Apple Issues Warning on iPhone Unlocking

[Eric Lewis]

in like 4 days after

there will be a new iUnlock app..that will work...so it doesnt matter

so true

hackers will win apple!

 

[shakastange]

I don't see the big issue. Every unlocking guide I have seen clearly states that future iPhone updates MAY disable the unlocks. Everyone who unlocked their phone knew what they were getting into. As long as you buy an iPhone before the new updates come along you can still unlock.

There is not way Apple can force you to update the firmware on your phone without getting into some serious lawsuits. I still run iTunes 7.0.3. Yes I get the messages to update but I don't care to. Same issue with the phone. If you phone is unlocked DO NOT update. You may miss out on some features but you will also miss out on having the ability to select whichever carrier you wish.

 

[jersey]

Freakin hater. Go pay $2 for your ringtone.

Ok......adding a ringtone for free isnt going to brick your phone when updates arrive (yes, they'll probably disappear).

We're talking baseband being flashed.


Catch up.

 

[Peace]

Hahaha Legit?? Why my unlocked phone is not legit to you?? I payed the same money as you did. And trust me its not gonna change anything. Even if some phones will die after that update its not gonna stop neither me nor anyone I know from unlocking their phones.

Famous last words..

I'm gonna sit back and watch you cry tomorrow or Wednesday because your iPhone is history.

 

[un1ty]

They've updated the article.

"We are not doing anything proactively to disable iPhones that have been hacked or unlocked," Phil Schiller, Apple's head of worldwide product marking told Reuters

Sounds to me like they are going to use the excuse that they were fixing a vulnerability and patch the unlocking hack.

 

[sblasl]

I think there is going to be a rude awakening in the next few days. As was stated by Apple, "...containing many new features...". They are also going to lock the iPhone up pretty tight, as tight as the iPod touch if not tighter which to my knowledge the folks attempting to hack/unlock the iPod touch had more or less hit a brick wall and have not been able to really get anywhere.

The "new features" are going to be significant and "must haves" by many but in turn your iPhone is going to be under Apple's control for awhile, a good long while this time.

 

[Superdrive]

Let's hope that 1.1 will be worth the wait. I really believe Apple has some good updates in store for us.

 

[DMann]

Brick FUD

I think update tomorrow.

And I think I might have been right after all. Unlocks were holding up the update. People told me no because it was too easy to reverse the unlocks and just relock. But they were figuring out a way to brick them which probably took more time.

Be nice if they released a safe relock restore tonight for people who will go legit. But then again bricking unlocked updaters will fairly kill future unlocking.

I know unlockers will be livid, but give Apple this: at least they warned you. You're feature frozen as of tomorrow but at least the thing will still work. They could have just bricked you and laughed.

A fix is imminent, if even deemed necessary. Apple is pretty well aware of the 230,000+ unlocked phones out there.... you think a mere warning will prevent the massive deluge of tech support necessary to deal with phone failures after an install? Not likely.

 

[shakastange]

Famous last words..

I'm gonna sit back and watch you cry tomorrow or Wednesday because your iPhone is history.

Really! I don't see how unless he updates his phone.

 

[LizKat]

It's just a warning. They didn't say it will brick your phone....just that it could and they won't support it. I just hope the update brings more than iTS.

I'm hoping for the option of manual music sync. I dislike having to work only through checking off playlists on the host computer. I like to drag and drop individual tracks or cherry-picked pieces of an album or an artist's works regardless of album. And to mix new playlists on the iPod (iPhone) while it's still docked. Be able to sort, split-browse, etc. what's on there, which one can't do now on iPhone; it behaves pretty much like Shuffles.

 

[Mydel]

Famous last words..

I'm gonna sit back and watch you cry tomorrow or Wednesday because your iPhone is history.

Trust me Imnot gonna cry. I know the ramifications. Worst case scenario..willl get a new one

 

[Peace]

They've updated the article.

"We are not doing anything proactively to disable iPhones that have been hacked or unlocked," Phil Schiller, Apple's head of worldwide product marking told Reuters

Sounds to me like they are going to use the excuse that they were fixing a vulnerability and patch the unlocking hack.

They ARE fixing something.

Really! I don't see how unless he updates his phone.

He will want to.

 

[Plutonius]

The only reason the statement was released by Apple was to cover themselves. I'm sure that in testing the upcoming patch, Apple discovered at least some of the iPhone hack methods were incompatable with the patch causing the phones to be unuseable.

 

[Stokkes]

They've updated the article.

"We are not doing anything proactively to disable iPhones that have been hacked or unlocked," Phil Schiller, Apple's head of worldwide product marking told Reuters

Sounds to me like they are going to use the excuse that they were fixing a vulnerability and patch the unlocking hack.

It's a darn good thing they updated the article. The previous statement would have easily been grounds for a class action lawsuit.

You can legally unlock your phone and if Apple came swooping in and bricked all those phones, well ****, throw my name into the hat for that lawsuit!

 

[Mydel]

The "new features" are going to be significant and "must haves" by many but in turn your iPhone is going to be under Apple's control for awhile, a good long while this time.

And what feature would that be?? iTMS?? Or keyboard update?? I couldn't care less about iTMS and modified my keyboard already together wit ability to turn off that stupid autocorrection feature. Turning off EDGE?? Why if I just switch SIMs?

 

[daneoni]

Not really surprised...they're a business with revenue to protect and contractual obligations to fulfill. Still think they should have done the SIM-Free route and would gladly have traded Visual Voicemail for that. Shame though....no iPhone for me then, which is weird coming from an avid fan BUT i just cannot bring myself to sign up to those O2 tariffs AND plunk down an additional 269 smackers only to get 200 texts/200 mins. Nah.

Was considering getting an unlock but i'll pass now (even though i know hackers will ultimately prevail) as i don't have time for a cat and mouse game and am not getting an iPod touch either....pointless really.

 

[Virgil-TB2]

So the question that begs to be asked, is Apple doing this intentionally or is it just an inevitable part of the software update process??...

It's more likely that they tested the coming update on a hacked phone and found out that it breaks it.

 

[BWhaler]

Let's hope that 1.1 will be worth the wait. I really believe Apple has some good updates in store for us.

I think it's going to be.

I have heard there are three new apps coming your way...

(Didn't the right align of the new iTunes store on the home page seem strange to you?)

 

[gwangung]

They've updated the article.

"We are not doing anything proactively to disable iPhones that have been hacked or unlocked," Phil Schiller, Apple's head of worldwide product marking told Reuters

Sounds to me like they are going to use the excuse that they were fixing a vulnerability and patch the unlocking hack.

Meh.

More likely, they're doing what they damn feel like to update, and if it breaks something, too bad (and it's likely to break something if it messes with the firmware).

It's certainly cheaper and quicker to update a system when you don't have to worry about knocking out 3rd party updates....

 

[shakastange]

They ARE fixing something.



He will want to.

An you really think Apple will be able to lock out the hackers permanently? I have full confidence they will be able to crack into Apple's updates. No company has been able to beat the hackers. And I doubt Apple will be the first.

 

[elgruga]

a lot of negativity surfacing here

I live in Canada (thats the permafrosty place just north of the US...).

I like the iPhone.
I know that its LEGAL to unlock your cell phone.
I bought an iPhone - legally from Apple in the US (Washington State, if you must know)
I unlocked my iPhone myself using the excellent instructions on modmyiphone.com.
Rogers (my cell provider) allow me to use the iPhone - I checked.
I am happy because iPhone is really f****** good and saves me time and hassle.

So whats the problem? I WONT be downloading any upgrades until the iphonedev folks OK it.

I dont CARE about new features because the iPhone, as it stands, has ALL that I need or want.

If Apple want to 'brick' my iPhone, they need me to download files to do that.

I am stupid, but not quite that stupid......

I thnk this is Apple's way of (a) keeping everything cool with AT&T and (b) warning those who have unlocked to NOT download the new changes until iphonedev have cracked it again.

Thankyou, Apple for the timely and polite warning.

Enough of the delight in the notion of destroying property on these forums.
Very nasty to see that - not nice to wish a damaged iPhone on a guy or gal who paid good, hard-earned cash for it.....



!

 

[Virgil-TB2]

Hahaha Legit?? Why my unlocked phone is not legit to you?? I payed the same money as you did. And trust me its not gonna change anything. Even if some phones will die after that update its not gonna stop neither me nor anyone I know from unlocking their phones.

It seems like your living in some kind of adventure story where the lone courageous hackers are out to "free the iPhone" or whatever but this noble war you imagine between the "good guys" and the "bad guys" just doesn't exist. I see very little evidence that Apple even cares about you or efforts to unlock the iPhone.

It might make a nice RPG, but reality it ain't.

 

[nato64]

A counterculture will rise forming a parallel world of equal magnitude. No doubt, fixes for reverting and/or upgrading functionality will be immediate.

I wouldn't be so optimistic. They haven't cracked the iPod touch yet and it seems that Apple has changed quite a bit in how their mobile OS X works...

 

[HTrig]

well this is unwelcome. i and many others i know had been planning to do this pretty soon. still before we start the fanboy ranting OR badmouthing apple we really have to get more information.

its all very well to speculate but without seeing the release, ideas on apples motives are just that. for now the best thing seems, to me at least, to just wait and if you really want to get an unlocked iphone weigh this in mind. (i know i will)

still once we get a look at what the update actually does, if it really does seem malicious im

 

[Virgil-TB2]

A fix is imminent, if even deemed necessary. Apple is pretty well aware of the 230,000+ unlocked phones out there.... you think a mere warning will prevent the massive deluge of tech support necessary to deal with phone failures after an install? Not likely.

This is either FUD of your own, a joke, or you've been taking the wrong drugs.