VoIP said to be working on iPod touch

We've already seen a microphone rigged for use with the iPod touch, and it now looks like that hack could soon be about to get a whole lot more useful, as the iPod Touch Mods blog is reporting that an enterprising individual known only as "eok" has managed to get VoIP working on the device. According to the blog, eok used the SIP-based SvSIP application originally developed for the Nintendo DS as the basis for the hack, although there's unfortunately few other details at the moment, let alone the recompiled version of the app itself, or even a screenshot of it in action. Given the history of these things, however, we wouldn't expect it to take too long for those tidbits to trickle out, assuming the hack lives up to its promise, that is.

[Thanks, RadicalxEdward]

[Michael @ Dec 10th 2007 2:15PM]

Wow, if this turned out to be true, and was accessible to most people, then this would be a great leap for the Touch, assuming that it didn't completely demolish battery life. Count me in on this!

[paloooz @ Dec 10th 2007 2:20PM]

What they need to do now is somehow get this to work with the stock MobilePhone.app from the iPhone. I don't know whether or not that would even be remotely possible, but if it is then neat.

[unicore @ Dec 12th 2007 6:05PM]

I wouldn't think so, but they could probably make an app look very similar to it.

[Mike @ Dec 10th 2007 2:30PM]

A lot of people are wondering how you can make calls when you don't have a microphone, but what about not having a speaker? I imagine this makes having a conversation difficult, unless you happen to be my girlfriend.

[dt @ Dec 10th 2007 2:36PM]

There are rumors that iPods can actually output sound directly into your ear. I don't know if they're true though.

[palehorse @ Dec 10th 2007 3:09PM]

Sound output? on an iPod? hmm... that would be CRAZINESS!

Are you the smart one in your family?

[duh @ Dec 10th 2007 3:43PM]

Don't be an asshole, he means audio output without having to use headphones.

[ssuk @ Dec 10th 2007 4:38PM]

Actually, a conversation with your girlfriend may be difficult, since she is inflatable.

[unicore @ Dec 12th 2007 6:08PM]

@ssuk hahahahaha.

[js @ Dec 10th 2007 2:30PM]

And who said that OSX is secure? I thought so.

[dt @ Dec 10th 2007 3:10PM]

If a virus is this difficult to install on OS X (on a Touch or any other OS X device), then yes, that's awfully secure.

[Argot @ Dec 10th 2007 2:52PM]

Yeah, the iPod and the iPhone are just sad sad products.

[Christopher @ Dec 10th 2007 3:37PM]

No OS is secure against an in-person attack. For example, if a threat has access to your server room, it's over.

[Matt @ Dec 10th 2007 7:26PM]

When the virus's come out of the walls its all over...

[edru @ Dec 10th 2007 2:35PM]

and now i can get one... once its proven

[tmasman @ Dec 10th 2007 2:43PM]

I would assume you'd be using headphones in addition to the hacked-in microphone... Just create a new dock-plug with the hardware for the microphone hack, then have a typical "hands-free" wired phone plug (the kind with 1 earplug & a mic in-line)...

That'd get you easy-cheesy VOIP on an iPod Touch... I like it...

Too bad I already have an iPod Video & can't justify the trade-up...

[StrangeBum @ Dec 10th 2007 2:54PM]

It seems as if the iPod Touch/iPhone have become the next PSP for hackers. The PSP hack community was amazing. While I don't own either of these products, it's still nice to see that there are people out there that are making them more diverse products. YAY for hacking!

[peter Dy @ Dec 10th 2007 3:28PM]

would it be possible to use the iphone headphones w/ the in-line mic? or the best implementation would be a bt headset... if the touch has bt.

[Rui @ Dec 10th 2007 4:12PM]

Is it me or voip services are more expensive then local mobile phone fees? I pay 0,15€ from my mobile to another in the same network, and with voip I pay at least 0,26€. Is it specially good for enterprises or am I using the wrong SIP?

[NeCrom-X @ Jan 11th 2008 1:16PM]

I'm switching to Skype soon as it is released for the PSP it costs only 3$ a month for unlimited local calls and half off a skype in number for a year so 3$ bucks a month for local calling and $30 for a skypein number for a year isn't bad at all. My psp will be replacing my Cell Phone soon. I know the post is a bit off topic but yes there are better ones Rui and the iPhone is having VoIP software developed for it without having to hack it. iWould just wait for the iPhone price to drop and not bother modding an iPod touch.

[brad @ Dec 10th 2007 5:00PM]

i think the hacking is helping to sell more ipod touches...its the reason i bought one. Sure its a great music player with wifi, but add the hacking aspect and all of the sudden is a great music player, nes emulator, emailing machine, google map awsomness, and the list goes on and on

[willyboy @ Dec 10th 2007 6:51PM]

GBA emulator works exceptionally well....I love it!

[Ricochet @ Dec 10th 2007 6:03PM]

Reading the thread this post is based upon, it's been updated with a bit more info.

In fact the VOIP is only working as far as connecting to the SIP servers, and at this point no audio has been sent or received by the iPod Touch. Getting access to the microphone and speaker to connect up this final part will not be trivial either. Currently sounds as though they'll trial recording the voice and then transmitting it rather than doing the encoding in real-time (ie. probably laggy)

Still, it's a step in the right direction, more power to them!

[Jake E. @ Dec 10th 2007 6:40PM]

I wasn't aware that the iPod Touch had speakers.

[Xavier Gill @ Dec 11th 2007 11:26AM]

It has an internal speaker

[inugami @ Dec 10th 2007 8:41PM]

they dont...

[ddfd @ Dec 11th 2007 1:42AM]

but they are able to make more funny sound as alarm, (than previous ipods)

[Hans Kainz @ Dec 11th 2007 2:20AM]

The easiest way is to use iphone.jajah.com. Read more on http://blog.jajah.com/

[Hexxeh @ Dec 11th 2007 11:24AM]

Why can't someone make a WiFi based headset that can communicate with the iPod Touch? That would kill you speaker and microphone birds both with the same proverbial stone.

[johnsonn @ Dec 11th 2007 12:03PM]

soo does this mean you can make calls with your itouch? and if so how would you dial numbers?