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iPhone can phone home and kill apps?
Apple has apparently included a blacklisting mechanism in iPhone OS 2.x via which the device can phone home, check for unauthorized applications, and disable them. The OS includes a URL that points to a page containing a list of unauthorized applications, specifically:
https://iphone-services.apple.com/clbl/unauthorizedApps
Per Jonathan Zdziarski, author of the book iPhone Open Application Development and an iPhone Forensics manual:
"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."
Isn't that waaaay before the iPhone??
It will be interesting to see this escalate between Apple and the Dev Team, as surely all the Cydia and Installer applications will make it to the blacklist.
Then the Dev Team will strip this from Pwned phones, then Apple will update Firmware to add it back, and on and on.
Seems likely that, beyond impressing enterprise buyers, Apple wants to BE a responsible provider of a mobile platform.
Sure, RIM's Blackberry is a platform with some scale, but no company has tried to the huge scale AND the comparative openness to 3rd party apps that Apple is now attempting.
Imagine a rogue iPhone app that surreptitiously transmitted your credit card numbers and IDs to thieving scum under the guise of storing them for you in a little free app. Would the folks who vett the iPhone apps before they get distribution on the store catch it? What if it were two apps working together, one that was a little wallet app and another a little sketch program that can mail your sketch -- and a few extra bytes personal data -- and blind copies a third party?
Most iPhone users would be thrilled -- after-the-fact -- that Apple had deleted the rogue app from their phone. Probably much more likely *that* scenario than Apple deleting apps it "doesn't like" or something.
The buyers of the the 2G phone like me got screwed , because the 3 G came out ... fine some of the recent purchases were allowed to exchange the phone in the stores. However now with the update to a 2G phone of iPhone 2.0 or now iPhone 2.0.1 my phone acts like a Commodore 64 .... I mean Backuptimes of hours .... Syncing times where I can bake a cake inbetween... Keyboard that is so slow that it takes me 3 minutes to type an sms ... I don?t care about a shiny toy ... I care about a functional phone that I can use when I want to use it ... to make calls etc ... I mean Steve honestly .... when do you sync your iPhone ??? Right when there are new information in the cloud ... right? ... So I update my appointments ...or last minute changes on some files before I run to my next meeting ... well I can?t do this anymore ... because I have to sync my phone ages before ....
Steve you owe us an apology ... and you owe us to get it right and fixed ... ASAP
Use USB 2, not USB 1. Only reason I can think of that an iPhone (max size 16 GB) would take that long to backup - I have a 16 GB iPod Touch that doesn't take more than an hour, while doing other stuff. And *** is wrong with your WiFi? Or do you simply not know how to use that either?
I actually encountered a friend who didn't even know that the iPhone had WiFi! I had to show him how to turn it on and use it in settings. Perhaps our friend Daniel could use some assistance?
I also wonder if he's ever powered the device down and restarted it. On the rare occasion that I have bugginess, I do that and it's fixed!
Furthermore, if WiFi truly did not work, a quick trip to the Apple Store would see the device replaced...unless of course this problem only began within the past month putting the device out of warranty.
Sad, sad.
I've had WiFi working on my iPhone (G2) since the day I purchased it over 1 year ago. And it continued to work a few days after installing 2.0, until the phone crashed on me. There are dozens of people (if you would do some research) on the Apple Discussion boards complaining about this very same issue after installing 2.0. Same with long backups. Again, do some research. I'm not alone here.
likeafox24,
A "quick" trip to the Apple Store? I wish I were fortunate enough to have one less than a five hour drive away. ;)
This buggy and disappointing iPhone 3G belongs to me, not them. I didn't lease, rent or borrow it....I bought the freakin' thing. If I knew how and wanted to turn it into a controller for my microwave oven, Apple (nor anybody else) should be able to stop me. AT&T can stop me from using it on THEIR network and the agreement I signed probably gives them broad discretion to do so, but once Apple sold me this phone their job is done except for support and warranty issues.....much like buying a desktop computer.
Sorry, I just had to vent a bit when I saw that Apple thinks they have the right to decide what I use my device for. ...and people think Microsoft pushes people (customers) around. Wow!
Like all of you, I just want the thing to work as advertised without problems.
Good luck
Never ever ever ever buy an Apple product until Rev 3. It was true in 1984, and it's true today.
I even think the iPhone 3G is a little soon...I almost (but not quite) regret buying one.
Apple's Orwellian omnipresence regarding its devices is an invasion of privacy and could almost be considered illegal, and is the one and only thing that is making me think twice about Apple. If I was told that I could only install certain apps on my iMac, I'd never buy another one.
I am a long time Windows user and developer and am a new iPhone user. I am so impressed with the iPhone that I am seriously considering getting a Mac to develop software for the iPhone, but the seemingly arbitrary nature of the acceptance of apps for the iPhone makes me hesitate.
- by ruckerz2k December 6, 2009 8:44 AM PST
- IPhone/Ipod Touch users using cydia should install Firewall IP. It's similar to Little Snitch on Mac as every internet connection made by any app (even apple) is red flagged and the user is prompted to allow or deny the connection before it is made.
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