iTunes 8 pwns PwnageTool

While the DevTeam rightly asserts that Apple can't undo the bug exploited by PwnageTool via firmware update alone, it's still subject to the whims of iTunes connectivity. In fact, iTunes 8 seems to detect jailbroken devices jailbreaking attempts and then stomps its feet and refuses to play nice. While the DevTeam says that fixes are in the works, the growing list of useful applications in the AppStore coupled with the global retail availability of the iPhone (and lack of a 3G unlock) makes PwnageTool less and less relevant with each passing day.

Update: The problem seems to occur when you try to restore to an iPwned ipsw from a non-iPwned device. Syncing to an already Pwned device works fine.

Editor's note: The sentence above which states that the Dev Team's efforts are becoming "less relevant" is not an opinion which is endorsed by Engadget. Quite the contrary -- many of the editors here are die-hard fans of PwnageTool and the Team's work, and believe that their contributions to the iPhone community are hugely important. Thomas -- who lives in The Netherlands -- has a point in regards to users who previously had no access to the phone and were forced to import and unlock, or more casual users who likely find the App Store more approachable. Personally? I don't update my phone until the Dev Team has worked their magic, and they have Engadget's full support and respect. -- ed.

[Joe McGlynn @ Sep 11th 2008 6:31AM]

Just updated mine and worked fine :s

[Jack @ Sep 11th 2008 10:02AM]

The error message looks like its been low-ranked, engadget-style :)

[EatingPie @ Sep 11th 2008 11:44AM]

"....the growing list of useful applications in the AppStore coupled with the global retail availability of the iPhone (and lack of a 3G unlock) makes PwnageTool less and less relevant with each passing day."

Wait. What?

Not everyone owns a 3G iPhone you know! Let's look at lowly iPhone 1.0's capabilities...

You want to use another carrier. PwndgeTool.
You want to use GoPhone. PwndgeTool.
And *anything* that needs to run persistently (IRC, sshd, etc.). PwndgeTool.
You want functioning Unix and ssh. PwndgeTool.

The last is arguably limited in users. But the first three are imperative.

-Pie

[iPhoner @ Sep 13th 2008 2:36PM]

iPhone Dev Team Rocks don't you forget it! http://www.iphone-hacks.com/

[Jakob @ Sep 11th 2008 6:34AM]

My (official) Danish 16GB iPhone 3G is pwned and works just fine with iTunes 8.

[Marko @ Sep 11th 2008 6:36AM]

You got me scared for a moment. Fortunately, my 2g iphone still works nicely with itunes 8!

[Kristan K. @ Sep 11th 2008 6:37AM]

As an iPhone 3G user, I have never really understood the need to jailbreak the device because of the App Store.

[pispuso @ Sep 11th 2008 10:22AM]

Well Kristian, then you are loosing interesting stuff like Snapture that makes the Camera App even more crap, and Cycorder to record audio + video at great quality. Even just being able to SSH into your phone is still a good thing to jailbreak it.
And both, my 2G and 3G iPhones are playing nice on iTunes 8.

[Neeko @ Sep 11th 2008 6:45AM]

I take it youve never actually seen whats avail with a jailbroken device? MY touch was jailbroken months before the Appstore was even avail.

Its basically about having the power to put whatever app you want on your phone. And being able to customize as you wish.. I dont understand why APPLE refuses to allow you to change you icons and startup screens or add themes and etc. Why must every ipod and iphone look the same? Theres nothing a jailbroken phone cant do and more then the APP store.

Oh and iv had NO problems with my jailbroken touch with itunes 8 on my Mac at work. Im still trying to figure out if the upgrade was even worth it. Seems that genius thing is just ANOTHER way to pitch me to buy ITUNES music..WHICH I NEVER WILL.

[Dave @ Sep 11th 2008 6:53AM]

Winterboard is a great app that allows you to change all graphical aspects of the iphones springboard - something which unfortunately cannot be done through the Appstore.

[Andy TGD @ Sep 11th 2008 7:55AM]

Well said Neeko. I'm not sure about the Genius feature either. Apart from the obvious benefits for Apple in the form of targeted advertising, the Genius play list creation seems to be rather inaccurate (for me at least). It keeps lumping together totally unrelated music... I think I'll just stick to last.fm.

[phoomp @ Sep 11th 2008 8:32AM]

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or villify them...about the only thing you can't do is ignore them, because they change things, they push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."
- Apple, 1997

[JKT @ Sep 11th 2008 8:57AM]

I kinda agree with Kristan--I jailbroke my 3G and then found very little to install on it. Yes, Neeko & Dave, there was Winterboard. And that was literally about it. Just Winterboard theme after winterboard theme. I had been looking forward to getting my iPhone and freeing myself but then became rather disillusioned when I found that most apps were for 1.x firmware not 2.x. But I'm willing to give it another go if you can tell me what it'll get me other than just customizing my iPhone's appearance. I'm more interested in utilities that bring new functionality. Do you have a "top 5" apps that you'd recommend?

[FuzzyCat @ Sep 11th 2008 10:25AM]

You might like to try the following apps for your jailbroken iphone...


iRealSMS
MCleaner
Callme
ContactXfer
Categories
iCallBR
MxTube
MacMan

[Shunnabunich @ Sep 11th 2008 10:48AM]

As long as even one user out there wants to do so much as have wallpaper on their home screen, jailbreaking will remain as relevant as it's ever been. It's a stand-in correction of (what people who jailbreak view as) Apple's mistakes, until such time as Apple corrects them on their own or delivers acceptable compromises. It's the same reason ShapeShifter existed on the Mac platform up until Leopard broke it: some things, people just want to choose for themselves, regardless of whether it would make Apple's designers (or, in this case, lawyers or something) cringe occasionally. If Apple were to provide full themability for OS X and an environment for developing visual styles, perhaps with the dev tools, demand for Shapeshifter and its kind would drop dramatically, because its purpose would've been satisfied. Likewise, if they were willing, they could enable iPhone video recording, put in a single switch in Settings to either use the current wallpaper on the home screen or leave it black, and so on, and while jailbreaking would remain useful for certain other things (like the chap below who needs to use an iPod touch with Linux), it would indeed become *less* relevant, and happily so.

And I use an iPhone 3G too. It has a wallpaper on its home screen.

[Josh Bradshaw @ Sep 11th 2008 6:45AM]

DONT DO THAT *heart still racing*
thanks for the update, Mine all works fine and dandy!

[Thomas Ricker @ Sep 11th 2008 7:00AM]

Yeah, DevTeam quickly updated their post after freaking out the community.

Thomas

[Neeko @ Sep 11th 2008 9:16AM]

@JKT

Here are a few apps i use. Not a complete list though.

1.Customize
2.Winterboard
3.ContactFlow
4.AGILEMESSENGER..Kills the stupid crappy AIM messenger form the appstore.
5.FW Changer
6.Genesis4iPhone

There are many many more but since i only ahve a TOUCH i dont use the data apps like Orb or radio over EDGE apps. Do a little research im sure you can find something of use with a JAILBREAK.

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 11th 2008 6:45AM]

There ya go trying to do something useful with the thing...

[Jakob @ Sep 11th 2008 7:10AM]

"The problem seems to occur when you try to restore to an iPwned ipsw from a non-ipwned device." Why would you even do that? Thought you had to 'pwn' it?

[Smileypanda @ Sep 13th 2008 4:19PM]

As in your iPhone isn't pwnd yet but you want to make it that way.

[iMikeyMike @ Sep 11th 2008 7:14AM]

"PwnageTool less and less relevant with each passing day" ... ?!?

OK - I'll concede 90% of iTouch/iPhone users never will jailbreak.

BUT it's the DevTeam that's "keeping the b@stards honest" (to paraphrase Australia's Democrats ... do a wiki). The more people support 'em, the more chance Apple may consider not being so anally retentive and letting owners of these devices customise, install and hack away!

Without these living legends nipping at Apple's heels, it wouldn't be half the machine ... plus the 10% that are jailbreaking are in geek heaven, and could very well be inspired to code and write the next killer app...

Or even "Life Saving App™". Yeah. The life they save could be yours. Yeah. Yours. Or your mothers ...

OK - that was a bit of a long bow to draw ... :)

[z @ Sep 11th 2008 7:56AM]

Not to mention that until Apple changes their lockdown policy and strange rules, it continues to be just as useful and relevant as it's always been. The # of apps in the app store does not affect the issue.

[Ty @ Sep 11th 2008 7:14AM]

Applications are not whats important (Even though I love the tactile feedback app) I love using my 2G iPhone on TMobile USA. They don't have the best service but its good enough and getting better. Plus I only pay $80 per month for unlimited everything, 1000 minutes and unlimited nights and weekends.

But as stated above my 4GB iPhone hacked onto TMobile works fine with iTunes 8

[Kanaka @ Sep 11th 2008 7:41AM]

Worst photoshop job ever, an iPod error coming from an Apple TV?

[tijs @ Sep 11th 2008 7:46AM]

the apple tv already connected, the iPod can't connect because an error.

I know this is strange but there is a thing called screenshot.

[Bill Grove @ Sep 11th 2008 7:46AM]

Wooooo!!!! Backup is finally fast again!!!! And indeed, my jailbroken phone is fine with itunes 8. This is on the original iphone.

Yeah, the Winterboard app is one of the only reasons I jailbreak. Love the custom icons and backgrounds. Funny. I just looked on my phone, and the only apps other than the installers themselves that I have loaded from jailbreaking are Winterboard and Airshare! So indeed, Appstore has made it ALMOST unnecessary, at least for me. Winterboard for Appstore all the way!!! C'mon, Jobs! Let it through!!!

Bill

[rob @ Sep 11th 2008 7:53AM]

I luv DevTeam

[cmil1212 @ Sep 11th 2008 8:05AM]

i think it'd be cool if apple put out an update that permanently bricked all jailbroken iphones. I'd love to see it. Be good for a laugh :)

[sjkhuth @ Sep 11th 2008 8:23AM]

Oh my god, that would be AWESOME!! Seriously, die, please. Yeah, you.

[cmil1212 @ Sep 11th 2008 10:20AM]

Think about it. All these morons who walk around thinking they "pwned" something would have bricks. Would serve em right. I remain hopeful that apple finally releases a patch that bricks all jailbroken phones,. Rumor is, they're working on it.

[Backlin @ Sep 11th 2008 11:18AM]

Yeah, because we all know companies release updates that brick devices.

Well, at least Sony does.

[Sachin @ Sep 13th 2008 2:47PM]

Serves them right? for what? customizing something they BOUGHT? wow, maybe you should be sued for putting stickers on that Avery binder you BOUGHT last week. Jailbreaking is just as legal as putting stickers on a binder.

[Chris @ Sep 11th 2008 8:10AM]

so the pwned ipsw's work on pwned phones... and not on un-pwned phones... isnt that how its supposed to be i mean wtf?

as for "global availability" thats BS their are many countries including something as close to the US as the caribbean.

[Brian @ Sep 11th 2008 8:13AM]

If you think the AppStore will EVER replace some of the cool stuff available via a jailbreak then you (in my opinion) are sadly mistaken.

Point me to the free video recorder on the AppStore. Though not.

[sjkhuth @ Sep 11th 2008 8:16AM]

"PwnageTool less and less relevant with each passing day" wow, you're starting just like Apple, once the new product is out the old one doesn't matter all that much. What about those millions of 1G iPhones that are left from users upgrading to 3G? They don't need to be unlocked? I own one myself, and even though I don't care for the jailbreak part much (only unofficial App is BossPrefs) I like using it without the overpriced and underfeatured T-Mobile plan.

[maxmcleod @ Sep 11th 2008 8:17AM]

well there's your problem!
putting goldfinger on any mp3 player is likely to cause software to retard...

[eX @ Sep 11th 2008 8:21AM]

Suck it up you iPhone n00bs! Even MS doesn't pull that kind of crap on its users.

[Evinyatar @ Sep 11th 2008 8:38AM]

Riiiiight...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/17/microsoft-banning-hacked-consoles-users-from-xbox-live/
http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/11/microsoft-locks-modded-xboxes-out-of-xbox-live/

[Passive @ Sep 11th 2008 8:29AM]

"makes PwnageTool less and less relevant with each passing day"

Bullshit.

I run Linux, and to have a chance in hell at getting music on my wife's Touch, I need to jailbreak it. Never had that problem with:

- Cowon G3
- Toshiba YP-Z5
- Sandisk Sansa E280
- Blackberry Curve

So for those of us who want to use the hardware we paid for the way we want to use it, being able to jailbreak is essential.

[inteller @ Sep 11th 2008 8:57AM]

well dude I have zero sympathy for you there. if you insist on running linux then you already know what you are getting yourself into. trying to justify a jailbreak just so you can use it with an incompatible OS is not valid.

[puhsitch @ Sep 11th 2008 10:26AM]

Maybe better wording what have been "increasingly esoteric" instead of "less and less relevant." Jailbreaking will probably always be relevant for people in your type of situation, but for those who don't have specific needs, probably not so much.

[john @ Sep 11th 2008 8:44AM]

"In fact, iTunes 8 seems to detect jailbreaking attempts and then stomps its feet and refuses to play nice."

Then there's iTunes 8 on Vista machines which refuses to play nice if you connect an iphone or touch and have a printer from a small little company called "HP"

BLUE SCREEN

[Misha @ Sep 11th 2008 9:06AM]

iTunes 8 bricked my jailbroken 2.0.2 when I tried to restore. I fixed though

[Chris @ Sep 11th 2008 9:23PM]

Then it didn't brick it, right?

[Greg @ Sep 11th 2008 9:10AM]

Pwned

[morgan @ Sep 11th 2008 9:19AM]

Thanks for the NSFW album art Engadget....

[morgan @ Sep 11th 2008 9:20AM]

although I do like Goldfingers cover of 99 red balloons.

[w4rh34rt @ Sep 11th 2008 9:45AM]

Lol, NSFW! That...? What the deuce? Are you crazy. Jesus. You've obviously never saw a pair of tits.

[SteveJ @ Sep 11th 2008 9:22AM]

I use to have my iPod touch jailbroken. Before the 2.0 firmware was released I decided to get rid of it because there just wasn't anything truly worth having. It was fun to play around with and just to be able to do this stuff, but it wasn't actually useful. There were a few games I liked, but they weren't anything special and much better stuff is available from the AppStore, even the free stuff (there are some exceptions, such as PuzzManiac or whatever it is called, which I would have no problem paying for, but for some reason the developer decided to split it up into a huge number of individual applications which would just clutter up your iPod Touch. I wouldn't even take that for free. Still, none of it was really that great anyway.) Moreover, when updating firmware it was always best to do a restore and set up as a new device, not even recover from backup, which meant you lost all your app data and had to go back and set up your iPod touch how you wanted it again. It wasn't worth it.