The jailbreak community has fostered incredible iOS innovation and created friendships that span continents, but there’s an unfortunate underbelly associated with jailbreaking that continues to thrive: app piracy. Sadly, millions of people still jailbreak their iOS devices only to download paid apps from the iOS App Store for free.
Installous, the main hub of iOS app piracy, just received a big update that makes the process of downloading cracked apps even easier.
Disclaimer: Cult of Mac does not condone app piracy. You’re getting something that costs money for free without the seller’s permission, which is considered stealing in most circles.
The Hackulous community has been reverse-engineering Apple’s DRM since the App Store’s debut on the iPhone in 2008. Apptrakr is a web-based index for cracked iOS apps that serves millions upon millions of unique pageviews per month. Apptrakr is the heart that pumps cracked apps through the veins of Installous, a free storefront app that can be downloaded through Cydia.
Why do these hackers crack legitimate App Store apps and offer them to the world for free? Hackulous was birthed out of a frustration with the fact that Apple does not allow trials of paid apps in its App Store. Many developers resort to free or ‘lite’ versions of their apps to entice buyers, but the Hackulous community doesn’t think Apple is doing enough.
Over the weekend, Installous was updated to version 5.0. The update brings BitTorrent integration, allowing pirates to download cracked apps via peer-to-peer .magnet links. “Installous is the first mobile installation client to support BitTorrent downloading,” said Hackulous frontman Dissident. “This is a huge milestone for the community, and we plan to progress further with future updates.”
“Installous uses magnet links, a decentralized way of obtaining torrent metadata,” said Dissident. “As a result, we don’t host any .torrent files. We also use peer exchange (PEX), otherwise known as trackerless torrents. Both of these features make the entire process completely decentralized and uninterruptable. Demagnetization may be slow in some cases (especially for obscure apps), but we’ll be working hard to speed up that process.”
You would previously have to download a cracked app from a random file-sharing site. According to Dissident, the latest Installous now features the ability to pause and resume downloads, an option that most file-sharing sites don’t give to free users. BitTorrent also provides faster download speeds and more reliable connections for pirates to download cracked apps.
Thanks to the new BitTorrent integration, “Installous will seed from the device only while the download is ongoing, and only if you’re on WiFi. When the download finishes, it will stop seeding. We use libtransmission from the famous Transmission OSX client, which includes support for all modern BitTorrent features (DHT, UPNP, encryption, etc.),” according to Dissident.
Installous 5 also integrates with iOS 5’s Notification Center to display updates for cracked apps on a jailbroken iOS device.
Back in 2010, Hackulous said that Installous was installed on 8-9 million jailbroken iOS devices.
Via: TorrentFreak
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
21 responses to “iOS App Store Piracy Just Became Even Deadlier [Jailbreak]”
It’s things like this (Install0us) that give us jailbreakers a bad name.
I %100 percent agree. I jailbreak for free tweaks and paid tweaks, no different than someone downloading a free or paid app from Apple’s App Store. This is seriously sad because I dont like being associated with pricks that steal from hard working developers.
I agree, this sucks…I wish Apple had a try-before -you-buy option to thwart this (but people would still steal) and it does give jailbreakers and the DEV-Team a tarnished image. I pay for ALL my cydia Tweaks and apps through App Store.
Jailbreakers already have a bad name.
That thing they say about people wanting to try the apps first is a total lie. Allowing trials won’t stop stealing because a real “trial” in the app store will be limited, whereas by “we want to try it out first” the people who steal apps generally mean “I want to try the app for a week and then if I still like it I might pay for it.”
Why even publish a article like this? Now even more people will check it out and end up pirating apps. Good job Cult of Mac!
downloading cracked apps and saying that “thats just because Apple doesnt offer a trials” is a cheap lame excuse. 99% of the user of cracked apps do not download them just for testing. I observe the jailbreak community and the installous community since the beginning. I know why people use cracked apps instead of the lite versions. shame on them.
unsubscribed. Your disclaimer just rings so hollow.
This sort of thing will give Apple the legitimate excuse to shutdown Cydia.
Everyone benefits from the creativity that comes out of the Cydia community. But Cydia needs to uphold some standards or risk being completely shutdown.
I am throughly disappointed in Cult of Mac, you’ve lost credibility from my point of view!!
Okay Cult of Mac, I can’t believe you posted this trash. Shame on you!
Piracy is NEVER going away. But that doesn’t make it right. What if someone stole $10 from you everyday? That’s how these developers feel, because it’s really happening. I don’t mind that Cult of Mac posted this because it raises awareness. If they posted an article on how jumping into a pit of fire would kill you, are you going to go out and try it just to see what happens? Come on people you damn well know Cult of Mac isn’t promoting piracy. Ironically enough, all the people who hated on them posting this article probably have downloaded installous At least once or use it regularly…
If you’re going to unsubscribe or hate on Cult of Mac because of this article, please do so. I’d rather not hear you wine about stuff… :-)
Shame on you Alex Heath and Cult of Mac. You think your disclaimer makes it ok? Think again.
Other than being able to do cool things and get cool apps that was never approved by Apple, I never got the desire to jailbreak. Most of the apps I use are free in the App Store anyway. I have purchased some apps, but its not like they are $10, $20, or even $100. Like computer software. A buck here, a buck there isn’t a strain on my wallet.
While I agree that pirating apps is wrong, I have used Installous once before to try out an expensive app before actually buying it. It was helpful in that scenario, so app developers should really try to make trial versions or lite versions.
Writing an article about how cracked apps hurt developers raises awareness.
What a sucker you must be to buy a 700 bucks device just to steal an 1 buck application…
It is a pretty big hassle to jailbreak your phone, find a link that works to download the stolen application and then stay up to date with all the updates. Not to mention some applications such as “Directv” do not even work with a jailbroken device. Just pay your $.99 for the application and life is so much easier.
I have a jailbroken device with Installous installed. I’ve actually only used it one time, to test out a 20 dollar app before dropping 20 bucks on it. I know I’m in the minority, but for me the app actually works as it should. Testing a 1 or 2 dollar app seems ridiculous since the amount of time spent just getting it on the device wouldn’t be worth it. But for expensive apps, well worth it.
I think Installous is awesome! Kudos to Cult of Mac. Frankly the Installous guys and the free thinking world don’t allow themselves to be dictated by Capitalism! They believe in Socialism at its best! Everyone has the right to access things freely. Everyone should share freely. Nobody should be shackled by monetary currency, and everyone should donate generously (if they within the means). That way, the world will be stifled from poverty and crime as there will just be no need for it. Countries will not invade peoples right by invoking lies in the media to instigate a war for there own ends so that they can steal their mineral wealth. Why steal when nobody will buy things. Everybody just shares generously. Wow, thats the way to go.