General TUTORIAL: This is how you can remove expiration from 7.1b2 to preserve JB in iOS 7.1!

EDIT (25/Feb): The JB'able betas (b1...3) are no longer signed, which means they can't be reinstalled using the method explained in the previous update. Sorry guys...

EDIT (19/Feb): GREAT news! If you still have iTunes 11.1.3 (or downgrade the current version, 11.1.4, to it – tutorial at http://awesometoast.com/downgrading-to-itunes-10-7-from-itunes-11-on-osx/ , dedicated post at https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18786314#post18786314 ), you can reinstall and activate 7.1b1...3 even now, way after their expiration.

Which, while they do have their own share of problems (incompatible JB tweaks like Display Recorder and no support for Lighting VGA/HDMI adapters – see my report at https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18644744/ . Note that all 30-pin adapters, being passive, work, as is also explained at https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18647464/ ), still offer way better stability in Safari, particularly on non-32-bit iPads, than the current 7.0.4.

See https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18786589#post18786589 for mKTank's step-by-step tutorial on installing these betas.


EDIT (23/Jan): another top tip: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18666815/


EDIT (28/Dec 20:05GMT): Now that a solution has been found, I'm rewriting this article. In the meantime, check out https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18559914/

Original post:

(Original thread title: Did anyone actually test the alleged 7.1b2 ReleaseType Beta Value removal? and, then, WARNING: 7.1b2 can NOT be made survive the expiration date! Only 7.0.4 will survive! )



As I've promised at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1688110/ , I had a closer look at the possible compatibility issues under 7.1b2, particularly because it's much superior to 7.0.4 WRT the UIWebView / Safari behaviour. In addition, I wanted to be sure my own tweaks / apps (see for example https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1566350/ and https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1538193/ ) I've updated to iOS7 yesterday are compatible with 7.1.x.

Unfortunately, iH8sn0w's advice HERE (also repeated in this very forum quite often; for example HERE) doesn't seem to work. If you do remove the ReleaseType/beta key/value pair from /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist :



and, after increasing the date to, say, Feb 2014, hard reset the device (so that SystemVersion.plist is re-evaluated), it'll get into exactly the same reactivation loop as without touching SystemVersion.plist at all:





Did anyone have any success with actually testing the hack with manually-set system dates after applying the hack?

NOTE: I've only tested this on an int'l GSM iPhone 5 but not on an iPad or an iPod touch. (Prolly it's the iPad, which isn't in need of phone activation, that other people had success with?) I've tested two times:

- first, I immediately changed the date after editing the plist file and, only after that, did I reset;

- second, I reset after editing the plist file and only after the reset (which booted in just fine) did I change the date to February, 2014. (Needless to say, the next reset resulted in the activation boot-up sequence, resulting in the need of a full restore.)

ALL IN ALL,

(at least if you have an iPhone), don't trust this hack - it won't prolong beta2 beyond 24/January/2014. It does not seem to work at all - at least not on iPhone 5's.

EDIT (27/Dec 4:39GMT): the hack doesn't work on iPads either (see below). That is, it seems you should not trust it.

EDIT (27/Dec 18:50GMT): I've received other reports of the "hack" failing (see below). This all means I was right: the hack no longer works with 71.b2.

braddick said:

Perhaps in real time it'll kick in and work.

Click to expand...

I don't think so. I've tested the stock (without even JB) 7.1b2 with the same methology (setup and, then, manually setting the system date to February, followed by a hard reset). It produced exactly the same symptoms.

This is why I'd like to know whether anyone has proof of this working. I know it did work back in the iOS5/6 days but Apple could have changed it in the meantime and iH8sn0w only called this the solution because of his past experience with older iOS versions, not necessarily 7.1b2. (Dunno if he has indeed tested the hack with 7.1b2 or just thought the old hack would work this time too.)

braddick said:

Time will tell.

(Cliche intended...)

Click to expand...

Yup... for the time being, I think it's the safest to stick with 7.0.4. After all, Apple can any time release 7.0.5 and abruptly stop signing 7.0.4.

braddick said:

yet have my iP5 jailbroken with 7.1 beta 2 (developer registered).

Click to expand...

Speaking of this - I haven't explicitly mentioned this in my OP: my iP5 is also dev registered (no "hacked" beta).

007p said:

How bad is 7.0.4 compared to 7.1

Click to expand...

I've published the results of my strict Safari / UIWebView memory tests over at the iOS7 forum. In the light of them, 7.1b2 is vastly superior to 7.0.4 on 32-bit iPhones (like the iPhone 5). The difference is much smaller on 32-bit iPads (like the iPad 3).

In addition, 7.1 seems to be much more compatible with legacy code than 7.0.4. I maintain several AppStore apps (mapping, pathfinding on maps etc. - that is, they're pretty advanced apps with more than a hundred classes) and have found several cases of my apps' working on 7.1 exactly as they would on iOS versions prior to iOS7. While, on 7.0.x, there have been UI glitches like clipped UIProgressView's in non-full-width table cells (only the uppermost 9 pixels have been shown of them in my legacy code etc.).

These, however, are all UI glitches and don't render that part non-functioning - just plain ugly.

007p said:

, hardly worth losing a jailbrake for is it :S?

Click to expand...

I'd say only if you're seriously annoyed by the Safari (or other Web browser) crashes. Otherwise, 7.1 doesn't seem to be that large a step forward.

This all only applies to 32-bit systems. 64-bit iDevices are stated to have profited much more from 7.1. I, however, couldn't test this myself so I don't know whether it's true.

007p said:

Regardless of going back to 7.0.4 be interesting to know how apple still makes it expire. I thought it was a little to simple too remove the expiry but I still wonder how else they do

Click to expand...

They had plenty (two+ years) of time - after all, the ReleaseType hack has been made advantage of even in the iOS5 beta times by the JB community.

braddick said:

I'm pulling up errors when I attempt to downgrade back to 7.0.4
(I've googled solutions, but still have issues.)

Anyone have info. on this?

Click to expand...

There shouldn't be any errors if you just use the Alt+click method. (Don't just click Restore without any key modifier - it won't work when returning to 704 from 71b2.)

braddick said:

I've downloaded 7.0.4 and 'option' click and restore (in DFU) yet come up with errors.

I'll keep trying (I've got the morning free!).

Click to expand...

Why did you switch to DFU? No need for that...

007p said:

Can you explain how to change the system date manually so I can confirm it on my iPad before going back to 7.0.4?

Click to expand...

General > Date & Time; untick Set Automatically and the pickers that, then, appear, select some date in, say, Febuary, 2014.

007p said:

Ha well that was fun, forgot to turn off 'find my iphone'. Jez thats annoying. Anyway, yeah its the same for ipad, got same error message (expired) and ipad wanted to set up as new.

Click to expand...

Thanks. That is, this hack is useless on iPads too. Will update the OP to reflect this.

Another report of the hack not working on multiple devices:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18553335/