Apple Clamps Down On iPhone Hacking

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on September 24, 2007

It’s getting serious now. Hack your iPhone and apparently you run the risk of killing it when the next software update rolls around. That’s the word out of Apple HQ today. The sport of hacking the innards of the iPhone has gone a lot farther since the “Hello World!” apps that first cropped up less than two months ago (Two lifetimes in iPhone time it seems.) Of course hacking so as to install applications and unlocking it so it works on another network are two different things entirely. But now unlocking the phone could get your phone killed it seems. The programs used to get the job done can do permanent damage the software, it says. The full text of the official statement below:

“Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed.  Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update, containing many new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, later this week.  Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones.  Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty.  The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone’s warranty.”

Ouch.

Update: Need to re-lock your phone before the parents get home, I mean, before Apple issues its update? TUAW has an interesting post on the subject here.

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