Cydia, a store for applications that run on jailbroken iPhones and other Apple devices, is shutting down the ability to buy and sell apps on its platform, TechCrunch reported on Saturday.<\/b>
\nCydia, a store for applications that run on jailbroken iPhones and other Apple devices, is shutting down the ability to buy and sell apps on its platform, TechCrunch reported on Saturday.
In a Reddit post, Cydia founder Jay \u201cSaurik\u201d Freeman said he had initially planned to shut the entire store after years of frustration running it, but had bumped up the timetable after a serious security issue was discovered:
The bug in question \u201clet someone buy apps through your account if you were logged in and browsing untrusted app repositories,\u201d per Engadget. But Freeman said the bug only impacted a small number of users, and it looks like the decision was made prior to its discovery. Freeman wrote in the post that while he had previously been able to hire staff to help maintain Cydia, revenues have declined to the point where he is now funding hosting out of his own pocket.
Closing the purchasing functions does not affect the ability to download apps that have previously been purchased, or access them through third-party repositories, TechCrunch noted.
Cydia launched a decade ago and, in its heyday, was a major destination for users looking to bypass Apple\u2019s oppressive walled garden and once made millions in revenue a year. As Engadget noted, the number of features natively supported on iOS has grown significantly since then, including ones that mimic popular jailbreaking functions, leaving fewer incentives for users to install. Just as importantly, Apple has invested a lot of time and effort into finding and destroying the security holes that make installing unauthorized software possible (iOS 11 went months without a functional, publicly released jailbreak). Many former jailbreakers have started selling their findings or actually went to work for Apple itself, Motherboard noted last year:
Freeman told Motherboard at that time that jailbreaks used to work for months on end, while they tend to have a much shorter lifespan and are terminated almost immediately. He even went so far as to say he didn\u2019t recommend jailbreaking phones anymore, as it exposes users to potential security risks and the payoff just isn\u2019t there anymore.
\u201cIt used to be that you got killer features that almost were the reason you owned the phone,\u201d Freeman told Motherboard. \u201cAnd now you get a small minor modification.\u201d
As 9to5Mac noted, many developers on the platform \u201chave moved away from using the Cydia Store for purchases,\u201d so it may have little impact on them.
While the times have changed, Apple\u2019s walled garden has not: Though it is legal to jailbreak devices in the U. S., the tech giant has repeatedly warned against it and maintains that doing so could void device warranties. Its prohibition on adult content on the App Store has remained intact\u2014and has reportedly bled over into other Apple projects like its upcoming streaming service\u2014and it\u2019s been happy to play ball with state censors in China, who have had apps that aid users in avoiding government censorship removed from the Chinese App Store.
According to TechCrunch, Freeman plans on making a more formal announcement about the shift next week.
[ TechCrunch]<\/p>\n