AppSnapp

AppSnapp

jailbreakme.com on 13 December 2007 (2007-12-13)
Developer(s)	rezn, dinopio, drudge, kroo, pumpkin, davidc, dunham, planetbeing, NerveGas
Initial release	28 October 2007 (2007-10-28)
Operating system	iOS
Successor	Star (JailbreakMe 2.0)
Type	Jailbreak
Website	jailbreakme.com (archived)

AppSnapp is the name given to the original JailbreakMe for iPhone OS 1.1.1, released on 28 October 2007 (2007-10-28). It is an untethered jailbreak.

AppSnapp is notable for being the first jailbreak executed directly on the device, without using a computer. Using a workaround, it is possible to execute the jailbreak on an unactivated iPhone, for the purpose of unlocking to a carrier other than AT&T.

Upon visiting the website from an iPhone or iPod touch, an "Install AppSnapp" button appears. Tapping the button loads a TIFF file that exploits a libTiff vulnerability, jailbreaking the device, hacktivating the device (if not yet activated by a supported carrier such as AT&T), and installing Installer.app. It additionally installs a patch for the vulnerability, and enables AFC2.

The website was developed by a team of nine developers, six of which belong to the iPhone Dev Team. The jailbreakme.com domain and hosting were managed by Conceited Software, co-founded by one of the credited developers, drudge.

On 31 October 2007 (2007-10-31), drudge estimated that 100,000 devices had been jailbroken in the first two days. One month later, the estimate grew to "over one million". Based on Apple's reported 4 million iPhone sales in January 2008 (2008-01), this placed around 25% of all iPhones as being jailbroken by AppSnapp.

On 2 January 2008 (2008-01-02), the post-exploitation payload was updated to execute the mknod (OktoPrep) exploit, allowing the device to be updated from iPhone OS 1.1.1 to 1.1.2. It also updated Installer to 3.0, and cleaned up unnecessary files left on the device by the jailbreak.

Around 27 February 2009 (2009-02-27), the website no longer served AppSnapp, instead (likely incorrectly) serving drudge's personal website.

On 1 April 2009 (2009-04-01), Apple updated the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, adding a clause indicating that developers registered in the program must not "disable, hack or otherwise interfere with" various security features of Apple devices. Within the same week, jailbreakme.com was replaced with a page stating that it "has been shut down to comply with Apple's latest iPhone developer agreement". The domain remained dormant until it was repurposed for Star ("JailbreakMe 2.0").

On 29 August 2018 (2018-08-29), the jailbreak was recompiled by Cipher, with this process discussed in a blog post. The exploit was hosted on simplysmp.net/jbme, with jbme.tk as a short link. As of February 2022, this is no longer available.

Archived website contents

Credits

Credits for this jailbreak go to metasploit, rezn, dinopio, drudge, kroo, pumpkin, davidc, dunham, planetbeing and NerveGas.

Greetz to the iPhone Dev Team and Nullriver Software.

AppSnapp brought to you by Conceited Software.

Features

1. Jailbreaks iPhone/iPod touch on 1.1.1
2. Patches SpringBoard to load third party apps
3. Activates non-AT&T iPhones automatically, while leaving already activated phones alone.
4. Fixes YouTube on non-AT&T iPhones automatically, while leaving already activated phones alone.
5. Updated! 2/1/08 Installs Installer.app v3.0 on the iPhone/iPod touch with Community Sources preinstalled.
6. Fixes Apple's TIFF bug, making your device MORE secure than it was without AppSnapp!
7. Enables AFC2 protocol and adds special commands to allow killing SpringBoard, lockdownd, etc from iPHUC.
8. New! 2/1/08 Automatically OktoPrep's (for easy 1.1.2 upgrade functionality, no need to install the package anymore).
9. New! 2/1/08 Reduced footprint and optimized for speed. We got rid of over 700KB of data and optimized the new application with the new toolchain.
10. Fixed! 2/1/08 Now removes root.zip and youtube.zip (if present) from the root to make space for more music/apps.
11. Fixed! 2/1/08 Fixed reliability issues and .svn/__MACOSX directory creation.

The best part? No hacking required!

FAQ

Could this brick my iPhone/iPod touch?

No, worst case you will have to restore in iTunes.

Why do I have a blue question mark?

This means you already ran AppSnapp once. Since we patch the TIFF bug, you'll have to restore to run it again.

Can I do the SIM unlock my phone with this?

AppSnapp does not unlock the phone. You will have to use anySIM to do so after you install AppSnapp.

My phone is still at the "Activate now" screen, why?

If your phone doesn't show up as activated after you run AppSnapp, please reboot your phone.

I'm an AT&T customer, do I need this since it activates?

AppSnapp is smart, if knows if you are an AT&T customer and doesn't try to activate if you already are activated.

When I ran clicked "Install AppSnapp" Safari just quit and did nothing.

Please allow AppSnapp up to 1 minute to install. If you are on an unactivated phone, you will not see a progress HUD. Wait for the phone to automatically reboot. If this doesn't happen, please try to Install AppSnapp again.

I can't see the "Install AppSnapp" button

AppSnapp must be accessed from your iPhone or iPod touch. Visiting the site on your PC or Mac will not show the link. Also, you must not be accessing the internet via a proxy.

It is not working!

Plug in your iPhone/iPod touch to your computer, now open iTunes. With iTunes open launch http://jailbreakme.com from your iPhone/iPod touch.

What's new in AppSnapp

• Resolved issue where certain apps closed immediately after opening after AppSnapp installation.
• Enabled afc2 service for use with iphuc.
• Added the ability to perform simple tasks like kill pid, kill lockdownd, kill springboard, and restart via iphuc. See Services.plist for more information.
• Entire process is logged to /var/root/Media/AppSnapp.log and can be retreived with iphuc/ssh.
• Added a check to prevent AppSnapp from being ran on devices which are not running 1.1.1
• Improved reliability. I am no longer using raw sockets to send the payload files, they are being served back to the phone/ipod via HTTP. This greatly improves the chances you'll actually get it jailbroken the first time :)

Getting to Safari on Unactivated Phone

1. enter *#307# press call, now use the back button on the top of your screen to remove *#307# , now enter 0 , press call, press answer, press hold, press decline. And you get to the contact list. And thereafter every time you push the homebutton you just slide the "emergency call" slide, then enter 0 , press call, press hold, press decline
2. Push contacts, end call and you get called again, this time hit decline and you access one of menus with favorites, you can edit contacts, do a test ride on keyboard, take photos etc.
3. Now edit a new contact and type in http://jailbreakme.com as web-address.
4. When you tap the address safari opens but only displays an error saying that it cannot access the website, it also looks like safari freezes up.
5. Now press the home button, and for a split second the iPhone shows a screen where you can select wi-fi networks. Now you have to be really quick and select a network before the phone freezes.
6. Next you get Back to the "emergency call page" and every on screen button has frozen so the only thing you can do is turn off the phone.
7. Turn the iPhone off then on again
8. Now you can go back to the contact list by Dialing 0, push call, then answer, then contacts, then hit that web address you typed in.

History of AppSnapp

This page appeared in 2009, after AppSnapp was closed.

AppSnapp was born out of necessity. iPhone users wanted applications. Apple didn't care. So we took it into our own hands and created an easy one-click solution to enable third party applications on your iPhone and iPod touch running iPhone OS version 1.1.1.

Thankfully, Apple finally listened and included the well known App Store in iPhone OS version 2.0. This eliminated the requirement to jailbreak your phone to get the great applications and games that developers have been crafting for such a wonderful platform.

We'd like to thank everyone who had a hand in the creation of AppSnapp, we could not have done it without you. Here is a list of everyone we can think of: metasploit, rezn, dinopio, drudge, kroo, pumpkin, davidc, dunham, planetbeing and NerveGas.