If you’re like me, you must sometimes get annoyed at how long syncing your iPhone with iTunes can take. Turns out that the syncing process doesn’t take that long at all. However, the automatic backup of your iPhone is what takes the longest.
I found out thanks to JAiB about a tool called BackOff, which easily allows you to turn on and off the automatic backup of your iPhone in iTunes.
BackOff is a free PC and Mac utility enabling you to speed up the sync of your iPhone or iPod Touch by turning off the automatic backup in iTunes. Storage of large amounts of data can seriously lenghten iTunes sync. Disable iTunes Auto-Backup feature with BackOff and speed up your syncs!
BackOff is a free tool (download here) that work for both Mac and PC and is compatible with all iPhones and iPod Touch.
Patrick was able to try it out and here is what he has to say about it:
Just to give an idea of the impact this app can have, when I tested it this afternoon, a sync with backup turned on had taken over 20 minutes before I canceled it. Sync with backup turned off took under two minutes!
Looks like a winner to me. What do you think about BackOff?
Many of you have been asking me about those annoying iTunes errors while trying to restore your iPhone using a custom firmware with PwnageTool or SnowBreeze. Usually, the error you get says:
The iPhone “iPhone” could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (1600 – 1601 – 1602 – 1603 – 1604)
There is an easy and quick fix for this. The downside is that it is Windows only (Mac version is in the work), and that it only works for iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iTouch 1G and iTouch 2G. In other words, no iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3G support.
iREB (iTunes Restore Error Bypasser) is a neat little tool that will help you fix these errors.
Step 1: Download iREB from here.
Step 2: Launch iTunes and put your iPhone in DFU mode (hold power and home button together for 10 seconds; release the power button and keep holding the home button until iTunes tells you it has detected an iPhone in recovery mode.
Step 3: Once iTunes has detected your iPhone in recovery mode, close iTunes and launch iREB.
Step 4: Select your device and wait for the screen to go red or white.
Step 5: Launch iTunes and hold the SHIFT key while clicking on restore. A window will open. From there just browse for the custom firmware you want to restore to.
You should be good to go. iTunes should restore your iPhone to the desired firmware without giving you any error.
Are you tired of telling iTunes NOT to update to 3.1.3 every time you plug your iPhone in? Well, there’s an app for that. It’s called Fake 3.1.3 and it is ideal for people like me who don’t like being bugged by recurring iTunes alerts.
Fake 3.1.3 will make iTunes believe that you are running firmware 3.1.3, although you will still be on 3.1.2 with the older baseband. It kinda reminds me of FWchanger, although this one just helped make the App Store believe you were on a different firmware.
Fake 3.1.3 is available for free on Cydia via the http://cy.sosiphone.com repo.
iTunes 9.0.2 was released this morning and includes the following features:
- An improved look and feel, including a new Column Browser for easily browsing your artists or albums, movies, TV shows, and more.
- iTunes Store has a brand new look, with improved navigation for quick and easy exploration.
- iTunes LP and iTunes Extras create unique experiences that feature exclusive interviews, videos, photos, and more — available with select album and movie purchases on the iTunes Store.
- Home Sharing helps you manage your family’s iTunes collection between computers in your home. iTunes can automatically transfer new purchases, or you can choose just the items you want.
- Genius Mixes are created for you by iTunes and play songs from your library that go great together.
- iPod and iPhone syncing now allows you to organize your iPhone and iPod touch home screens directly in iTunes. Syncing is now also more flexible, allowing you to sync individual artists, genres, or TV show and Podcast episodes.
- iTunes U items are now organized into their own section in your iTunes library.
- Sync with iPod nano (5th generation), iPod classic (Fall 2009), and iPod touch (Fall 2009).
MuscleNerd confirmed that iTunes 9.0.2 won’t interfere with your jailbreak and/or unlock.
I just read an interesting story by Mona over at Pixel Bits explaining how she was disappointed with a couple iPhone apps she had purchased and how she got a refund for these apps, simply by asking Apple.
Here are the steps to request an iPhone app refund:
- Launch iTunes
- Go to Purchase History
- Report a problem
- Fill out the form with a legitimate reason for your refund request
Apple resolved my issues with a quick turn around time, hassle free, and was really really nice about it, too. And I am not going to lie, it shocked the crap out of me! …It may have helped I was clear and concise: “Beejive is not working out for me because x and x. Therefore, I would like x.” Manners and politeness can be advantageous, too.
I had no clue that you could request a refund for an iPhone application, but apparently, Apple gives customers 90 days to claim a refund for any purchase they made in iTunes or in the App Store.
The new iPhone 3.0 firmware update is available for download through iTunes. To get it, simply plug in your iPhone into iTunes and click “check for updates”.
I will also update our iPhone Downloads page with direct links to the 3.0 firmware when I can put my hands on it.
iTunes 8.2 is available since yesterday. According to the update notes, “iTunes 8.2 now supports iPhone or iPod touch with the iPhone 3.0 Software Update. iTunes 8.2 also includes many accessibility improvements and bug fixes.”
As always when an update comes out, I highly suggest jailbreakers and unlockers do not update iTunes yet. According to the Dev Team:
This update is one of those that incidentally breaks QuickPwn and PwnageTool. It doesn’t seem like an anti-jailbreak. But nonetheless, it will break your ability to re-run QuickPwn or PwnageTool’s dfu-entry.
Because this update isn’t a deliberate anti-jailbreak measure, it’s easily fixed in our tools. But we really don’t want to update our tools until 3.0 is out, so please don’t update to 8.2 if you think you’ll need to rejailbreak your device.
iPhone Download Blog reader VistaUser also warned me that iPhoneBrowser doesn’t work anymore after updating iTunes to 8.2.
iTunes 8.1 has been released. You can get the update though Apple Software Update. Here is the description:
iTunes 8.1 is now faster and more responsive. You will enjoy noticeable improvements when working with large libraries, browsing the iTunes Store, preparing to sync with iPod or iPhone, and optimizing photos for syncing.
In addition, iTunes 8.1 provides many other improvements and bug fixes, including:
• Supports syncing with iPod shuffle (3rd generation).
• Allows friends to request songs for iTunes DJ.
• Adds Genius sidebar for your Movies and TV Shows.
• Improves performance when downloading iTunes Plus songs.
• Provides AutoFill for manually managed iPods.
• Allows CDs to be imported at the same sound quality as iTunes Plus.
• Includes many accessibility improvements.
• Allows iTunes U and the iTunes Store to be disabled separately using Parental Controls.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
Last Wednesday, I decided to update my iPhone 3G to the newly released 2.2 firmware. Although jailbreaking is fairly easy and doesn’t require much skills, I am never really excited about doing it as it is very time consuming. What’s time consuming about it you will ask? Well, first, you have to download the latest version of iTunes (I only use iTunes about once a month and I always wait for the next jailbreak method to update it), which always takes a few minutes. Then you have to install iTunes and reboot your computer. Once iTunes is taken care of, you have to download your firmware, download QuickPwn, etc… (more…)
The rumor was right… Apple did release firmware 2.2 last night and for once, it seems that we have some useful features added:
Enhancements to Maps:
- Google Street View
- public transit and walking directions
- display address of dropped pins
- share location via email
Enhancements to Mail
- resolve isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email
- improved formatting of wide HTML email
Other Enhancements
- Improved stability and performance of Safari
- Podcasts are now available for download in the iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular networks)
- Decrease in call set-up failures and call drops
- Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages
- Pressing the Home button from any Home screen takes you the first Home screen
- Preference to turn on/off keyboard auto-correction
Apparently, iPod Touch users don’t get the Google Maps upgrade that includes the addition of Street View as well as public transit and walking directions.
Like they did earlier this week, the Dev Team warns us about updating the iPhone using iTunes.
So, as anticipated our friends the misfits have recently released the long awaited 2.2 update. We can confirm that this update SHOULD NOT be applied using iTunes if you want the chance of a soft-unlock in the near future.
If you want to keep that option of a ‘soft-unlock in the near future’ available but you want the new features of 2.2, you will be able to update to 2.2 using a PwnageTool created custom ipsw file that disables the baseband update. You will be able to do this using an updated version of PwnageTool that will be released sometime soon.
Some facts -
- The 2.2 firmware for 3G contains a baseband update for the 3G iPhone
- The 2.2 firmware for 2G (1st gen iPhones) doesn’t contain a baseband update and the baseband is still at 04.05.04
- We believe that our Pwnage technique (and therefore the Jailbreak) isn’t affected, but PwnageTool and QuickPwn do not support this release as yet, so DO NOT install 2.2 using iTunes as you will lose your jailbreak
- If you apply this update and you previously relied on PwnageTool or QuickPwn to activate your phone, it may become temporarily deactivated and unusable (until we release the new version of PwnageTool or QuickPwn).
- PwnageTool and QuickPwn updates will be released as soon as possible that will allow a safe update path to 2.2 the release of these updates is inevitable but not imminent, we are creating the modifications right now and we need to put the new software through the usual testing process.
- If you apply this update and you have third-party (non AppStore) applications that you rely on they will stop working.
- 2G (1st gen) iPhone users who cannot wait for the new PwnageTool or QuickPwn can safely “Update” to 2.2 using iTunes, this will preserve the existing activation. However “restoring” to 2.2 using iTunes will return the iPhone to the unactivated state. If you are in any doubt just wait. NB: This works for 2G ONLY.
- The use of SIM-Proxies (small circuit boards/chips that sit underneath the SIM card) to provide GSM/UMTS service on your locked iPhone 3G is a method that we have always advised against. Early reports suggest that the 2.2 update disables the functionality of these devices. The techniques used were always unreliable and we are surprised that they have lasted this long.
- We are not working on the 2nd generation iPod touch at the moment, so we cannot comment on what the the 2.2 software update may do to this specific model
So, as always, if you are in any doubt whatsoever please delay the install of this firmware on any of your devices until we have investigated the release in more detail. Watch this space
Also, iTunes 8.0.2 is out now. I doubt this will make much difference either way, but ask yourself, why bother. Just because a new version is out doesn’t mean you want it. I would hold off on this also.
iPhone Firmware 2.2 and iTunes 8.0.2 are both available from the downloads section of our blog.
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