The Apple Wiki:Community portal

iPhone-Elite
I think we should include all this old stuff before it gets lost: code.google.com/p/iphone-elite/. I mean the wiki articles there. Most infos should be already here, but I'm sure a lot of things are missing too. --http 15:02, 26 June 2012 (MDT)

Boot-args cleanup
We need to clean up the boot-args pages. First the technical part: What I understand is that iBoot loads the kernel. And when loading it, it can pass some parameters to select certain behavior. So this only works with an iBoot or bootrom exploit. I understand that in earlier firmware versions there was simply an iBoot variable, but that doesn't exist or work anymore, now passing theses args requires a different or patched iBoot. There are various parameters in different kernel versions. The description for these arguments is scattered over various places: So what do we want to do about this mess? I suggest to move the current Kernel content to the redirect page Boot arguments (or to another new page, maybe boot-args). The current content of Boot-args (iBoot variable) and all other content should get merged into there. Then change all references to this new page and on the Kernel page write just something short with "main article there". What do you think? --http (talk) 21:31, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Kernel A section with the latest boot arguments list. This should be a short introduction and having a link "main article".
 * Boot-args (iBoot variable) separate page for boot arguments, but mainly for the iBoot variable that doesn't exist any longer
 * [ Boot arguments] (redirect)
 * Talk:Restore_Mode describing the iBoot variable problem
 * Various pages referencing boot-args, like Research: Re-allowing unsigned ramdisks and boot-args with the 2.* iBoot (here we should have a link on the second title)
 * My earlier comment Talk:Kernel
 * This comment here.
 * I like Boot Arguments. --5urd (talk) 02:01, 14 February 2013 (UTC)
 * One addition: Maybe we should use boot-args as the main page, because all links are written like that. --http (talk) 07:37, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

Easy tasks for new editors

 * Finish converting the remaining error codes listed here MobileDevice_Library into the proper mach_return_t codes they should be displayed as. (convert the negative number listed into hex, strip any leading "FF" so it should be in the format "0xe80000" followed by two numbers) --Dirkg (talk) 22:40, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Email notifications?
Is it possible to get emailed when a watchlist page changes? I'd love that feature. This looks relevant. --beej (talk) 08:02, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Bite-sized editing tasks
It seems fun to make a list of relatively easy useful edits that new editors can do who are interested in helping, maybe at The iPhone Wiki:Bite-sized editing tasks or a similar page, and link it from the homepage here. I'd include the following as a start:


 * Look at the list at Special:LonelyPages and figure out whether some of those pages should be linked within other pages on the wiki, and then go link them.
 * Check the links at Useful Links and remove broken/outdated sites and add relevant new sites (but don't spam your own stuff).
 * The iOS version table at SHSH should be listed in reverse-chronological order, with newest versions first instead of oldest versions first.
 * If you run into a scam site, add it to the table at Scam Jailbreaks and Unlocks.
 * If you're reading an article and some part of it is confusing to you, post a message on the "talk" page (click the "Discussion" tab at the top of the article) explaining your question or what you found confusing, so that other editors can use this as a suggestion for improving the article.

Ideas? Opinions? Britta (talk) 09:31, 14 May 2015 (UTC)

How to report problems
I saw people concerned on Twitter about the skin! Like iAdam1n said on Twitter, saurik just got a copy of the settings, images, and database from geohot and put them into a new site with an upgraded version of MediaWiki; he's asking geohot for a copy of the skin files. In general if you see problems or have requests for new extensions or other changes, it's totally fine to post them here and I'll see them and ask saurik to check it out. If something is more immediate and doesn't need discussion (like something missing, major errors, mysterious downtime, etc.), you can PM me or saurik on IRC (his IRC server is best, irc.saurik.com). Maybe good to post here too in those cases (if the site isn't down at the time) so other people know he's been alerted. Britta (talk) 18:44, 14 May 2015 (UTC)

More about how to report more immediate problems (or problems that require some level of privacy, such as a major security issue or "Britta has gone rogue") - if you don't use IRC, emailing me is also fine (britta@saurikit.com). Emailing saurik (saurik@saurik.com) won't be seen as quickly, but if you write a meaningful subject line (like "TheiPhoneWiki is giving error 403 upon login right now" or "Britta is putting glitter sparkle GIFs all over TheiPhoneWiki"), it'll likely be seen. Moving to a new server/admin can have some adjustment bumps but they can be fixed! Britta (talk) 03:03, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

Apple internal content on the Wiki
I want to know what people think about having internal content on the Wiki. Some of the current content definitely needs some cleaning up and general editing. Should we publish information about internal firmwares? And is it okay to upload pictures of prototypes? Feel free to ask more questions. --Srb21103 (talk) 05:08, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Looking through The iPhone Wiki:Ground rules, it says "No posting of copyrighted material. Anything that could legally get us in trouble should not be posted, ever." I'm not sure what other precedent here has been. Britta (talk) 10:31, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

JailbreakCon mini-talks
Hi wiki people! I'm working on gathering people to do mini-talks (5-10 minutes) for JailbreakCon in June in San Francisco, and it would be cool to have some more people speaking who contribute to the community in ways other than tweak development. Work other than development is important work too, such as documentation. If anyone who has put some effort into improving TheiPhoneWiki can attend and would like to give a mini talk about working on the wiki, let me know via the contact form on the site. Britta (talk) 00:35, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

File System Crypto
I just added Zdziarski's blog to the wiki (with his permission). I would recommend to take this apart and make multiple sub-articles, like an article for BAGI, another one for Dkey, etc. and on the page File System Crypto itself, just write the overview, similar to what we have on page 16 of the Sogeti document (wasn't there a newer graphic somewhere?) with some short description. --http (talk) 22:11, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

Renaming Factory Firmware?
It's been brought to my attention that we don't really have anywhere on the wiki to document internal builds of iOS. Considering Factory Firmware consists of what are internal builds of iOS (with different software), I'd like to propose renaming it to Internal Firmware, to broaden its scope a little more. Well, either that or create a brand new page for internal builds. What does everyone think about this? --Dialexio (talk) 06:43, 17 April 2016 (UTC)

New rule proposal: Internal subjects
As we know, there are internal firmware builds that Apple uses to test their hardware. However, a wiki user reached out to me, concerned that there is incorrect information being added about these firmwares. I have no way to verify this information (and most probably don't either), so I would like to create a rule to require evidence in the form of an image or video for any substantial information about any such Apple internal subjects. This will help prevent false information being spread on the wiki.

 Internal software and prototypes are rare to come across, and we welcome documentation about them. However, to maintain informational integrity, we do require evidence to be supplied with any substantial information that you have. For example, if you have a list of applications in an internal firmware, there should be an image or video showing them on the device. Any added information about internal subjects that does not comply with this is subject to removal, with account suspensions possible.

The above proposal will be edited as necessary during this discussion. --Dialexio (talk) 16:53, 22 October 2017 (UTC)

Discussion of takedown for Cassandra Fuzzer
As you may know, the Cassandra Fuzzer, developed by iH8Ra1n was taken down by iAdam1n. I (iH8Ra1n) believe that Cassandra should not have been taken down for the following reasons:


 * Information (If someone wants to help with it, for example. )


 * Other vulnerabilities (Read on)

I think that I would be leaving people without some necessary information. Example, Cassandra discovers a vulnerability in MobileSafari. Now, I make a page about said vulnerability. I should probably mention Cassandra found it. Then, people wonder what it is. So, they look for a wiki page and find it was deleted. So, now they wonder what Cassandra is, and they don't know. This, I think, is a problem. Hence, why there should be a wiki page for it.


 * With all due respect, the ground rules specifically say that one should not create a page for a program that is upcoming. Moreover, it also states that the creator of a program should not be involved in its page's creation. I don't believe that Cassandra should be added to the wiki until it gains enough of a reputation independent of this place that someone else thinks to add it. Forestcorgi (talk) 00:41, 13 April 2018 (UTC)


 * You certainly have a good point. I'll have to rewrite it anyway because I erased the phone it was on (iPhone 4) for storage. RIP. iH8Ra1n 10:43 AM, 13 April 2018 (EST)

Merge multiple related pages into one
This is pretty much to merge existing pages/links on the homepage like evasi0n, pangu, and any other pages that can be merged into a single page. Like some other jailbreaks, each unique version is listed on a single page, whereas we have, for example, the Pangu jailbreaks: Pangu, Pangu8, and Pangu9 that do not. Having three different pages for one variety of jailbreak is a little repetitive going through multiple pages on a certain jailbreak rather than just having it all in one spot. This will make browsing smoother and well as modifying each page, make it more simple/cleaner. For myself, I'd remove the "installed packages" section as, at least for myself, is not so important anymore and just takes up space on the page(s). Only posting here as iAdam1n told me so :P Merculous 3:09, 29 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Are you talking about just the Main Page or the actual pages themselves? We certainly wouldn't remove the pages of the actual jailbreaks, these are separate entities with separate version numbers. It's bad enough with pages like yalu already, which is a mess. I would probably agree with making a Disambiguation page for things though, and then linking these on the Main Page. —  Spydar007  (Talk)  08:24, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm not talking about deleting the pages themselves. What I meant was to remove the links to, such as, Pangu8 and Pangu9 on Main Page, but just merging the information from both pages and put them into the Pangu(7) page. We don't need 3 different links for Pangu and can just have all of it on a single page. Along with evasi0n, we can merge the information from evasi0n7 to evasi0n(6). I mean, if you'd look on the SemiRestore page, I merged information from different pages we have into one, without knowing I should've asked (kinda why I'm asking now). That's pretty much what I'm asking to consider. It'll make the page(s) look more simple and have everything that needs to be there, and save some space on the page (along with making everything look more aesthetic). Merculous 22:09, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm all for creating Disambiguation pages and linking those instead. —  Spydar007  (Talk)  20:15, 31 December 2018 (UTC)

Separate iPad/iPad Air/iPad Pro?
Going forward, it would probably make more sense to separate iPad Air and iPad Pro from the regular line of iPads. From the get-go, we had iPad mini separated since it was clearly a different class. We kept iPad Air and iPad Pro tied with the regular line since the regular line's future seemed ambiguous at best, especially when we've had a few years and releases between the 4th and 5th generations of iPad. Apple not only keeps separate pages for the regular, Air, and Pro models now, but they also categorize them separately. --Dialexio (talk) 04:48, 1 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I had actually been thinking about this recently, and I'm all for it. This isn't a new thing, Apple have always kept them as four separate product lines. They were doing this before the introduction of the iPad Air 3, from the very start of the first iPad Pro back in late 2015. It definitely makes sense. We should have been doing this from the start, so I'm all for it. —  Spydar007  (Talk)  07:23, 1 June 2019 (UTC)

--DanTheMann15 (talk) 03:25, 12 September 2019 (UTC) I have done some editing for the iPad Pro OTA Updates section, it looks much more complete now, it still has a ways to go before it's complete. as for the IPSW's, i'm not yet entirely sure on separating the iPad Lines, as it's still easiest to modify the IPSW links when they are in one list.

Regarding Tsunami Internal
Recently, there has been a team of people known as Tsunami Internal interested in documenting Apple internal software. While this, by itself, is good, they have shown a disregard for basic rules regarding self-promotion and formatting on the site. TheiPhoneWiki is not a place for promotion or advertising of services, especially considering that the trade of Apple internal information is illegal (whether paid or free). I've just spent a good hour cleaning up articles attributed to them, and here's what I've found: We cannot assure the proper upkeep of TheiPhoneWiki if we allow users to create and modify content that does not contribute to the collective knowledge of the site in any way. While they have contributed some information, they have not adhered to our ground rules and have instead decided to use the site as a platform to promote their services. I hope we can do something about this and make sure that TheiPhoneWiki stays objective and true to its users. --Ryan Kovatch 07:22, 6 March 2020 (UTC)
 * They include a line of credit to themselves at the end of each article they write. MediaWiki has built-in attribution tools so collaborators can keep track of who wrote what, making this an unnecessary practice.
 * They have edited the Main page to include a section dedicated to internal software groups (which currently only includes them, and probably will only include them for the foreseeable future).
 * They have created a wiki page for themselves with the sole purpose of self-promotion and advertising. The majority of content on this page is more suited for a User page that is owned by them.
 * They have duplicated and modified the original Internal software template to create their own version, which promotes their services. I'm assuming that they have the intent to use this on pages beyond their own, which would not be acceptable.
 * I know I said I didn't really have an issue with it when you emailed but after reading all what you have put, I have to agree. I'm about to delete their contributions on their own tools etc because redistributing internal content would not be allowed so it cannot be allowed here. Of course their contributions that are just about normal internal tools will not be removed as they are ok but not the ones about their team. I hadn't realised they marked each page with their name either, which is something we do not want. I'm actually going to create a talk topic on their page about it because it cannot be tolerated. When you emailed I assumed it was just they made the pages for their team but having read what you have put here and looked again, I have to agree. Thanks for bringing this up. --iAdam1n (talk) 13:24, 6 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Wonderful, thank you! I'll clarify that the person who emailed you was actually my colleague, who admittedly worded it a little stronger than I would have, lol. Your work is much appreciated! --Ryan Kovatch 05:02, 7 March 2020 (UTC)

Beats with Apple wireless chips
The newer models of Beats headphones contain either the Apple W1 or H1 chip, and appear to have a very similar firmware and update mechanism to the AirPods lineup. Would there be any objections to their inclusion on the wiki? --Dialexio (talk) 07:10, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Fine by me. --iAdam1n (talk) 14:06, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

macOS Big Sur
Out of curiosity, what do people think about the possibility of including information about macOS Big Sur on this wiki? Although macOS Big Sur (and Apple Silicon Macs) bring the iOS and macOS platforms closer than ever (including the software update mechanism), there are still distinctions that keep the platforms separate. As this wiki is "The iPhone Wiki" and not "The Apple Wiki" I have been quite against the inclusion of anything not pertaining to iPhones or iOS in the past, though that line is increasingly becoming blurred. --Dialexio (talk) 07:10, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I think we should add Mac info. It’s not like we only add iPhone so I believe all Apple info should be here. --iAdam1n (talk) 14:08, 5 January 2021 (UTC)