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Hackulous closure prompts rise of portals that allow bootleg iOS apps without a jailbreak
The somewhat unexpected shutdown of Hackulous' community, and the corresponding departure of related tools like Apptrackr and Installous, left iOS app pirates in something of a panic: many of those who jailbroke their devices expressly for ill-gotten goods suddenly lost one of their main sources. While they haven't earned much sympathy, they've also triggered a surge in services that don't require a jailbreak at all. Months-old pay service Zeusmos has seen a spike in popularity, but more recent upstart Kuaiyong is drawing the most attention. It's offering others' commercial releases through the web, for free -- and on a scale into the thousands of bootleg installs per app, suggesting that it may be abusing enterprise policies rather than Zeusmos' apparent reliance on developer slots. There's no immediate sign of a crackdown, but those app writers concerned about their revenue might take consolation in knowing that the risks might outweigh the rewards. iTunes syncing breaks the moment a pirated app reaches a device, and there's no guarantee that every copy will be malware-free. Zeusmos also claims to be clamping down on questionable sources in an attempt to steer users towards homebrew apps. Even with those disclaimers, it's still possible that Hackulous' end may have created more problems for some developers than it solved.
Daily Update for December 31, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Hackulous iOS app community closes
Jailbreakers and users of cracked iOS apps have one less thing to be happy about this New Year's Eve. Hackulous, the cracked app community for iOS, shut down as of yesterday. Along with Hackulous, Apptrackr -- which was a web-based index of cracked apps -- and Installous -- an app that was used to transfer cracked apps to iOS devices -- also shut down. The Hackulous team announced the shutdown in a statement: "After many years, our community has become stagnant and our forums are a bit of a ghost town. It has become difficult to keep them online and well-moderated, despite the devotion of our staff." Many in the jailbreak and cracked app community are not buying the story, noting that Hackulous still had many users. The Installous app was allegedly generating a lot of revenue for the team, as ads were served to users every time they performed an app-related action in the software. TorrentFreak attempted to contact Dissident, the admin of the Hackulous projects, for a statement, but he appears to be lying low. In the past, Dissident often preached about the need for users to be able to try out apps before buying them. Since trial apps are now more available, TorrentFreak speculates that Dissident may have felt the Hackulous "mission was over". Another possible reason for the closure could just be that there's no iOS 6 jailbreak coming soon. No jailbreak means that Installous and even the legal Cydia "alternative app store" will not function on new iOS devices. Whatever the reason behind the closing of Hackulous, it's certainly a blow for the jailbreak community. [via The Verge]
