Filed under: iPhone
Apple adds new mobile protocol handlers
I've now spent a good deal of time hunting and searching through the updated SpringBoard executable. Much of what I found is dull; some is useful. While hunting around during the adding-Apps-to-SpringBoard effort, I discovered a number of items that appeared to be new Safari-style protocol handlers.
These items were each listed near a host application, for example itms near com.apple.MobileStore. Not surprisingly, opening an itms:// URL launches the iTunes mobile store. Here are the working protocols, both old and new
itms:// Launches Mobile iTMS store.
maps:// Launches Google Maps. (iPhone only)
feed://, feeds:// Launches dotMac reader
tel:// Dials a number, specified in the URL. (iPhone only)
mailto:// Launches the iPhone mail app. (iPhone only)
youtube:// Launches YouTube.
Other items that were listed but do not seem to work are: calshow://, callto://, vmshow://, prefs://, nowplaying://
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
kory said 12:38PM on 10-09-2007
could this have anything to do with the *rumored* updated web 2.0 SDK?
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WKS said 12:40PM on 10-09-2007
You are kind of a joke Erica.... are you just trying to drum up marketing time for the DEV Team donations? Why are you (they) with holding the release of the jailbreak method? Let me decided for myself if the method is too technical. DTeam is probably using methods and ideas from non-DTEAM people on IRC anyway. Keep posting dumbass screen shots of a phone that isn't yours... better try and sell that solution quick... as many anonymous donors are likely to get very upset. WOW
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Donald Burr said 12:41PM on 10-09-2007
The mailto: handler is NOT iPhone-specific. It works on any desktop computer, be it Mac, Windows, or Linux, and simply opens a new e-mail (in whatever email program you have set as your system's default). The form of this url is:
mailto:your@email.address.com?subject=Subject
The "?subject=..." is optional; if specified, you can tell the mail client to insert a default subject line of your choice.
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Merlyn3D said 12:42PM on 10-09-2007
calshow? Does this mean we'll get to FINALLY sync or at least subscribe to iCal calendars over the air?
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Donald Burr said 12:44PM on 10-09-2007
#2,
They are merely protecting you from your own stupidity. I wager that the current state of the 1.1.1 jailbreak is pretty dodgy, involving a lot of command line hackery. In other words, something rather complex and difficult to apply.
A similar situation arose when the first iPhone SIM unlocks came into being. The first SIM unlocks were heavily command line based and were a bear to apply, even for many battle-hardened UNIX heads. Now anySIM is out, and offers truly one-click unlockability.
The same thing can be said for the first 1.0x jailbreaks. Until AppTap came along, they involved quite a bit of command line hackery, crossing of fingers, and prayer.
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WKS said 12:48PM on 10-09-2007
Donald, you are a clueless mook.. OOOOHHHH NOOOOEES ---> command line!
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Fraggle said 12:54PM on 10-09-2007
tel:// can be used as with appr Url shortcut link creator. search iphone appr for the site. user tel://1111111111 on the website as its not secure and then change the file your self to include the number you want it to dial. then as your custom icon.png. and move to applications directory and you have a shortcut for a number on springboard. Maybe even add your tmobile "favs" this way.
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Blackmouth said 12:54PM on 10-09-2007
@WKS
Hey you lame ass, if you don't like what you've been reading regarding iPhone devteam progress then you should take your douche bag comments elsewhere. I for one like constant updates when other apple news is slow. So lay off.
And if you really want to test the software yourself then head to the IRC channels and make some contributions to other people's hard work.
Erica, you are very brave and I admire you for that. Thanks for making the unlocking process an open forum for us all.
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Robert said 12:56PM on 10-09-2007
@Donald Burr/Erica: I really don't understand the reluctance to let everyone know what the method for 1.1.1 hack is. People who are incompetent will not be trying command line trickery in the first place. I successfully jailbroke 1.0 with the the most rudimentary of instructions at the time and have had no problem doing it the hard way or via AppTap. While I wish I had the time to spend on #iphone-dev, I don't but am more than competent to deal with perling, scripting, shelling, pythoning, piping, whatever to jailbreak 1.1.1. I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT UNLOCKING.
What's the logic here?
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Donald Burr said 12:58PM on 10-09-2007
#9,
Perhaps they aren't letting everyone know because they haven't yet perfected the method yet. Maybe it still has some side effects or the chance of hopelessly screwing up your phone. I for one would rather wait and have a more perfected/time tested tool than "here, here's a README file, go for it" and risk doing something Bad(tm).
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Donald Burr said 1:04PM on 10-09-2007
Also it's possible that their method currently does not work 100% of time. So rather than release it and get flooded with a bunch of "YOU STUPID @#$%@$$%@HOLES THIS THING DOESN'T WORK RIGHT/BRICKED MY PHONE/etc." they chose to wait a bit and release a more perfected tool.
I recall something similar happening when they released 1.0 of anySIM; it had some sort of fatal flaw in it that caused grief, and they rather quickly followed it up with a 1.01 release. Or something like that anyway.
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Steven Fisher said 1:07PM on 10-09-2007
This article is obvious. Why bother? Does anyone who needs to know this not already know it?
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Robert said 1:12PM on 10-09-2007
@#10,
I agree with everything except that if you want to wait then that should be an option that you make furthermore any of these hacks (whether claimed to be safe or not) could damage the phone. Jailbreak 1.0.0 was definitely not for the console-wary and until AppTap I wouldn't have recommend it for the novice or intermediate but it just seems odd that DevWiki, Niacin or Erica haven't gone into a brief step by step. Erica was all over 1.0.0 releases of information but that has definitely changed with 1.1.1 (at least the details).
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Patrick McCarron said 1:21PM on 10-09-2007
#5 is right on the money. They know how to do it now, but got there by messing around with lots of different things all at once. So now they are just putting together an elegant solution. So #2 stop getting your panties in a bunch and just wait, or go back to 1.0.2.
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Stephen Lang said 1:23PM on 10-09-2007
If you really want the nitty gritty, you can probably find out on their IRC channel (which has been posted before on TUAW.)
But posting instruction on TUAW (even if accompanied by 'It doesn't work 100% and might brick your iPhone/Touch') is probably not a good idea at such an early stage.
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Al said 1:24PM on 10-09-2007
Holy moly - make an iPhone blog already.
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Alex Paris said 1:42PM on 10-09-2007
omg im in love. I always thought the iphone was revolutonary but now i think i found my self inappropriately sporting a brainon... now if only the rest of the electronics world worked this way.
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Mo said 1:48PM on 10-09-2007
Um, perhaps the method's not been released because nobody's written the instructions yet?
…or is that too easy for you people?
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badtzmaru said 1:49PM on 10-09-2007
So basically, other people did all the work and now you want them to tell you how they did it so you can decide FOR YOURSELF whether it's too technical?
With that attitude, you can jailbreak it yourself and tell us how it's done.
You've done nothing.
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Johnny said 2:10PM on 10-09-2007
I wish TUAW had the voting buttons on comments like Engadget. It's meaningless and petty, I know, but it would still be interesting to see. I'd like to low rank the people who bother to comment in areas they claim to have no interest in.
BTW... I agree with 19: They are the ones working on this and when they are ready to let the freeloaders have it, such as myself, then they will release it. I will gladly thank them.
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