It’s true: after the 1.1.1 update to the iPhone, I thought things would never again be the same when it came to installing third-party applications. But I should never have doubted my own sage words of advice. If anything, the latest method of installing third-party applications is even easier than the prior AppTapp method: you don’t even have to connect the iPhone to your computer.

Before installing, it’s recommended you get on a Wi-Fi network and set your phone’s auto-lock to “never” (under Settings -> General -> Auto Lock). Then just point Safari towards jailbreakme.com. Read the information, and then head down to the bottom where it says “Install AppSnapp.” Clicking that link will cause Safari to quit and return you to the home screen—but don’t touch anything yet. After a minute or so, the iPhone will return you to the “Slide to unlock” screen. And then you’re all set: on your Home screen you’ll find the icon for the new Installer.app (which, incidentally, is a lot slicker-looking than even the earlier versions).

Now, here’s the scary part. This hack relies on a vulnerability in Safari’s handling of TIFF files, meaning that essentially it’s giving arbitrary code on the web access to your entire phone. If that worries you, don’t install this hack. The good news, however, is that if you install the hack, it will supposedly patch that vulnerability. So there you go! Me, I’m just psyched to have third-party apps back.

[via Gizmodo]

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2007 at 11:42 am and is filed under iPhone News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.