Apple Error Leaves iPhone Developers In the Lurch

canadacow writes "iPhone developers enrolled and active in the iPhone OS 2.0 beta program got a nasty surprise today when Apple inadvertently 'expired' the recently released version. While for a beta program this typically would not be an issue, Apple has yet to release a new deployment of the iPhone OS. So developers like myself who use their iPhone for both actual phone and iPod use are bricked. Of note, this particular expired build is just 11 days old."

Comments

You forgot to mention

[anotherone]

You forgot to mention that Apple SPECIFICALLY told you NOT to put it on your phone because it was unstable- and you hacked the lockouts and did it anyway. You also didn't mention that you could simply do a restore in iTunes and get a working firmware in about 2 minutes.

But, I guess that getting on the front page of slashdot is more important.

You've been Steved!

[Animats]

Consider the open source alternative, OpenMoko No worries about some sudden "change in corporate direction" screwing you over.

Re:You've been Steved!

[Microlith]

Yes, OpenMoko, the opensource alternative that is unavailable and doesn't even work.

Oh it boots, but you can't make a phone call from in the UI. And while the command line dialer does work, no audio does. So you can call someone but not speak to or hear them.

While I have every hope for OpenMoko, don't go flinging them as some open-source solution when it doesn't even do what it's supposed to.

Not Bricked

[addikt10]

"Bricked" is unrecoverable.
"Bricked" is permanent.
"Bricked" is having absolutely no way, ever, of interacting with the object in a manner that is inconsistent with interacting with a brick.

This, on the other hand, will be fixed by tomorrow.

Re:"Brick"

[OrangeTide]

It's only bricked if you cannot get it to work again without cracking it up and digging into some special programming connector or replacing some chips. That is, the device can serve no other purpose than to be a brick without highly technical intervention. The fact that you can update the software back to the non-expired non-beta version seems to be completely overlooked.

Uh....no.....

[iMouse]

Beta testers were notified by e-mail of the software expiration that night. A new copy was available immediately from the AppleSeed site.

My phone is fine and probably a lot of other beta testers who have a clue have a working phone as well.

Maybe people who beta test software should have a good understanding that it is a BETA test and Apple highly recommended that the BETA software not be installed on personal or business-related phones that need to have 100% accessibility and reliability.

How many beta testers in this program understand how to use a web browser to go grab the new release? If you're gonna be a n00b about it, don't sign up to be a tester.

Re:Testing?

[truthsearch]

Corporations who do serious mobile phone development do not have their developers use personal phones for development and testing. They purchase separate phones for them.

Independent developers can order a separate line with a cheap phone and have their calls redirected. Then if their development platform breaks they still have a usable phone. It's the cost of being a beta tester.

ziphone ftw

[chiantii]

This whole thing can be fixed with ziphone. I was able to restore my phone back to 1.1.4 in less than a minute. simply downgrade you bootloader and you're golden.

Re:In Apple's defense

[Auckerman]

There is no "official beta release" of the 2.0 firmware. There is a version of the pre-2.0 firmware that comes with the emulator in the SDK. In order to get that on your iPhone you need to unlock it, against Apple's say, then put it on your iPhone.

Re:In Apple's defense

[syzler]

Actually there is an Official 2.0 beta release of the iPhone software available for the iPhone (current build 5A240d), however you have to be a registered iPhone Developer to download it from iPhone Developer Portal. The software in the simulator is not the same Beta software which Apple makes available for the physical phone.

Re:"Brick"

[BitZtream]

Ah, but theres the problem, you can't just restore the original firmware using iTunes as the baseband has been updated by the 2.0 firmware.

iTunes will choke at the end of the restore process if you try to 'restore' to 1.1.4 (the latest public version). When it chokes, it leaves your phone in restore mode, unusable.

It is however, not bricked.

The solution is relatively simple. You restore to 1.1.4 and let the process fail, which will leave you with an error 1015 at the end of the process.

At that point you use one of the jailbreak apps to put your phone back in normal mode, which will allow the old software to work with the new baseband. I found this out the hard way myself this morning, but after being rather upset, a little googling for the 'pink screen of death' pointed me at the solution which is:

1. 1. Put the phone into restore mode by holding the power button and the home button down until the phone shuts down.
2. 2. Release the power button and wait for it to boot into restore mode
3. 3. Plug the phone in and iTunes will tell you it needs to be restored, restore to the latest software iTunes will give you (1.1.4).
4. 4. The restore will fail with Error 1015. The software was however restored, just not the baseband, and iTunes leaves the phone in DFU mode wanting to restore completely.
5. 5. Use one of the jailbreak apps to set your phone back to normal. I used ZiPhone, worked fine first try.
6. 6. Restart iTunes and restore your backup.

Working phone, new baseband, but it works all the same. Am I pissed off? YES. The first thing I thought was that it expired (which Apple warns you about during the development setup process on several occasions), so I went and checked for new firmware to find that I was indeed using the latest build. Since this is my primary phone its partially my fault, but Apple certainly screwed the pooch by letting this happen when they put in such anal measures to make sure people update the software.

If it wasn't for the fact that my company wants to port one of our products to the iPhone, at this point I would be done with iPhone development due to this mistake, there is no excuse for a company the size of Apple allowing this to happen.

It's HARD to brick...

[RudeIota]

The iPhone is hard to break... If you hose it through a firmware update or jailbreaking it - recovery mode works regardless.

• * Turn your iPhone on
• * While it is on, hold the lock (button on the top) and home (button on the lower front) buttons down.
• * Continue holding both buttons until the screen goes black (just a few seconds after the apple logo appears)
• * Let go of the top button. Continue holding the Home button for several seconds.
• * Plug your iPhone into your computer. iTunes will detect your phone in 'Restore mode' Recover your phone using the latest firmware. If you want to use older firmware (1.1.4 works just fine with Ziphone, BTW), hold the shift key as you click on firmware update button and you can browse for a firmware file (You will have to download an older firmware manually to load onto your iPhone using this method).