Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Hackers could now bring Siri to the iPhone 4 without incurring Apple’s legal wrath






Hackers and modders have already figured out ways around Apple’s encrypted servers to bring the iPhone 4S‘s previously exclusive voice assistant Siri to Apple’s older i-devices.



Now however it looks like Apple might have undergone a change of heart, or at least allowed a lapse in security. There are still no official plans from Apple to bring Siri to the iPhone 4, but there are clues in iOS 5.0.1 that could give 4 users some Siri goodness via other means.


Previous third-party attempts to get Siri running on anything other than the 4S were predominantly thwarted by the encrypted ramdisks which held the system files for the service. Those who decrypted and used the files on devices such as the iPhone 4 were infringing on Apple’s copyright, however with the latest update of iOS 5.0.1, things are a little different.


This time around the ramdisks aren’t encrypted, meaning developers or the hackers and modders we talked about earlier can use those system files without getting on Apple’s bad side (for the meantime anyway). As such, iPhone 4 users could potentially be seeing full Siri functionality coming their way courtesy of developers/hackers no longer worried about encurring the wrath of Apple.


We can’t be sure if Apple meant to leave these particular files unencrypted or whether they’ll keep them that way, but as things stand, the 4S’s once unique voice assistant could well be making itself available to a host more iPhone users soon, when someone undoubtedly steps up to the plate to create a release.

No comments:

Post a Comment