iFunBox Development

iFunbox v1.9 is ready for download. The New iPad is now recognized and file transfer is also optimized for the new device. App inspection is a new feature introduced in this version, which allows you easily inspect the installed apps for checking their potential of leaking your private information. App file sharing support is also added. You can now easily access the document folder of Apps that supports “File Sharing”.

App Inspection will check the iOS APIs that used by particular App. We focus on APIs that might expose your private information, consume 3G data and potentially have annoying user experience. To check a list of App capabilities, right-click on one App and select the [App Inspection] as:

Then you will instantly have the App inspection report:

iFunbox v1.8.798.616 is released. Now you can backup apps to .ipa package without jailbreak. Also a compatibility issues with the WIFI sync feature introduced with latest iTunes are fixed. The issue previously causes a lot of failures in connecting iDevices to iFunbox. Now, no more connection failure due to WIFI sync.

What’s New
1. Backup App to .ipa package without jailbreak needed
2. Uninstall Apps in batch, without jailbreak
3. App Sandbox access is improved and more faster
4. Device connection failure due to enabling of WIFI Sync is fixed
5. Device connection code is again refactored and more faster
6. Ask before change the default SSH password ‘alpine’ to a secure random string

We have released the first version of  “iFunboxMac”, the ifunbox for Mac. Basic function for accessing the iOS file system is included like copying files and directories from/to mac, deletion and creation. The task scheduling system for file operations is ported to Mac, for providing the robust and easy user experience. App installation from IPA is also supported

What we have done:
0. App Installation from IPA package.
1. Full access to Apple Mobile Device filesystem: copy, move, delete, creation, rename.
2. Optimized multi-thread data transfer engine with task scheduling and prioritizing.
3. Device detection and recognition.
4. Mac OS Finder style user interface.
5. General purpose storage.
6. Drag & drop of multiple files.

This is a starting point of iFunbox for Mac. We will continue working on the development, introducing more features and functions like the gradually improvement we have made to iFunbox for Windows.

iFunbox v1.7.733.599 is out now. Now accessing App sandbox no longer requires Jailbreak. Also, we tweak many codes related to robustness of device connections and fixed most problems due to iTunes compatibility. Thanks a lot to all peoples sending diagnose report to us. In this version Jailbreak is no longer required for accessing App sandbox.

Some UIs are also refined and now it supports an option to enable big icons on toolbar. Like below:

What’s New
1. Access App sandbox without Jailbreak.
2. New device connection code, much lesser connection problems.
3. Self-diagnose and problem reporting.
4. Supports iPhone 4S and iOS 5.

Highlight in this update
Accessing App sandbox is very useful for backup/sharing saved games, app settings. You can also and uploading video to an 3rd-party player like “OPlayer HD” instead of using iPod, and download documents you created in an App like “Numbers”. However, in previous, it is only available for jailbreak iDevices.

Base on our recent research on the undocumented iTunes API, we find a robust and efficient way to access App sandbox without Jailbreak. We integrate this feature and presented as [User Applications] like below:

All user applications will be listed, and you can play with them just like you are working on a jailbreak device. Yellow folder icon indicates the App support “File Sharing”, which suggesting the App creates (like “Number”) or consumes (”OPlayer HD”) data.  The individual icons of these App are not shown, we will fix it in the next release.

iFunbox v1.6.658.564 is out now. Check download [ http://i-funbox.com ]. We introduce the File Permission Editing and SSH Terminal features. It is based on OpenSSH, which can be installed from Cydia. Thanks all peoples that given us feedback upon the alpha review released in the last week.

What’s New
1. Batch editing of file permissions, ownership and group.
2. A console for SSH terminal.
3. Enhanced AppFastIn(tm) Tech for stability.
4. Stop mounting duplicated devices of iOS 5 beta.

One more thing: the SSH password
For the first time you use the OpenSSH-based feature (permission editing or the terminal), ifunbox will promote for SSH password if it is not the default ‘alpine’. iFunbox will record the password, encrypted, in //var/mobile/Media/ifunbox_ssh_record.shadow for future use.

If the device is using the default password ‘alpine’, iFunbox will automatically modified it into some strong password to protect your device from attacking by malware and worms. The modified password can be revealed in menu [Help]->[Troubleshoot]->[Show OpenSSH password]. You can also manually change the password by the ‘passwd’ command in the SSH terminal.

Quick Screen Snapshot
SSH Terminal Console:

Editing of File Permission, Ownership and Group:

i-Funbox v1.5.621.548 is out now.

We developed a new technology AppFastIn(TM) for significantly speeding up app installation. This technology is exclusively available on ifunbox. With AppFastIn, app installation on ifunbox is now 2x-3x faster than iTunes and other app installers like Installous, when the .ipa package is larger than 50MB.

What’s New
1. AppFastIn(TM) Technology for accelerating App install (2x-3x speed up).
2. Back up to .ipa package is now in compressed format.
3. File deletion in the search result.
4. Fixed some bugs that cause crash including unfiltered incomplete localized UI text and device ejection.
5. Display device UDID in device info dialog
You can open the device info dialog by right click the device and choose the [Properties] item.

One more thing: We are now seriously considering ifunbox for MAC users. We started to evaluate the workload and difficulties for MAC platform. Will come up with a solid plan recently. In the meantime, you are welcome to write on http://www.facebook.com/ifunbox.dev for features that MAC users may concern.

i-Funbox v1.4.548.527 is out now. In this update, we focus on stabilization of newly developed features and bug fixes. Backup to IPA now support large Apps which takes hundreds of megabytes.  Also we refactored the UI localization scheme. Call for UI translation again.

What’s Updated:
1. Repacking IPA now is done in a streaming mode, which uses memory more efficiently and support large Apps.
2. File transfer engine is optimized for the coming iOS 5.
3. Support App installation without Jailbreak for officially signed IPAs.
4. A new UI localization scheme. Now all localized UI text are much easier to kept updated with newly released ifunbox.exe.
5. Customized shortcut can be deleted.
6. Recovery music/video will now show friendly information about the title, artist and etc.
7. A bunch of misc bug fixing.

i-Funbox v1.4 is out now. In the update, we focus on one-stop App installation for .ipa package. Now you can have IPA package installed just using iFunbox without switching back to the installous app.  Also we continue to fix bugs and refine the initialization procedure. Again, Thanks for all friends sending crash dump and connection log to us.

What’s New:
1. One-stop App installation for ipa packages
2. App uninstallation for user applications
3. Report for analyzing app installation results
4. Recognize iPad2
5. Bug fixing and fine tunes:
a. Reoder shortcuts in left panel
b. Remember preview size of the main window
c. Remove libMediaInfo temporarily, which cause crash. Look for alternative in the next update
d. Recognize user application folder when iTunesArtwork is absent

Also, Tutorial for app install ( .ipa ) is updated.

To launch one-stop app install, you can click the [ Install App ] button on the toolbar, or select the menu item in the context menu of [ User Applications ]. We only supports installing .ipa package, which is safe for the your iDevice. Also in the view of [ User Applications ], you can uninstall applications by right-clicking the selected Apps to be removed and selecting the [ Uninstall ] command.

By default, iFunbox supports auto-conversion when a binary plist is copied from iDevice to PC, thus result in a human readable text. But if you are backing up plist files from iDevice, the auto-conversion might be undesired. To prohibit the auto-conversion of binary plist, you can check the main menu [Help]->[Troubleshoot]->[Disable bplist Conversion]. Then, auto-conversion of bplist will be disabled and all subsequent copying of plist files will not be converted.

Also, you can disable other auto-conversion or previewing features if it is undesired or making ifunbox crash. For example, if you want to copy all directories and files from iDevice to PC, you may need to disable Symbolic link so that no duplicated files will be copied.

i-FunBox v1.3 is out now. I stopped playing with the new UI style and focus more on new features and bug fixing. In this version, thumbnail previewing of IPA packages is supported. Initialization code of Apple Mobile Device driver is tuned regarding problems found in connection log, which means less connection error will occur. Thanks again for sending us the connection log.

Uploading photo to Camera Roll is supported for iDevices with firmware 4.x. Quit and start the [Photos] App after some photos are uploaded/deleted in Camera Roll. [Photos] App will rebuild its thumbnail cache when starting.

What’s New
1. Upload photo to Camera Roll on iOS 4.x
2. Fast thumbnail preview for photos in Camera Roll on iOS 4.x
3. Thumbnail preview for IPA package
4. Rollback to classic UI style
5. Robust binary plist conversion, less crash in browsing [User Applications]
6. Less device connection error with the refined initialization procedure

Snapshot of the .ipa file view with thumbnail previews.