Installer.app, the app store before that other app store, is coming back for firmware 2.0 and being re-fashioned as Installer 4. Currently, jailbroken 2.0 iPhones are using Cydia as their main app pipeline but when Installer 4 is released, well, they’ll likely play nice with one another and especially nice with that other app store.

The RiP Dev Blog has a lot of complicated, programmer’s type language describing the updates for Installer 4.0 so I’ll try to translate to more understandable, layman’s terms: It’s going to be faster, safer, and more integrated. Bang.

The release of Installer 4.0 seems to be imminent but well, really, there’s no rush, many of the apps that were available for 1.1.x aren’t quite ready for the big time yet. So take your time with Installer 4.0. We here at TiPb would almost always prefer a little delayed polished product over a rushed, rough, not as advertised..yeah, we’re looking at you MobileMe.

ReadVia

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Installer.app for 2.0 is Coming Soon

I’m starting to think I really do have clout around this interweb thing (I can dream)

First, Installer.app received a search feature after I complained about the lack of it in my review. Now, my other complaint, the slight hesitation after installing new programs that sends you back to your unlock screen, has been fixed. It now quickly relaunches your Home Screen to seamlessly load the newly downloaded programs, which essentially makes Installer.app and its functions even more integrated into the iPhone.

Other noteworthy items in the update include the ability to refresh one source at a time and a search feature in the Uninstall category. Now in v3.11, Installer.app is becoming a powerhouse of a program and perhaps the most integrated native app that jailbreaking has to offer.

Installer.app is automatically installed when you jailbreak your iPhone with iLiberty+ or ZiPhone.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Installer.app Updated, Even More Integrated

Can’t wait any longer for Native Apps? Me neither. (Late) June seems too far away? I’m with you. So why wait, when you can jailbreak! Over the next couple months before 2.0 is released, I’ll give you guys a glimpse into the jailbroken world of native apps every week. If we don’t find anything life-changing, hopefully we’ll learn a few things along the way. Plus: let’s face it, Jailbreaking isn’t going anywhere. The SDK is awesome, but some people won’t settle for anything less than full-on access to all the hidden bits of the iPhone.

Today, we start with another look at the ever-evolving program that is Installer.app. Developed by the guys at Nullriver, Installer.app is the first app you see after jailbreaking. Its main goal is to serve as an outlet for all the rest of the iPhone’s native apps and it has come a long way since we first showed you how to use it. Does it succeed? Is it effective? Can Apple learn something from Installer.app?

Read on for the rest of the review! (and remember you’ll need a Jailbroken iPhone to take advantage of this native app)

One of the biggest arguments against the iPhone is the lack of native apps available for it. Because of the closed nature of the iPhone, many people argued that it can’t truly be considered a smartphone. To many, a smartphone isn’t a smartphone until you have apps that can make that phone, well, smarter. Which makes sense, why have a tool as powerful as the iPhone if you can’t really utilize it? That’s where jailbreaking steps in. After jailbreaking, the Installer.app is displayed on your Home Screen and with just one touch, your iPhone gets even smarter.

Purpose

In short, Installer.app is a program manager, software updater, and downloader in one piece of software. You download programs, install programs, update programs, and uninstall programs in a one-stop shop. It’s like combining the best parts of Finder, iTunes, and VersionTracker into one. The embedded tabbed nature of the program allows one to fluidly jump from one task to another without any hiccups.

Design & Layout

I’m a sucker for well-designed icons on my iPhone. It annoys me to no end when a site’s web clip is poorly constructed or even worse, non-existent. I know, we can design our own, but I would still much rather have those developers create a good-looking icon for me. Good icons = more clicking. Luckily, the Installer.app icon is a thing of beauty. With a Safari-esque blue, the icon looks very much a part of the Apple family.

The layout of the program is simplistically and stylishly designed and creates a streamline look with the rest of the iPhone’s pre-installed programs (iPod, iTunes Store, etc). The folks at Nullriver did a great job in creating Installer to look as if Apple had created it themselves. From the spacing to the tab structure, Installer.app is as clean and easy to use as any program on the iPhone.

In the latest iteration, the Installer.app opens with a list of Featured programs, similar to how the iTunes Wi-Fi store opens with Featured Songs. There is a black row of tabs, again taking obvious design cues from the iTunes Wi-Fi Store, that displays buttons for: Featured, Install, Update, Uninstall, and Sources.

Usage

The whole user experience of Installer is very straightforward and extremely easy-to-use. Even for the unsavviest of iPhone owners, finding apps should be a cinch because of the great categorization of the apps. Clicking on the Install tab would provide categories that apps will be in such as:

• Recent Packages
• Games
• Multimedia
• Network
• Productivity
• System
• Themes
• Utilities
• Wallpaper

..and many more. From my personal experience, carrier app stores like those in other phones are extremely cumbersome and slow, the Installer.app is quick to use, easy to learn, and very, very fluid. I have had no issues of crashing, freezing, or anything of that sort. From the looks of it, Installer.app is as stable as they come.

Once you find a program that piques your interest, all it takes is one click and it’ll automatically download and install to your iPhone. Installer.app warns you if some programs are not from ‘trusted sources’, but from my experience, those prompts are not as serious as it sounds. Installer.app also provides short descriptions on native apps that give you a better idea on what the app offers.

If you can’t find the program you want, you might have to add sources. I’ll provide you with a rough analogy to explain what that means, so bear with me here, if Installer.app was a Mall, Sources would be the stores that fill up that Mall, and Apps would be the items that make up that Store. All across the web there are great Sources that could be added to Installer.app which leads to many more native apps that can be downloaded to your iPhone.

The great thing about sources is that you can personalize the Installer.app to consist of what you want it to consist of. Using the same analogy, Installer.app is your personal Mall for iPhone. Once you click on the Sources button, you can Add and Delete Sources for the Installer.app to check for their programs. Thus, if you find a few developers that make great programs, you can add them and if you find some developers you never download from, you can delete them. This personalization is very useful in keeping the junk away from your Installer.app and bringing the best programs to the forefront.

Uninstalling is just as easy as Installing. You tap the Uninstall tab, and find the native app you don’t want anymore, and tap Uninstall on the screen.

Installer.app’s speed on Wi-Fi is expectedly, incredibly fast. Programs download in mere seconds and sources are updated just as fast. EDGE does well considering most native app sizes are measured in the KB’s, but you might want to stay away from larger sized files until you have a Wi-Fi connection.

Criticism

An annoyance I found in Installer.app is that once you have downloaded new programs and exit Installer, it’ll hesitate a little on your Home Screen and then bring you back to your unlock screen. This is probably because it has to re-set your Home Screen in order to load the new apps but it is an annoyance nonetheless. If Installer.app could ever figure out a way to integrate programs as seamlessly as web clips, who would even need an App Store!

Also, I found that like all the other iPhone programs pre-installed, the Installer.app has a definite need for integrated search. In the days of Google and Spotlight, search has re-defined the way we find things and open programs. With a search engine, it’d be much easier to more efficiently find programs than having to peruse the categories for that one single app.

Final Thoughts

When the App Store in 2.0 is released, it will already need to catch up to Installer.app because Installer.app is just that good. As if it was made from the folks from Cupertino themselves, the Installer.app’s design and user interface is streamline with the rest of the iPhone’s first-party applications.

I loved the ease of use and overall design, anyone who opens up Installer.app can more or less figure out how to work with it. I can’t imagine what the future App Store will look like because it’s difficult to imagine it any different from what Installer.app already is.

Though the Installer.app has come a long way, adding features like search and finding a better solution in loading programs to your Home Screen are all issues that should be fixed in the next couple of iterations. Having just taken the first steps into the jailbreaking world, I am convinced that the Installer.app is a good enough reason to jump over. There are few apps as polished and even fewer that provide the type of user-interface the iPhone was created for.

Pros

• Great User Interface
• Streamline Design
• Ability to Personalize Installer
• Easy to Learn
• Native Apps Galore!

Cons

• Awkward Refresh of Home Screen After Installing Programs
• Could Use a Search Feature

Overall: 4.9/5

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Review: Installer.app, Native App-a-Week

Ever since the iPhone was announced, people have been clamoring to write native applications for it. Sadly, Apple has not yet released the tools necessary to develop those apps. However, if you’ve been following the iPhone news you realize that the iPhone has been “hacked.” What does this mean to you, the nonhacker? Well it means that thanks to the mighty efforts of many dedicated people, you can install applications directly onto your iPhone. The best part, it’s easy. Read on for our full How-To on how to hack your iPhone so you can install applications.

Step One: Update and Backup

First up: update iTunes. Just open up iTunes, go to the ‘Help’ menu, and select ‘Update iTunes’. You can also click on ‘Apple Software Update’ from the ‘All Programs’ section of your Start Menu. If iTunes informs you that it needs to reboot, do it. As of this writing, you can use the simple hacking method described in this article with any recent version of iTunes. I write that because it’s theoretically possible Apple will prevent it from working in the future. On the bright side, the fact that they haven’t stopped it yet is a good sign. If this first step ever changes, we will update this article to let you know.

Updating iTunes: Open up iTunes, select the ‘Help’ menu, then click on ‘Check for Updates’. OR…

Click your Start menu, select ‘All Programs’, and click on ‘Apple Software Update’. Either one should be fine.

What you’re about to embark on isn’t supported by Apple, but nevertheless it’s been proven safe and easy by thousands of users. Still, it’s always a good idea to do a backup before you do anything major with any computing device, including your iPhone. Backing up your iPhone is simple – just sync it to iTunes. Done.

(If you want to be extra-careful, it may be worthwhile to create a System Restore point before you proceed, so you don’t mess up any of your mail, contacts, or bookmarks.)

Step Two: Download AppTappInstaller

Head on over to http://iphone.nullriver.com/beta/, where you’ll find the download for the Windows version of AppTappInstaller. Click the download link in the big orange box (and feel free to ignore the copious amounts of technical jargon on that page). They do have a direct download link for the Windows version, it’s available at http://www.nullriver.com/~adam/AppTappInstaller.exe

…Believe it or not, you’re halfway done!

Step Three: Hack Your iPhone!

Now open up AppTappInstaller.exe – you can put it in your start menu if you like, but I just ran it directly from my Desktop. It almost makes more sense to do it that way, because:

1. You probably won’t have to go through this process again anytime soon
2. If you do ever need to redo it, you’ll want to download the latest version of the installer anyway.

So now we’re greeted with the opening window, which has a warning in RED, so you should read it:

You already updated iTunes in step one, so the only thing you need to do here is quit iTunes. If you haven’t done so already, place your iPhone in the dock, let it sync, and then quit iTunes. Some parts of iTunes still run even if you quit, so you should also hold down the CONTROL, ALT, and DELETE keys to bring up Windows’ Task Manager. Highlight ‘iTunes Helper App’ and then click ‘End Task’. Now, go back to AppTappInstaller.exe, and click ‘Continue’. Next up is a screen asking you to pick your Firmware version:

You almost surely have the 1.0.2 (as of this writing) version of the firmware. But as the window says, you should double-check. On your iPhone, go to Settings -> General -> About -> Version. If you don’t have version 1.0.2 installed, I’d actually recommend you install it. (To do so, go into iTunes, click your iPhone, click the “Summary” tab, and then click the “Check for Update” button.)

Double check that iTunes isn’t open and then select ‘Firmware 1.0.2′. Click ‘Continue’. What happens now is that AppTapp is going to grab the firmware, then it will “hack it” behind the scenes, and finally install the “hacked firmware” onto your iPhone. The whole process should take no more than 5 minutes.

During this process, do not disconnect your iPhone. Moreover, you’ll see the yellow “Please connect to iTunes” icon a couple of times – do not fret and do not open iTunes. Just let the installer do its thing.

When it’s all said and done your iPhone will be identical to what it was before with one important difference, you now have an icon on your home screen called “Installer.” Congratulations, you’ve hacked your iPhone!

In the unlikely event something went wrong, see the appendix below on resetting your iPhone.

Step Four: Getting started with Installer.app

We’ll start with two points before we jump into Installer.app. The first point is that Installer.app is sweet. I’ve been using smartphones for many years now, and this application put together by Null River is the best experience I’ve ever had installing applications. The second point is that we will have a full run-down on Installer.app tomorrow, stay tuned.

Until then, here’s some information to tide you over.

Every time you open Installer.app, it will want to get online to check to see if there have been any updates to your installed programs and to download the latest list of programs. So don’t fret if it pauses for a moment. You will really want to be on WiFi when using this app, too, although it’s not the end of the world if you’re using it on EDGE.

Your first step should be to tap on the “Install” tab on the top and then install “Community Sources.” This will make Installer.app check a few different places for applications, giving you a wider selection to choose from. Simply tap the “Install” button in the upper-right.

Your second step: install some apps! I’d recommend starting with some games and perhaps ApolloIM or MobileChat for Instant Messaging.

Here’s the thing, as soon as you install your 4th app, you’ll find that they have scrolled off your main screen. Bummer. There are several applications that fix that issue, but my favorite by far is an application called “SummerBoard” (Under System). Summerboard makes your home screen (aka your “SpringBoard”) scrollable like any other iPhone screen. Note that you’ll have to reset your iPhone after you install this app. The best way to do that? That would be number 2 in the appendix below.

Welcome to the World of Native Applications!

Officially sanctioned by Apple or not, the native applications for the iPhone are really great and getting better every day. So far Apple has released several updates to both the iPhone and to iTunes without breaking any of the functionality of these native applications, so it’s reasonable to expect that they’ll continue to work for the foreseeable future.

Appendix: Resetting your iPhone

Like most smartphones, the iPhone has a few curious button combinations you will want to have in your bag of tricks in case anything ever goes wrong. Here they are in escalating order – which is to say you should try #1 before #2, #2 before #3, and so on.

1. Force-quit an application. You know you can hit the home button to return to your home screen, but your home button has another function. Hold it down when you’re in a frozen application to force-quit that application. This is especially useful in Safari and Mail (the buggiest of the iPhones apps in my experience). Just keep holding it until you’re back at the home screen.
2. Turn off your iPhone. This is the easiest way to reset the iPhone (and the safest). Just hold down the sleep/wake button until a red slider appears on your screen. Slide your finger across it and your iPhone will shut down. Hold the sleep/wake button down again to turn it back on.
3. Reset your iPhone. If holding down the sleep/wake button doesn’t work, you can also try to just force a reset of your iPhone. To do that, hold down both the sleep/wake button and the home button until the apple logo appears. That’s your iPhone booting up.
4. Reset your Settings. If your iPhone is still acting buggy, there’s still one last step you can try before resorting to a full restore. Head on into your iPhone’s Settings, choose General, then choose Reset. Inside you’ll find a few reset options. Start with “Reset All Settings,” which will do what it says but not actually delete anything. “Reset All Content and Settings” will delete all of your data (but not the Installer.app!), so you’ll have to resync it over if you use that option.
5. Restore Mode. It’s very rare, but sometimes you’ll just need to start from scratch. Note that you’re going to want to have your computer on hand when you do this option, as you will not only lose all of your data right away, but you will also be unable to use your iPhone at all until you’ve connected it to your computer. To do it, hold down both the sleep/wake button and the home button for a long time – around 30 seconds or so. Eventually a yellow triangle will pop up commanding you to connect the iPhone to iTunes. Do that and then you’ll need to do a full restore. Note that this option absolutely wipes everything from your iPhone: contacts, data, and applications, and returns it to a “factory state.”

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

How-To: Hack Your iPhone with a PC

figure 1: for Macs

Ever since the iPhone was announced, people have been clamoring to write native applications for it. Sadly, Apple has not yet released the tools necessary to develop those apps. However, if you’ve been following the iPhone news you realize that the iPhone has been “hacked.” What does this mean to you, the nonhacker? Well it means that thanks to the mighty efforts of many dedicated people, you can install applications directly onto your iPhone. The best part, it’s easy. Read on for our full How To on how to hack your iPhone so you can install applications.

Step One: Update and Backup

First up: update iTunes. Just open your System Preferences and then Software Update to do it. As of this writing, you can use the simple hacking method described in this article with any recent version of iTunes. I write that because it’s theoretically possible Apple will prevent it from working in the future. On the bright side, the fact that they haven’t stopped it yet is a good sign. If this first step ever changes, we will update this article to let you know.

What you’re about to embark on isn’t supported by Apple, but nevertheless it’s been proven safe and easy by thousands of users. Still, it’s always a good idea to do a backup before you do anything major with any computing device, including your iPhone. Backing up your iPhone is simple – just sync it to iTunes. Done.

(If you want to be extra-careful, you can even back up your Address Book and iCal files, but that’s a separate issue. In both of those applications, there are backup options under the “File” menu.)

Step Two: Download AppTappInstaller

Head on over to http://iphone.nullriver.com/beta/, where you’ll find the download for the AppTappInstaller. Click the download link in the big orange box (and feel free to ignore the copious amounts of technical jargon on that page). That will give you a file called AppTappInstaller.zip in your downloads folder. Open that up to get yourself the real file we’re looking for here: AppTappInstaller.app:

..Believe it or not, you’re halfway done!

Step Three: Hack Your iPhone!

Now open up AppTappInstaller.app – you can copy it to your /Applications directory if you like, but I just ran it directly from my Desktop. It almost makes more sense to do it that way, because:

1. You probably won’t have to go through this process again anytime soon
2. If you do ever need to redo it, you’ll want to download the latest version of the installer anyway.

So now we’re greeted with the opening window, which has a warning in RED, so you should read it:

You already updated iTunes in step one, so the only thing you need to do here is quit iTunes. If you haven’t done so already, place you iPhone in the dock, let it sync, and then quit iTunes. Next up is a screen asking you to pick your Firmware version:

You almost surely have the 1.0.2 (as of this writing) version of the firmware. But as the window says, you should double-check. On your iPhone, go to Settings -> General -> About -> Version. If you don’t have version 1.0.2 installed, I’d actually recommend you install it. (To do so, go into iTunes, click your iPhone, click the “Summary” tab, and then click the “Check for Update” button.)

Double check that iTunes isn’t open and then to select Firmware 1.0.2. Click Continue. What happens now is that AppTapp is going to grab the firmware, then it will “hack it” behind the scenes, and finally install the “hacked firmware” onto your iPhone. The whole process should take no more than 5 minutes.

During this process, do not disconnect your iPhone. Moreover, you’ll see the yellow “Please connect to iTunes” icon a couple of times – do not fret and do not open iTunes. Just let the installer do its thing.

When it’s all said and done your iPhone will be identical to what it was before with one important difference, you now have an icon on your home screen called “Installer.” Congratulations, you’ve hacked your iPhone!

In the unlikely event something went wrong, see the appendix below on resetting your iPhone.

Step Four: Getting started with Installer.app

We’ll start with two points before we jump into Installer.app. The first point is that Installer.app is sweet. I’ve been using smartphones for many years now, and this application put together by Null River is the best experience I’ve ever had installing applications. The second point is that we will have a full run-down on Installer.app tomorrow, stay tuned.

Until then, here’s some information to tide you over.

Every time you open Installer.app it will want to get online to check to see if there have been any updates to your installed programs and to download the latest list of programs. So don’t fret if it pauses for a moment. You will really want to be on WiFi when using this app, too, although it’s not the end of the world using it on EDGE.

Your first step should be to tap on the “Install” tab on the top and then install “Community Sources.” This will make Installer.app check a few different places for applications, giving you a wider selection to choose from. Simply tap the “Install” button in the upper-right.

Your second step: install some apps! I’d recommend starting with some games and perhaps ApolloIM for Instant Messaging.

Here’s the thing, as soon as you install your 4th app, you’ll find that they have scrolled off your main screen. Bummer. There are several applications that fix that issue, but my favorite by far is an application called “SummerBoard” (Under System). Summerboard makes your home screen (aka your “SpringBoard”) scrollable like any other iPhone screen. Note that you’ll have to reset your iPhone after you install this app. The best way to do that? That would be number 2 in the appendix below.

Welcome to the World of Native Applications!

Officially sanctioned by Apple or not, the native applications for the iPhone are really great and getting better every day. So far Apple has released several updates to both the iPhone and to iTunes without breaking any of the functionality of these native applications, so it’s reasonable to expect that they’ll continue to work for the foreseeable future.

Appendix: Resetting your iPhone

Like most smartphones, the iPhone has a few curious button combinations you will want to have in your bag of tricks in case anything ever goes wrong. Here they are in escalating order – which is to say you should try #1 before #2, #2 before #3, and so on.

1. Force-quit an application. You know you can hit the home button to return to your home screen, but your home button has another function. Hold it down when you’re in a frozen application to force-quit that application. This is especially useful in Safari and Mail (the buggiest of the iPhones apps in my experience). Just keep holding it until you’re back at the home screen.
2. Turn off your iPhone. This is the easiest way to reset the iPhone (and the safest). Just hold down the sleep/wake button until a red slider appears on your screen. Slide your finger across it and your iPhone will shut down. Hold the sleep/wake button down again to turn it back on.
3. Reset your iPhone. If holding down the sleep/wake button doesn’t work, you can also try to just force a reset of your iPhone. To do that, hold down both the sleep/wake button and the home button until the apple logo appears. That’s your iPhone booting up.
4. Reset your Settings. If your iPhone is still acting buggy, there’s still one last step you can try before resorting to a full restore. Head on into your iPhone’s Settings, choose General, then choose Reset. Inside you’ll find a few reset options. Start with “Reset All Settings,” which will do what it says but not actually delete anything. “Reset All Content and Settings” will delete all of your data (but not the Installer.app!), so you’ll have to resync it over if you use that option.
5. Restore Mode. It’s very rare, but sometimes you’ll just need to start from scratch. Note that you’re going to want to have your computer on hand when you do this option, as you will not only lose all of your data right away, but you will also be unable to use your iPhone at all until you’ve connected it to your computer. To do it, hold down both the sleep/wake button and the home button for a long time – around 30 seconds or so. Eventually a yellow triangle will pop up commanding you to connect the iPhone to iTunes. Do that and then you’ll need to do a full restore. Note that this option absolutely wipes everything from your iPhone: contacts, data, and applications, and returns it to a “factory state.”

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

How-To: Hack Your iPhone with a Mac