points out that Apple is aware of this bug in Locate My iPhone and will announce a fix later. Following the advice given in the online chat wasn't successful. Nearly 12 hours later, the old iPhone 3G status is still pending a remote wipe in our test. We hope Apple will release a fix for this through the MobileMe Web site.

Wi-Fi connectivity and signal strength complaints have also cropped up after the iPhone OS 3.0 update: some users complain that their phones drop them from Wi-Fi unexpectedly, others that they can't connect at all. Some users have been able to resolve their connectivity problems by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings, while others complained that this simple fix does not work. In the latter case, a restore might be necessary.

Settings > General > Reset

(Credit: David Martin)

Troubleshooting tips

Force Quit has changed in iPhone OS 3.0 for the iPhone 3G S but remains the same for older iPhones that do not support Voice Control. In order to force quit an application, you must:

• iPhone 2G/3G: Press and hold the Home button for a few seconds until the app quits. (Valid for iPhone OS 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.)
• iPhone 3G S: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the "Slide to power off" screen appears, then press and hold the Home button until the app quits (usually within 6 seconds).

Apple has recently updated the following support documents that might also be useful if you encounter problems with your iPhone:

• "iPhone Basic Troubleshooting"--some iPhone basic troubleshooting tips.
• "Troubleshooting applications purchased from the App Store"--Try the following troubleshooting steps on your iPhone or iPod Touch in order to resolve an application's issue.
• "Troubleshooting iPhone and iPod Touch contact and calendar syncing via USB on Windows"--If you're having difficulty syncing your contacts or calendars to iPhone or iPod Touch with iTunes for Windows via USB, this article can help. Note: this article does not apply to wireless syncing with Exchange ActiveSync or MobileMe.

Some users also might consider following the Apple iPhone Troubleshooting Assistant before calling AppleCare or visiting the local Genius Bar.

Tell us about your iPhone OS 3.0 or iPhone 3G S upgrade problems in the comments.