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FatGuy007

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 8, 2012
326
0
New York
After returning to iOS from Android, probably the only thing I miss were the roms. Because once an iOS device is jailbroken, it's basically rooted. Is their a chip inside an Android phone that's not inside an iOS device, what's stopping them?
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,769
26,835
What?
What exactly do you mean when you say ROMs?
With Android and older WinMo phones it's possible to flash custom versions of an OS to the device. These are called ROMs and they can change the way the device functions, how the GUI looks or unlock certain features that aren't ordinarily available. Custom ROMs can be built around themes or specific features. There are tools available (much like jailbreaking tools) that allow these ROMs to be flashed.

Custom ROMS have a large following (most devs build them for free) and are one of the reasons Android is so popular; because you can customize your phone any which way you want.

OP, I don't think this is possible with iOS. But I am frequently wrong, so, you never know.
 
Last edited:

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
Oh, I thought he was talking about SNES ROMs or such.
Thanks for clearing it.
My take is if you JB an iphone you can install tons of different addons, tweaks, hacks, winterboard and dreamboard themes and such that can make the phone behave or act very different than stock.
Similar to what you experienced with android roms.
Once an iphone is JB sky is the limit. There's some really nice, usefull and very creative packages on Cydia.
 

Axious

macrumors member
Nov 1, 2012
39
0
Somewhere in the world
What?
What exactly do you mean when you say ROMs?

I think its the ability to change Android OS into a whole new experience.You can put IOS created roms into android so it look and feel like an IOS but it may not function exactly like IOS or you can put any version of Android with or without modifycation from developers. Basically its customization to the MAX its an Android thing i may be wrong
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,769
26,835
I would try poking around Cydia first, as Applejuiced mentioned, just to see what's there. At one point I had my iPhone 3GS setup to display the HTC Flipclock with Weather (5 day forecast) on the lock screen and one of my home screens. Cydia has a ton of themes for just about anything (and Android themes are popular).

You can accomplish quite a bit without a custom ROM if you dig deep enough.
 

dictoresno

macrumors 601
Apr 30, 2012
4,495
631
NJ
iOS is a closed source OS, like Windows. Linux, which Android is based off of, is open sourced. Therefore, anyone is able to take a distro and rework it to make it suitable for them. Since iOS is closed and not released to the public, theres no code to customize and build ROMS off of.

Personally, as an ex-Android user, custom ROMs are hit or miss and you are at the mercy of the writer. Some work really well, some dont. I wouldnt call myself a true purist, but of all the custom ROMs ive used, I could never find one I truly liked that didnt have some minor bugs. Not to mention, it was a pain to flash ROMs over and over again. Im satisfied that im not tempted anymore, like i did with Blackberry and Android, to keep messing with OS files and manipulate things.
 

Agent-P

Contributor
Dec 5, 2009
2,502
23
The Tri-State Area
I have to agree with the previous posters. While there aren't custom roms for iOS, with the plethora of various tweaks and customizations available via jailbreaking, you can pretty much create a custom rom yourself.
 

AppleFanatic10

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2010
2,802
295
Hawthorne, CA
Oh, I thought he was talking about SNES ROMs or such.
Thanks for clearing it.
My take is if you JB an iphone you can install tons of different addons, tweaks, hacks, winterboard and dreamboard themes and such that can make the phone behave or act very different than stock.
Similar to what you experienced with android roms.
Once an iphone is JB sky is the limit. There's some really nice, usefull and very creative packages on Cydia.

Lol. That's what I was thinking. I was about to explain the whole game ROM thing too. Glad that got cleared up.
 

FatGuy007

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 8, 2012
326
0
New York
Thanks for clearing that I mean custom roms, not game roms. But I mean roms like the Cyanogenmod rom on the iPhone. Roms that develpors made and you can flash.
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
Thanks for clearing that I mean custom roms, not game roms. But I mean roms like the Cyanogenmod rom on the iPhone. Roms that develpors made and you can flash.

No, cyanogenmod is only for androids.
Different OS's.
You cant get every thing you see on the android for the iphone.
Totally different ecosystems.
You cant install custom firmware with all the changes done up to them prior.
For the iphone you have to JB first and then make the changes with addons and JB packages to your phone.
It doesnt work the same way as androids.
Hope we explained it in a simple way for you. No such thing as custom ROM's for iphones.
 

yoli

macrumors member
Apr 7, 2012
37
2
Optimization

The pont of a custom iOS ROM would be optimization, since Apple does its best to force your perfectly capable 2-3 years old device, obsolete on purpose (let alone holding back essential and most sensible features from each release to make the next one a hit.) Just look at how iOS 8 works on iPhone 4S compared to iOS 7. And no, it's not because the hardware cannot handle it, before anyone believes what tech sites are citing all over the web. It's because that is how Apple forces you to buy a new iDevice. It's all about deliberate lack of optimization, and not only performance wise, but they don't even bother to tailor the UI to the screen size... and it's wrong from so many perspectives.

Why I just don't want to upgrade from iPhone 4S? Because I simply don't want a bigger phone, certainly not the size of an iPhone 6. For that I have an iPad, and in my pocket and for navigation I need something small and low profile.

And here it is, where a custom optimized iOS ROM becomes very much valid.
Plenty of examples are in the android world where group of devs provide bug free, enhanced, and greatly performance optimized ROMs.

In iOS, there is whited00r for older devices, and it's very promising with and active dev community.

The problem is, as of yet there's no exploit for A5+ chips, (iPhone 4S and up), but if enough people is gonna have enough, they prevail and Apple's gonna be very annoyed by that, like they are with jailbreak already.
 
Last edited:

j.m.kirkham

macrumors newbie
May 16, 2017
1
0
Optimization

The pont of a custom iOS ROM would be optimization, since Apple does its best to force your perfectly capable 2-3 years old device, obsolete on purpose (let alone holding back essential and most sensible features from each release to make the next one a hit.) Just look at how iOS 8 works on iPhone 4S compared to iOS 7. And no, it's not because the hardware cannot handle it, before anyone believes what tech sites are citing all over the web. It's because that is how Apple forces you to buy a new iDevice. It's all about deliberate lack of optimization, and not only performance wise, but they don't even bother to tailor the UI to the screen size... and it's wrong from so many perspectives.

Why I just don't want to upgrade from iPhone 4S? Because I simply don't want a bigger phone, certainly not the size of an iPhone 6. For that I have an iPad, and in my pocket and for navigation I need something small and low profile.

And here it is, where a custom optimized iOS ROM becomes very much valid.
Plenty of examples are in the android world where group of devs provide bug free, enhanced, and greatly performance optimized ROMs.

In iOS, there is whited00r for older devices, and it's very promising with and active dev community.

The problem is, as of yet there's no exploit for A5+ chips, (iPhone 4S and up), but if enough people is gonna have enough, they prevail and Apple's gonna be very annoyed by that, like they are with jailbreak already.
[doublepost=1494969356][/doublepost]there are no ios roms but you can find custom furmwares modified by developers and can be installed on devices with a boot rom exploit so they can run a modified furmwaare there a r no releasedd boot rom exploits released for devices newer than the ipholne 3gs but without the exploit on 32bit devices iphone 5/5c and older you can use kloader a way you can downgrade or launch a custom furmware testhered(works untill you reboot)
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,769
26,835
[doublepost=1494969356][/doublepost]there are no ios roms but you can find custom furmwares modified by developers and can be installed on devices with a boot rom exploit so they can run a modified furmwaare there a r no releasedd boot rom exploits released for devices newer than the ipholne 3gs but without the exploit on 32bit devices iphone 5/5c and older you can use kloader a way you can downgrade or launch a custom furmware testhered(works untill you reboot)
Thread was started in December 2012, which is 4.5 years ago. Last reply was in 2014, about 3 years ago.

I doubt OP has waited this long for your reply.
 
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