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spellflower

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2005
236
16
My girlfriend has a 3 year-old iTouch running the most up to date software it can- 4.something. She tried to download the Kindle app, but a message popped up and said she needs to have iOS5.

How can she get the last version of the Kindle app that is compatible with her Touch?

I understand that developers can't be expected to keep updating apps for old equipment, but 3 years isn't exactly ancient.

My MacBook is going on five years old, and I can still download Safari and other applications that work on it, even if they're not the newest versions.

Please tell me there's a way to get older versions of apps for older iOS!
 

tevion5

macrumors 68000
Jul 12, 2011
1,966
1,600
Ireland
I'm afraid there is no way to do this properly. You will have to jailbreak your device or buy a newer ios device. I believe you have a second generation iPod touch running iOS 4.2.1 and there is very little current support for the OS and device.

MacBooks have much longer lives than iOS devices due to their much greater processors and memory

Sorry to tell you, but that's all that can be done :)
 

rbrian

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2011
784
342
Aberdeen, Scotland
There may be other eBook apps available for iOS4. If so, you can convert your Kindle books using Calibre and probably get them into the other app using iTunes filesharing. It's a bit clunky,and I can't promise it will work, but it's all free.

If you can afford to buy a new iPod Touch, the Retina display makes it much nicer for reading books.
 

brylliant

macrumors regular
Jul 18, 2012
193
1
United Kingdom
I have the same iPod touch running iOS 4.2.1.
The apps that work on it are very limited now.
The new apps are written with iOS 5 and 6 in mind. iOS 4.x is slowly being phased out by developers.

The only way to get your apps working is by jailbreaking or buying a new iOS device.
 

spellflower

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2005
236
16
That's disappointing. I don't understand why Apple can't make older versions of apps available for download, the way you can still download older versions of Safari if you have an old Mac. Seems like planned obsolescence to me, aimed at pushing users to unnecessary equipment upgrades. :(
 

TacticalDesire

macrumors 68020
Mar 19, 2012
2,286
23
Michigan
Most apps these days require at least iOS 4.3 unfortunately. And more and more are starting to require at least iOS 5. If she's still rocking a 2nd gen touch, her needs are probably pretty basic. Should can sell her second gen for around $60-80 dollars and use that to purchase a refurb 4th gen which supports iOS 6 meaning current apps will work on it for quite a bit longer. It will also be much faster than the second gen (I was rocking one until august, and while it wasn't slow, it wasn't exactly fast either) 128mb of RAM and a 533Mhz processor vs. 256mb of RAM and an 800Mhz processor. Going with a 4th gen would be her best and most cost effective option at this point. The longer she uses the second gen the more issues she'll run into with Apps not working for it.
 

spyguy10709

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2010
1,005
644
One Infinite Loop, Cupertino CA
My girlfriend has a 3 year-old iTouch running the most up to date software it can- 4.something. She tried to download the Kindle app, but a message popped up and said she needs to have iOS5.

How can she get the last version of the Kindle app that is compatible with her Touch?

I understand that developers can't be expected to keep updating apps for old equipment, but 3 years isn't exactly ancient.

My MacBook is going on five years old, and I can still download Safari and other applications that work on it, even if they're not the newest versions.

Please tell me there's a way to get older versions of apps for older iOS!
Hey buddy -

I've gone through this too, and it sucks.

What you should do is install either redd00r or whited00r on it - it's a custom firmware that has a special "old apps" appstore, that has older versions of apps that will run on your older device - it also has multitasking, and custom springboard backgrounds and other cool stuff.

Check out whited00r.com

(that's 0 as in zero, not o as in oh)
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
I'd like to point out that whited00r and any other d00r firmware is an illegal redistribution of iOS that constitutes as piracy. Apart from itself being pirated, it allows one to download pirated apps with ease. Something that MacRumors does not tolerate being discussed on their forum.
 

spyguy10709

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2010
1,005
644
One Infinite Loop, Cupertino CA
I'd like to point out that whited00r and any other d00r firmware is an illegal redistribution of iOS that constitutes as piracy. Apart from itself being pirated, it allows one to download pirated apps with ease. Something that MacRumors does not tolerate being discussed on their forum.

It's not illegal.

It's not piracy, at all. I'd like to point out that the WD team makes every effort not to pirate any content. They redistribute iOS - that's true. But nothing else in that statement was. That's not illegal, as your license to run iOS is contingent on your hardware, not where you got your software. They do not set up users with pirated content, they do not install any pirate app markets, they only redistribute free apps.
It doesn't allow anyone to pirate anything more easily than just installing cydia via jailbreaking. And MR doesn't have a problem with that, do they?

If anything --- it's a violation of apple's TOU - that you may not modify your device. That's not law, however.
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
They are redistributing Apple's copyrighted code without Apple's permission. In a court of law, that is called piracy. Furthermore, they're redistributing a modified version of Apple's code. Their old apps section allows a person to download App Store apps that have the DRM striped from them under the cloak of it being legal. The initial price of the app is immaterial, the process of stripping the DRM from the App Store apps and redistributing them without Apple's or the app's developers' permission is also illegal. Cydia itself and saurik the creator of Cyida are very much against piracy, quite unlike the people behind the d00r products who depend on it.
 

spyguy10709

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2010
1,005
644
One Infinite Loop, Cupertino CA
They are redistributing Apple's copyrighted code without Apple's permission. In a court of law, that is called piracy. Furthermore, they're redistributing a modified version of Apple's code. Their old apps section allows a person to download App Store apps that have the DRM striped from them under the cloak of it being legal. The initial price of the app is immaterial, the process of stripping the DRM from the App Store apps and redistributing them without Apple's or the app's developers' permission is also illegal. Cydia itself and saurik the creator of Cyida are very much against piracy, quite unlike the people behind the d00r products who depend on it.

That is not piracy as that software is available for free download, under license on your hardware. If you own a hardware device, you have a license to download and use the software. The DRM actually hasn't been stripped, the OS has been modified to allow all DRM to be accepted with a special flag - the flag that only 3Store adds on FREE apps. 3Store checks the Apple App Store to confirm the IPA it is downloading is currently free.

They aren't stripping DRM. Repeat after me. They are not stripping DRM.

Whited00r devs have spoken out against piracy on their platform, and contrary to your delusional belief - are good people that depend on donations, not piracy. Apple, who has gone after well-known piracy hubs (hackulo.us anyone?) has NOT gone after 3Store/Whited00r. Why? They're not breaking the law.

You seem hurt by these people. Do you have any specific complaints against them?
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
You're avoiding the illegal redistributing of Apple's copyrighted code without Apple's permission. That right there is enough to completely shut them down. iOS has two DRM acceptance levels, all or none. Either they disable all DRM, which could have adverse effects that make iOS rather unusable, or they're stripping the DRM from the App Store apps because they certainly aren't resigning the code with Apple's private key. Resigning the DRM is the only way they could "flag" the DRM to be allowed. The price of the app has nothing to do with it. It still violates many of Apple's rules and regulations and quite of few of federal laws that not only the US has, but many other countries as well. Apple has rarely gone after pirates themselves. They didn't go after hackulo.us until many developers pushed them into it.

And let's not overlook the biggest removal of DRM yet, the decrypting of the IPSW's disk images. Under technical standards, the encryption on the disk images is considered DRM, whited00r removes that. Thus, even under technical terms, they are removing DRM.

Let me explain to you how they depend on piracy. User A downloads the illegally redistributed IPSW that contains lots of Apple's copyrighted code without Apple's permission in direct violation of US copyright law. User A then likes the firmware and donates to the whited00r people. User A contributes to piracy and whited00r makes a profit from Apple's work without Apple receiving a share of the profits. The definition of piracy. That's how this would turn out in court as them making a profit from piracy.

I'm not a big fan of them because they redistribute some of my older App Store apps or old versions of my apps, much to my disdain. All of those older version are/were free and others are/were paid. These older version don't have any DRM on them anymore (I've checked them) and are only available through illegal means. Yet, can be gotten through whited00r's store. However the whited00r copy and the illegal means copy have the same attributes and the same checksums.

Lastly let's not forget that the software license that allows you to download and use the software on the device explicitly prohibits the modification and redistribution of the software. The license also states that only IPSW's downloaded from Apple are legal. I quote from the iOS 3.1 license:
3. Transfer. You may not rent, lease, lend, sell, redistribute, or sublicense the iPhone Software.
 

spyguy10709

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2010
1,005
644
One Infinite Loop, Cupertino CA
You're avoiding the illegal redistributing of Apple's copyrighted code without Apple's permission. That right there is enough to completely shut them down. iOS has two DRM acceptance levels, all or none. Either they disable all DRM, which could have adverse effects that make iOS rather unusable, or they're stripping the DRM from the App Store apps because they certainly aren't resigning the code with Apple's private key. Resigning the DRM is the only way they could "flag" the DRM to be allowed. The price of the app has nothing to do with it. It still violates many of Apple's rules and regulations and quite of few of federal laws that not only the US has, but many other countries as well. Apple has rarely gone after pirates themselves. They didn't go after hackulo.us until many developers pushed them into it.

And let's not overlook the biggest removal of DRM yet, the decrypting of the IPSW's disk images. Under technical standards, the encryption on the disk images is considered DRM, whited00r removes that. Thus, even under technical terms, they are removing DRM.

Let me explain to you how they depend on piracy. User A downloads the illegally redistributed IPSW that contains lots of Apple's copyrighted code without Apple's permission in direct violation of US copyright law. User A then likes the firmware and donates to the whited00r people. User A contributes to piracy and whited00r makes a profit from Apple's work without Apple receiving a share of the profits. The definition of piracy. That's how this would turn out in court as them making a profit from piracy.

I'm not a big fan of them because they redistribute some of my older App Store apps or old versions of my apps, much to my disdain. All of those older version are/were free and others are/were paid. These older version don't have any DRM on them anymore (I've checked them) and are only available through illegal means. Yet, can be gotten through whited00r's store. However the whited00r copy and the illegal means copy have the same attributes and the same checksums.

Lastly let's not forget that the software license that allows you to download and use the software on the device explicitly prohibits the modification and redistribution of the software. The license also states that only IPSW's downloaded from Apple are legal. I quote from the iOS 3.1 license:

Actually - remember that they're violating TOU, not against the law. They put their own "DRM" on, and the software included will only ignore Apple's DRM if this fake DRM key is present.
There hasn't been any encryption on iOS IPSW's since 1.1.4, IIRC. And decryption isn't illegal, my friend, DCMA protects us to a degree.

They do not profit, as a matter of fact I know the man who runs the project - he loses aprox. 50 dollars per month even with donations, just wanted to clarify it.

Seriously dude? You're being sort of a jerk about defending apple here- WD is completely in the legal right. If you want to get it off the WD store - CONTACT WD. At this point I can only assume you're lying (not saying you are... but still a possibility)
Hell, if you tell me what the name of your app is, I can get it off by the end of the day.

Check out WD's disclaimer. They don't support pirates, but pirates use WD's software. Just like how pirates use Saurik's software. And how pirates use YOUR software. Using your logic, YOU are a pirate because people can pirate your software.

-.-


I always liked your posts, you seemed like a logical guy up until now.

(And at the end of the day - Apple ALWAYS goes after pirates. Try and find a OS X DMG on any non-torrent site. I dare you.)
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
The only DRM the iOS will not fuss about is Apple's. Another DRM key cannot be added into iOS' DRM database because it would invalidate everything else and break iOS' security functions. whited00r cannot be signing the apps with their own DRM. Nor can they disable iOS' DRM functionality because then most of the security things, like WiFi passwords, user password, and secure websites, simply won't work. You say they don't strip the DRM. I say they can't sign it because iOS would reject it unless it was Apple's private key. Only one of those things can be done without Apple totally freaking out. Logic dictates that they strip it.

The IPSW itself is just a ZIP file, the various disk images inside are encrypted and always have been. The only ones that were not were a few ramdisk images for the iPad 2's iOS 4.3.X and the iPhone 4's iOS 5.0.1r1. All others have been encrypted. Decryption is still very illegal. Only a very few things able to legally be decrypted as set forth by the DCMA. The disk images within IPSW's are not one of those few things. In this case, the DCMA doesn't protect the decrypter, it protects Apple. It's only after the firmware is on the device that the DCMA protects Apple from suing someone that decrypts the on-device firmware.

I'm defending Apple here because I'd like to get some money out of my side hobby of making App Store apps or at least break even. Each year I have to spend $99 to be able to keep my apps in the App Store. I'm happy if I break even. I've yet to have a total loss of less than ~$24. Now if those that pirate my app actually bought it, I'd would have made a small profit of ~$18 last fiscal year.

You're still avoiding the illegal redistributing of Apple's copyrighted code without Apple's permission. Must be because you can't think of anyway to defend it.

I have found a some non-torrent disk images of OS X on the internet in the past. A few of them are still up. Besides the obvious ones hosted on apple.com, I've come across some on old hidden away FTP servers and the like. Most of them are small personal web servers I've discovered while dorking. Apple doesn't always go after pirates. If they did, all those sites that allow one to illegally download a pirated IPA, wouldn't exist. whited00r wouldn't exist either. Neither would those forums that specialize in cracking iOS apps.
 

spellflower

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2005
236
16
If Apple won't make old apps available to folks who own old devices, it seems inevitable that others will, regardless of legality.

Fortunately, I was able to use the backup of my even older iPhone to put many of my apps on my girlfriend's iPod. If not for that, we would have looked at other options...

Frankly, I find planned obsolescence to be immoral not just from the perspective of ripping people off, but also because of its environmental impact.

It's one thing to make better products that people want, but it's another to force people into throwing away devices that could have had years more use.
 

sebastian...

macrumors regular
Sep 11, 2011
245
14
I don't understand the companies who deny the possibility of buying older programs. And I'm not talking about the Apple and iOS. I'm talking about any software companies. I really want to buy x and z programs. I would pay even a double price yet I can't (I'm talking about 800 $ apps).

The way I see it - a software is like a book. It is written no ? With code. So it should be a law - all these programs should be uploaded and locked up in a public "software library" . Why do we have public libraries ? For the benefits of the population. So that the future generation can learn and so on.

While the xy app is for sale, of course it should be protected. But when a company no longer cares to sell it, because the company thinks it can no longer gather a good revenue - it should become free, public domain like. Don't want your app to be available to the public ? Of course, just keep it available.
 

lucasfer899

macrumors 6502
Sep 23, 2012
432
2
London
Honestly, apple should really stop this nonsense with not letting devices update to the latest software, and then telling said devices that they need to update their software, WHEN THEY CANT. Forcing users into buying new hardware. :mad:
 

Solver

macrumors 65816
Jan 6, 2004
1,220
3,192
USA
Please tell me there's a way to get older versions of apps for older iOS!


Yes and No. You can use vintapps in the app store to easily locate early apps still available for older devices. But, these don't include all the latest greatest updated apps that the new devices use.
 
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