iPhone Atlas

One of the best Mac OS X tools in my arsenal of iPhone utilities is Ecamm Network's PhoneView, which lets you retrieve your call history, export contacts, play and save voice memos, search and save SMS messages, play and export music, download photos, and create, edit, and save notes. It even lets you use your iPhone as a disk drive.

Now an update to Phoneview has added three new key features that make the app even more useful.

The first new features let you retrieve MMS messages and view them later on your computer. (The previous versions only handled SMS messages.)

Second, you can now export, play back, and archive audio files sent via MMS.

Third, the application now automatically downloads and archive your Visual Voicemail messages. You can then take those messages and export them to AAC files, giving you a way to save an important message from a loved one or for any other reason. (You may enjoy those corny-but-cute messages left by your kids to share with them when they grow up.)

PhoneView's update also includes a handful of bug fixes and is free for current owners. It costs $20 and supports any iPhone or iPod Touch and requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later and iTunes 8.1 or later.

A demo can be downloaded to try before you buy.

iPhone OS hacker GeoHot has announced the successful creation of an iPhone unlock for the iPhone OS 3.1.2 baseband. The new app called, Blacksn0w, will allow iPhone users to use their phone on non-Apple sanctioned carriers.

You'll have to wait a bit though, since the application will not be released by GeoHot until November 4th, 2009.

GeoHot, "To clarify, I have arbitrary code running on the baseband. "

(Credit: GeoHot)

GeoHot also posted this YouTube video demonstrating the exploit:

I recently posted my experiences with a serious bug that I discovered on my iPhone 3GS after it lost the entire contents of two different e-mail messages. The bug appears to be caused by a problem with my e-mail accounts on MobileMe or Gmail and accessing them later on my iPhone.

(Credit: David Martin)

The steps that I have used to demonstrate the bug, which I've been able to successfully replicate every time on my iPhone running OS 3.1 or 3.1.2 and my MobileMe account are posted in My iPhone eats draft e-mail--yours could too.

After providing Apple with application and iPhone logs, MobileMe support asked me to try the following workaround:

• On your desktop or notebook, log into your MobileMe account using "xxxxxx" as your log-in name (leave out the @me and @mac extensions).
• Create a new message.
• Set the Account drop-down menu to xxxxxx@me.com.
• Save the draft.
• Verify that the draft is in the drafts folder on MobileMe.
• Switch to your iPhone.
• Access your MobileMe Drafts folder on the iPhone.
• Open the saved draft.
• Add contents to the e-mail.
• Send the message from your iPhone and see if the issue is reproduced.

I completed these steps and was surprised to see that the e-mail had been sent.

I've asked Apple to tell me if this problem can be blamed on MobileMe or my iPhone. My educated guess is that the problem is with the MobileMe service, but at press time, Apple had not responded to my queries.

Are you experiencing this problem on your iPhone or iPod Touch? Let us know in the comments.

iPhone OS hacker, GeoHot, released Blackra1n this weekend, a new jailbreak utility for iPhone OS 3.1.2.

The new Windows-only utility follows on the heels of Purplera1n and you can download it now. Windows users can use it to jailbreak iPhone OS 3.1.2 on all iPhone and iPod Touch models regardless of their hardware generation. Using the application is simple. You just plug in your iPhone or iPod Touch using the standard USB sync cable and follow the instructions below.

Difficulty level:
Easy

What you need:
>PC running Windows XP or Vista
>Download Blackra1n using from blackra1n.com

Notes:

• BlackRa1n does not unlock your iPhone so that it can be used with another carrier.
• If you have already updated to 3.1 or higher and you did not use PwangeTool to upgrade from an earlier iPhone OS version, then you will not be able to unlock your iPhone until PwangeTool is updated.
• iPod Touch third-generation users take heed--Blackra1n only supports a tethered jailbreak. If your battery is depleted after the hack, then you will have to reconnect your iPod Touch to a computer and use the Blackra1n utility to reboot it.

Updated on October 12, 2008 at 7:29 a.m. PDT: Comments from mohabitar and eisenhower1803 indicate that installing Cydia and Icy at the same time is not recommended.

Standard disclaimers apply. Please read your contract terms of service carefully before proceeding to ensure that you are not breaking your iPhone carrier agreement or warranty. Also, while these methods have worked for most people, we cannot guarantee that they will work for you, and you must make these modifications at your own risk. If you do not feel comfortable making these modifications to your phone, we urge you not to try to make them.

Jailbreak evidence for Blackra1n

(Credit: GeoHot)

1. Launch iTunes and check to ensure that you are running version 9.0.1. If you are not, then update your iTunes before proceeding and reboot your PC.

2. Install Blackra1n and reboot your PC.

3. If you haven't already plugged your iPhone or iPod Touch into your computer, connect it now with the USB sync cable.

5. Your iPhone or iPod Touch will go into recovery mode. A picture of GeoHot will replace the standard recovery mode image on your device.

Blackra1n new recovery mode image is a cropped version of this picture.

(Credit: GeoHot)

6. Blackra1n will execute and perform the jailbreak on your device and the device will be rebooted.

7. An opportunity will present itself for you to make a donation to GeoHot.

8. Once your device has rebooted, a new icon--Blackra1n--will appear on the Springboard. You now need to confirm that your device can connect to the Internet.

Blackra1n app icon

9. Launch Blackra1n on your device.

Blackra1n iPhone App

10. You can now choose to install one or more of your favorite installer apps: Cydia, Rock, or Icy. (Note: my personal favorites are Cydia and Icy.) Blackra1n will download and install your selections, the Springboard will be restarted, and your installed installer app icons will appear.

11. After you have confirmed that your selected installer app is working, you can then optionally uninstall Blackra1n by launching it and tapping the button labeled "Uninstall blackra1n."

12. Reboot your device my pressing and holding sleep/wake and home until the Apple logo appears. You're now done!

Tell us about your experiences with this jailbreak in the comments.

Apple on Thursday released an update for the iPhone SDK, bringing the current version of the SDK to 3.1.2.

The new SDK 3.1.2, which now includes Xcode 3.2.1, is available in versions that are compatible with Leopard and Snow Leopard for iPhone and iPod Touch developers.

The update, according to information we received from a developer, contains general bug fixes for the SDK and Xcode. Dashcode is reported to now support the creation of Web applications that are optimized for Safari on the iPhone, PC, and Mac.

If you've seen and used this new update, please tell us about your experiences with it in the comments.

(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

I discovered a serious bug recently on my iPhone 3GS after it lost the entire contents of two different e-mail messages I had sent to my CNET editor. The bug appears to be caused by a problem between my e-mail accounts on MobileMe or Gmail and accessing them later on my iPhone.

The steps that I have used to demonstrate the bug, which I've been able to successfully replicate every time on my iPhone running OS 3.1 and my MobileMe account are shown below. I've submitted a bug report to Apple engineering.

• Log on to MobileMe on the Web from your computer.
• Create a new e-mail message addressed to your MobileMe account. Save it as a draft.
• Launch Mail on your iPhone.
• Go to your MobileMe account and look for the Drafts folder and access it.

• Locate the draft e-mail message you created and open it.

• Add an additional sentence or other text to the e-mail message.

• Send the e-mail from your iPhone.
• You should receive the following error message:

• Tap OK to clear the error message.
• Hit the refresh button in Mail on your iPhone. You should hear the swoosh sound representing that your message was actually sent.
• Go to your MobileMe in-box on your iPhone and either wait or press refresh.
• Your e-mail will be delivered with all your content missing. Here is an example:

I've asked a number of friends and colleagues to attempt to recreate this bug on their phones and many of them couldn't. I do know this: the problem presents itself randomly affecting my Gmail accounts, but it is always consistent with my MobileMe account. So far, deleting these accounts individually or all accounts from my iPhone, then adding them back doesn't resolve the problem.

A Google search using the terms "lost draft email iphone" resulted in three posts by markw10. One of Mark's posts appeared on AppleInsider and reiterates the problem I've encountered with drafts that are not created on an iPhone. Mark lost e-mail on his iPhone just as I had--even though the e-mail was eventually sent, it never reached its destination, and no copies of the sent message were to be found. His recipient complained about receiving an empty e-mail.

I've been working with Apple to find a solution to this problem for a week, but so far, a solution has proven to be elusive. If I find a solution or work-around then I will update this post.

Are you experiencing this problem on your iPhone or iPod Touch? Let us know in the comments.

I woke up last Friday morning, just like everyone else, looking forward to finally getting MMS on my iPhone 3GS. However, for some of us, the excitement turned into dismay when the MMS update didn't work.

Users were discussing the issue under the topic MMS message send failure on Apple support forums. I was experiencing the problem and initially I could not fix it--even after spending more than 2 hours on the phone with Apple and AT&T. Today I decided to take a new approach and I found an ironically simple fix for this problem that we had all missed on Friday.

In this example you can see that MMS would fail to send an image of my new puppy and a picture of a flower in my garden. Even subsequent attempts to resend by pressing the exclamation point in the red circle failed to work.

Send fails twice then works after the fix.

(Credit: David Martin)

After discovering the following simple fix for my problem the next flower picture was actually sent to the recipient. I tried sending more images, resending images that had failed to send previously, and even a video with sound; all of those worked without a hitch and I was able to receive the same type of content from others.

Warning notes:

• All your preferences and settings are reset. Information, such as your contacts and calendars, and media, such as your songs and videos, aren't deleted.
• You will have to re-enter your passcode, Wi-Fi passwords, and your apps will all be rearranged alphabetically. Note: the latter issue is actually a neat find--now I know how to alphabetize my apps when I want them sorted that way. Drastic yet effective.
• Additionally other settings like VPN, remembered Wi-Fi networks, etc., maybe lost.

Fixing the MMS send failure error message

• Connect your iPhone 3G or 3GS to your computer.
• Launch iTunes and go to the Summary tab for your iPhone.
• Click the Restore button to restore your iPhone and allow it to use your most recent backup when prompted; iTunes should do this automatically. This process will take a while so it is recommended that you try it only when it is convenient and you are not in a hurry. Once it is completed your iPhone will reboot.
• Launch Settings on your iPhone.
• Go to General > Reset All Settings > enter your PIN if prompted
• Try sending and receiving an MMS now.

Hopefully this fix will resolve your MMS send failure woes, and if it does then welcome to 2003!

Tell us about your iPhone MMS experience in the comments.

Updated on 9/26/2009 at 11:56 a.m. PDT: Regarding JOBIROAL's comment about trying Reset Network Settings: both Apple and AT&T recommended this, but it did not resolve the problem for me. However, it is worth a try before attempting my fix.

Updated on 9/28/2009 at 3:27 a.m. PDT: Check your AT&T account online to verify that you have one of the following three message plans:

iPhone MMS supported message plans

(Credit: David Martin)

(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. Of course, make sure that you back up your phone before restoring.

However, some issues--chronicled below--persist:

Podcasts are listed in random order for some users who are reporting that podcast episodes are not being displayed properly by date. We encountered this problem in one out of seven podcasts on a test iPhone 3GS. This bug has been confirmed by Apple, so look for a fix in a future firmware update.

Podcast sort bug.

(Credit: David Martin)

Random freezes or shutdowns are a major complaint for users after upgrading. The problem is the source of heated discussions within a huge Apple discussion thread containing nearly 900 posts. The problem seems to manifest itself whenever the iPhone goes to sleep, the user locks the display, or just randomly. When the user next tries to use the phone, he or she will find it completely unresponsive--the display remains blank and pressing buttons won't wake it. The only recourse for the user is to perform a reset as described above.

Battery life is another major complaint for users after upgrading and one we've encountered ourselves. So far, none of the usual fixes have resolved a problem some are claiming happens even when the iPhone is idle. Regardless, we've noticed on our own iPhone 3GS that battery life is significantly poorer after upgrading to iPhone OS 3.1. It isn't unusual to commute home at the end of the day with 25 percent or less battery life.

Apple is clearly aware of the battery problem and is actively trying to resolve it by engaging iPhone users in a study. Participating users will receive a special BatteryLifeLogging.mobilecongfig file that will capture Powerlog files from the iPhone when syncing with iTunes. The user sends the log files to Apple via e-mail or http://bugreport.apple.com. Hopefully with enough input, Apple will find the root cause of this problem and issue a fix in a future firmware update.

In the meantime, we suggest that you look at our guide to getting the most out of your iPhone battery for suggestions on improving battery life.

Slow or sluggish performance is a complaint from some users, blaming the problem on MobileMe syncing. According to a post by Skid on the Apple forums, you can resolve the issue by performing these steps:

1. Launch the Settings App
2. Go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars
3. Go to your MobileMe account
4. Turn off contacts and calendars
5. When prompted, delete them from your iPhone
6. Reset your iPhone by holding down the sleep and home buttons until the Apple logo appears.
7. Perform steps 1-5, but this time turn contacts and calendar syncing on.

If the above steps do not resolve the problem, another alternative is to delete your MobileMe account from your iPhone, perform a reset, and set up your MobileMe account from scratch.

Unknown error (-50) was an error we encountered when syncing from iPhoto to our iPhone 3GS on another computer. According to Apple, all we needed to do was sync using iTunes 9, which we had not installed on the second computer. After upgrading to iTunes 9 the problem disappeared.

A problem with Exchange is a source of complaints about the OS 3.1 upgrade manifested by 2G and 3G iPhone models failing to connect to Exchange 2007. Details about the issue can be found in the article, "Apple explains iPhone OS 3.1 Exchange changes."

Bricked iPhones caused by the OS 3.1 upgrade failing to apply was a source of complaints by some unhappy iPhone users. Fortunately, there is a fix for most "bricking" incidents: take the following steps to do a factory restore of your iPhone:

1. Press and hold Sleep/Wake and Home until the iPhone resets.
2. When the Apple logo appears release Sleep/Wake, but do not release Home until you see the prompt to connect the iPhone to iTunes.
3. Connect your iPhone to its USB sync cable.
4. iTunes should launch. If it doesn't, launch it manually.
5. Perform a restore of your iPhone's firmware, settings, apps, and media.

A handful of other common problems were reported with the OS 3.1 update for Wi-fi, the compass, and other small items. We've covered many of these in the posts "Major, minor iPhone upgrade problems and how to fix them," and the follow up post "More major, minor iPhone upgrade problems and how to fix them."

If the above fixes don't help with your OS 3.1 issue, consider following the Apple iPhone Troubleshooting Assistant before investing your time in calling AppleCare or visiting the local Genius Bar.

Tell us about your iPhone OS 3.1 upgrade problems in the comments.

Apple has issued an advisory regarding security enhancements included in iPhone OS 3.1 and iPod Touch OS 3.1.1.

(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

Here is a synopsis of the 10 iPhone security vulnerabilities addressed by the latest operating-system update for the iPhone and iPod Touch. As expected, many of these security patches focus on the Web-browsing framework WebKit.

CoreAudio Changes to CoreAudio prevent maliciously crafted AAC or MP3 files from causing unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution.

Exchange support Changes were made to prevent a person with physical access to a device from being able to use it. Previously, if the user has "Require Passcode" set to a value higher than the "Maximum inactivity time lock" setting, this would allow a window of time for a person with physical access to use the device, including Exchange services. This update addresses the issue by disabling user choices for "Require Passcode" values greater than the "Maximum inactivity time lock" setting configured by the Exchange administrator. (Read more about the complexities of Exchange security in OS 3.1.)

Mobile Mail Changes to Mobile Mail prevent a person from using Spotlight search to view deleted e-mails.

Recovery Mode Changes to Recovery Mode command parsing prevents another person with physical access to a locked device from bypassing the passcode and accessing the user's data.

Telephony Changes made to improve the handling of incoming SMS messages prevent the receipt of a maliciously crafted SMS message that may lead to an unexpected service interruption.

UIKit Changes to UIKit fixed a problem wherein passwords may be made visible when a person with physical access to the device deleted a character (i.e. backspace) to make that character briefly visable.

WebKit--disclosed user names and password in URLs Changes were made to prevent the disclosure of user name and password via referrer headers for Web site linking; the user name and password are no longer included in the URL in the referrer header.

WebKit--numeric character references Changes were made to prevent an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution after visiting a maliciously crafted Web site; a memory corruption issue was to blame for this and it was fixed through improved handling of numeric character references.

WebKit--cross-site scripting attack Changes to WebKit improved the handling of parent and top objects, thus preventing a cross-site scripting attack when visiting a maliciously crafted Web site.

WebKit--lookalike characters in a URL Lookalike characters in a URL could be used to masquerade a Web site; International Domain Name (IDN) support and Unicode fonts embedded in Safari could be used to create a URL which contains lookalike characters; users could then be directed to a malicious Web site that is a spoofed site visually appearing to be legitimate domain. WebKit will now replace those characters with its own characters rendered in Punycode in the address bar of Mobile Safari.

Previous coverage: Security updates in iPhone OS 3.0 and Security updates in iPhone OS 2.2.