New services allow pirated iOS app installation without jailbreaking

While the recent Installous closure may have put a dent in iOS piracy, turns out, it's not going to make that much of a difference. According to The Next Web, piracy on iOS devices is still prevalent and these days, devices don't even need to be jailbroken anymore. Many new services that allow you to install pirated apps without needing to jailbreak your device have come up.

Piracy doesn't even need jailbreaking anymore (image credit: GettyImages)

Developer Zuesmos told The Next Web that his intent wasn't to encourage piracy. "The intent of Zeusmos will be to SOLELY code sign applications. We will not be supporting or encouraging any form of piracy through the link providers or even via search (although they were based off the iTunes API)," he said.

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"The intents [sic] as I have stated [was] to allow open development for developers. Recently I’ve had the time to add this feature into Zeusmos called the “Exclusive Apps” section, where developers who got their application rejected in the App Store were able to post their application on here for free and share their application to a large audience of users. Such applications even included Grooveshark and many others," he added.

According to Zeusmos, the intent of his service was to allow developers to code-sign apps for distribution as betas, or to audiences outside the App Store. This could possibly be to fill in a niche that is currently using Cydia, but without the need to jailbreak their device. "I wanted this thing originally to be self-sustainable. Most of my applications are mostly free otherwise speaking, such as CarrierEditor…my latest release," says Zeusmos.

Famous iOS hacking community Hackulous was recently shut down. Visiting the community's website throws up a message titled "Goodnight, sweet prince," which explains the reasons for the community's shutting down.

The main reason for the site shutting down is the lack of activity on the website. According to the message on the website, the community grew stagnant and there was very little activity on the forums. "After many years, our community has become stagnant and our forums are a bit of a ghost town," the message reads. The Hackulous staff was finding it difficult to maintain the forums due to a dwindling population.

Hackulous was famous for many of its apps, including Crackulous, Installous, Appsync and AppTrackr.org. Crackulous was a program for hacking apps purchased from the App Store and putting them up on various file sharing websites. Installous was used to find apps in a database called 'dannyh', and to download and install said apps. It worked just like the regular App Store, except all the paid apps were pirated. AppSync allowed you to install cracked apps from Installous through iTunes on a desktop PC. AppTrackr.org was a database of hacked applications.

The community was famous for creating a negative buzz regarding the process of jailbreaking an iOS device, as it opened up ways for the community to pirate paid apps.