Flashlight App Sneaks Tethering Into App Store [Pulled]

[skellener]

The developer needs to release the source code. If he did, all developers could have tethering on their non-jailbroken iPhones! Not possible to kill switch that!

Now that would be an amazing thing....if every one of the millions of apps had the same easter egg! 😱

 

[J hit&runner]

omg i grabbed it right before it got pulled off... is there any way that apple can prevent those who already got it from using it? Even if i dun update the app/iOS?

 

[Jigsawjammer]

Use the "location" feature in the network preference to have one just for tethering. makes it a lot easier to switch between the two.

Can someone really write this out step by step? I would love to be able to switch without putting in all the info every time.

 

[whitehk]

So wait did you accidently delete it somehow...or did you suddenly just say "I don't think I want this anymore" and then regret it....I could maybe see the first one somehow, but the 2nd is a bit odd.

I think part of it was feeling guilt about doing something illegal and part of it was me thinking it could steal my personal info or something. Looking back I don't know what I was thinking. Who cares if it's illegal. Thousands and thousands of jail broken iPhones have done this for years. And as for the personal info, what are they Gonna steal? My ssid? What the flip was I thinking?!!?!? Man. I need some rest.

 

[msubugzy]

Can someone really write this out step by step? I would love to be able to switch without putting in all the info every time.

Open Network Pref-------> Location pull down-----> edit locations-----> hit the plus sign

 

[mattwolfmatt]

Thank you MacRumors and arn for posting this. You've saved many people, a lot of money.

 

[Demarrer]

Open Network Pref-------> Location pull down-----> edit locations-----> hit the plus sign

My network location saves, but the actual network doesn't. I have to create a new network everytime. How do I avoid that?

 

[msubugzy]

I think part of it was feeling guilt about doing something illegal and part of it was me thinking it could steal my personal info or something. Looking back I don't know what I was thinking. Who cares if it's illegal. Thousands and thousands of jail broken iPhones have done this for years. And as for the personal info, what are they Gonna steal? My ssid? What the flip was I thinking?!!?!? Man. I need some rest.

well now i wonder if I'm a scum bag or something as the whole being illegal thing never crossed my mind as a worry...i just accepted it and said "yes i know its wrong but who cares"...if its any consolation at least it shows your a decent person

 

[iEdd]

Missed NetShare by less than 1 day. 🙁

Missed Handy Light by less than 20 minutes. 😡

Maybe in another 2 years, my 10 or so daily refreshes of MacRumors will line me up in a position to purchase the next killer app.

Still annoyed that Apple brown-nose the carriers by not just making tethering an on/off switch. It's as if no-one is allowed to buy knives because it's possible to break the law by stabbing someone. (My contract and ToS do not prohibit tethering!)

 

[whitehk]

well now i wonder if I'm a scum bag or something as the whole being illegal thing never crossed my mind as a worry...i just accepted it and said "yes i know its wrong but who cares"...if its any consolation at least it shows your a decent person

True,true.

 

[imaginex20]

Woot, so glad I decided to check my news at the right time. I purchased this app immediately knowing the fact that Apple was going to pull the App. The same thing happened last time when I wanted NetShare and it got pulled.

I am posting this while tethering my i4 to my Unibody macbook. I created a second "location" under network settings with the socks proxy configured, so all I have to do is create my ad-hoc network, select the location, launch iphone app and viola, I am tethering.

It is so much easier to do this on a mac than it is on a PC 🙂

 

[andyplace]

Missed NetShare by less than 1 day. 🙁

Missed Handy Light by less than 20 minutes. 😡

Maybe in another 2 years, my 10 or so daily refreshes of MacRumors will line me up in a position to purchase the next killer app.

Still annoyed that Apple brown-nose the carriers by not just making tethering an on/off switch. It's as if no-one is allowed to buy knives because it's possible to break the law by stabbing someone. (My contract and ToS do not prohibit tethering!)

Sign up for macrumors tweets and have them sent to your cell phone. I never miss a story this way 😉

 

[analytical44]

1. Create network on mac, call it anything
2. Select that network on iPhone, then apply IP of 13.37.13.37 and subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 then back out of iPhone settings.
3. Return to network settings on mac, turn on SOCKS proxy and enter 13.37.13.37 : 1337, then apply settings.
4. Return to iPhone, fire up app, make the screen purple
5. Return to mac and try out the Internet

I appreciate the response, but aren't those the same directions? I know it may seem like it but I'm really not an idiot. I attached screenshots, if anyone sees anything wrong please let me know but I'm fairly sure that I followed instructions correctly.

Edit: Notice my AirPort light is yellow instead of green and under status it states that I have a self-assigned IP and won't be able to connect to the internet. In the dev's video, his AirPort light was green and it said he "may not" be able to connect to the internet. Any ideas?

 

[jinx1181]

Open Network Pref-------> Location pull down-----> edit locations-----> hit the plus sign

I created a new location as well as my previous wifi connection, but when I try to switch between the two it seems to only remember the last connected source. Tried changing the settings as administrator and locked it after, but no luck 😕

Anyone else having this problem?

 

[analytical44]

And this is the end result...

 

[alansmallen]

My iPhone 4 won't connect to my ad-hoc network, anyone else having the same issue?

alan

 

[AP_piano295]

well now i wonder if I'm a scum bag or something as the whole being illegal thing never crossed my mind as a worry...i just accepted it and said "yes i know its wrong but who cares"...if its any consolation at least it shows your a decent person

But is it actually wrong? Your paying for the service (some 80-100 dollars a month correct) to me it seems more morally wrong for AT&T to be limiting how people use the the product they are already paying and exorbitant fee for.

 

[skellener]

I hope he enjoys his 15 minutes of fame before he realizes that he now wont be able to get into any good colleges. Not that it matters since his college fund will all go to Apple and legal fees.

There's a good chance Apple will kill the app since it's intent is to illegally steal service from AT&T (bitch all you want but thats the legal situation). Now in that case everyone that bought it will have their money refunded from his developer account. Of course Apple keeps its 30% so he will be on the hook 30% of the sales out of his own pocket plus there is a strong chance Apple will sue his ass for the stunt.

Apple approved it. As a Flashlight app, it did everything it was supposed to. So there's an easter egg, it's still legit. I say the kid (who is only 15) is gonna be fine. What are they gonna do? Put him iPhone jail? To be honest this little easter egg will look pretty good on a resume. More power to him.

iphone-socks-proxy

Source for an iPhone App that is a SOCKS Proxy. It allows you to connect your laptop to the Internet through the iPhone's 3G/Edge connection (tethering) without having to jailbreak your iPhone. If you want to install the application on your iPhone you will have to build and install the App from the the supplied code. The code is completely legitimate and does not use any undocumented APIs and NO JAIL BREAK is required.

 

[Jigsawjammer]

Open Network Pref-------> Location pull down-----> edit locations-----> hit the plus sign

Thanks- then what?

 

[msubugzy]

I created a new location as well as my previous wifi connection, but when I try to switch between the two it seems to only remember the last connected source. Tried changing the settings as administrator and locked it after, but no luck 😕

Anyone else having this problem?

Yeah i have no clue how to get around that part...but making the ad-hoc only takes a few sec...i understand its an inconvenience but I feel totally worth it as I'm saving $20 a month when i want to use it..in other words...sorry don't know a way around that

 

[cazlar]

As someone else already reported in this thread, the app will deliver a proxy pac config file when you hit http://13.37.13.37:8080 from a web browser when you're connected via the ad hoc WiFi network. Here's the contents:

function FindProxyForURL(url,host) { return "SOCKS 13.37.13.37:8888"; }

Doubt it would work setting http://13.37.13.37:8080 as the auto proxy config URL since it returns the correct IP but the wrong port for the SOCKS proxy server. Looks like the dev didn't spend too much time messing with that part of the proxy code.

Ack. So it did have the modified thing for self-serving a .pac I mentioned earlier on in the thread - this would have been perfect for linking to the iPad where you cant manually set SOCKS settings. But if the .pac it serves points to the wrong port (8888 rather than 1337) then it is useless - and the dev won't have a chance to fix the bug.
So close (only a few characters), yet so far...

It may still be possible to serve a .pac from another app though - http://andre.arko.net/2010/04/04/ipad-internet-via-iphone-without-jailbreaking/ talks about doing it via Air Sharing

 

[msubugzy]

But is it actually wrong? Your paying for the service (some 80-100 dollars a month correct) to me it seems more morally wrong for AT&T to be limiting how people use the the product they are already paying and exorbitant fee for.

Don't get me wrong, I'll sleep like a baby tonight....I just sometimes worry that the era of Bittorrent and such has warped me a little....now saying that what am i going to do...Start paying for stuff? Pfftt

 

[coryndiego]

Who's fault is it?

Really, if Apple is responsible for what is posted, approved and sold through their coveted app store. How could they go after this kid or his mother? What type of testing do they conduct as a part of their approval process? I would think that they would open the code and take a look at how its built. There are hundreds of apps that get denied for reAsons I'm sure are similar or violate AT&T and\or Apples policies and they don't get sued for trying to put it through. I will be interesting to see how this pans out.

 

[PoitNarf]

Ack. So it did have the modified thing for self-serving a .pac I mentioned earlier on in the thread - this would have been perfect for linking to the iPad where you cant manually set SOCKS settings. But if the .pac it serves points to the wrong port (8888 rather than 1337) then it is useless - and the dev won't have a chance to fix the bug.
So close (only a few characters), yet so far...

It may still be possible to serve a .pac from another app though - http://andre.arko.net/2010/04/04/ipad-internet-via-iphone-without-jailbreaking/ talks about doing it via Air Sharing

Well even though I'm fairly confident it won't work (I didn't test it myself), it's worth it for someone to try it with port 8888 instead. Perhaps the SOCKS proxy is listening on that port as well?

 

[andyplace]

Really, if Apple is responsible for what is posted, approved and sold through their coveted app store. How could they go after this kid or his mother? What type of testing do they conduct as a part of their approval process? I would think that they would open the code and take a look at how its built. There are hundreds of apps that get denied for reAsons I'm sure are similar or violate AT&T and\or Apples policies and they don't get sued for trying to put it through. I will be interesting to see how this pans out.

App store reviewers don't get to look at your source code. Your binary, however, is passed through a static analysis tool to check for private API usage.