Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone
Mobile Safari plug-in downloads files to your iPhone/iPod touch
Now this is just amazingly cool. iPhone hacker hachu developed a download plug-in for MobileSafari. Once installed and customized, it allows you to download data off the Internet and store it on your iPhone or iPod touch local disk in the /var/root/Downloads folder.
I downloaded the package (it's variously on RapidShare and BadOnGo; see the hackint0sh thread for links) and gave it a whirl. Following the instructions on the thread for modifying the Info.plist file, I told the plug-in to download MP3 files. (I had to disable playback as well in the QuickTime plug-in--so make sure to read the entire thread!) Now back in Safari, when I navigated to an MP3 file and selected it, this green Download button appeared. I tapped it, and the file downloaded perfectly. Before, the QuickTime plug-in would have just played the file back in Safari.
iPhone enthusiast RohitK asked if there was an easy way to play back these downloaded files using my software. As there wasn't at the time, I went ahead and modded my SendFile application to search ~/Downloads as well as ~/Media/Documents. You can grab a copy of the modded app here. This allows you to email, share and play back the downloaded media on demand, whether or not you are connected to the Internet.
Thanks to RohitK and Xadacka.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
starkruzr said 3:12PM on 12-04-2007
FINALLY!
Though I'm surprised Darkten hasn't tried to suppress the release of it due to his overzealous agreement with Apple's "device" paradigm for the iPhone, I'm glad it's out.
Will install first chance I get.
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ortizlgnd said 4:48PM on 12-20-2007
But how do you config this plug-in to download images from the web as you can from a desktop pc? At present this plug-in only allows you to download files that are meant to be downloaded but not all images in general. For instance: I do a google image search for denise milani and click on one of the images. I then save image as... Thats what I want to be able to do with my Touch. So is it possible? and if so....HOW?
starkruzr said 5:05PM on 12-20-2007
That's just not something we're going to be able to do until the interface paradigm changes for Safari. Maybe some kind of tap-hold thing on images. I just don't think there exist hooks in Safari for doing that sort of thing yet.
inferno10 said 3:13PM on 12-04-2007
That's awesome! Now if the plugin could only allow us to choose where to download to each time, that would be perfect!
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Rohit Kapur said 3:28PM on 12-04-2007
Hey guys,
I wrote a guide on how to download songs through Safari and then have them added to the iPod in the phone. Here's the link:
http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18331
I'm so glad we can do this on the phone! :-D
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webbuy said 3:51PM on 12-04-2007
While I think this is cool, for me it creates a problem that makes it less than useful: It prevents you from simply streaming the file in MobileSafari. So, for example, if I were to find a song using SeeQPod, instead of just listening to it, I'd have to download it, quit Safari, Launch SendFile and hit play. I'd rather just stream it. I hope the author will add a feature to cancel and let the website work as intended as well.
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Dan Kass said 4:12PM on 12-04-2007
works amazing on the iPod touch! unfortunately, the lack of a real app hurts it somewhat, as you cant really pause or exit out of the app, but with seeqpod and this, its flawless!
Rohit Kapur said 8:52PM on 12-04-2007
webbuy,
I can understand how the loss of streaming can be very irritating. . . I've just edited my thread on Hackint0sh to include instructions on how to switch between downloading and streaming. Mind you, though, it's not for the faint of heart.
I'm no coder, so I can't develop an app that'll do this in a more simpler way. This was my first experience with Terminal as well, so forgive me. :-)
Here's the link:
http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18331
H3 said 3:36PM on 12-04-2007
nice
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Dasutin said 4:32PM on 12-04-2007
How about making a Flash Mobile Safari plug-in?
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DrDiesel said 5:01PM on 12-04-2007
Does this work for video as well? Is there something that works for video other than having to see if it' on YouTube?
yo mamma said 9:05PM on 1-12-2008
yeah flash and divx plugins would be nice
John Biggs said 5:32PM on 12-04-2007
@webbuy:
I encountered the same problem, as now I don't have a functional QuickTime plug-in to support DOT.TUNES streaming. You or anyone else have a fresh QuickTime plug-in download to send to my iPhone?
Thanks,
John
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punkassjim said 5:32PM on 12-04-2007
Beautiful progress. I can only hope that, as time goes on, someone will be able to figure out how to get the following to work: Tap and hold your finger on a link. The popup shows you the URL, and there's also an option to download.
This is kinda how I'd envision copying text on the iPhone as well, but it would definitely change some UI rules throughout the system. As such, I'm not holding my breath.
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Alex said 3:54AM on 12-06-2007
That's awesome. Could we now download a certificate and access a WPA Enterprise Wi-Fi Network eventually? Can someone try it?
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myboot said 5:44PM on 12-04-2007
I could not get the MNPLight to work on a Touch 1.1.2. And I find it a little questionable that when I went to install via the source, it downloaded, started to install, then did a respring. There wasnt any installed MNPLight. Not in Installer Uninstall either. But when I went into Applications in Finder it was there. It was there in Customize too, hidden. But Customize could not unhide it.
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webbuy said 6:09PM on 12-04-2007
John Biggs:
I didn't have to modify the QuickTime plug-in at all to make this work, I just downloaded an updated plist for the File Download Plugin and replaced the one that came with it. Since then, I've modified that plist to disable mpeg & mp3, since I'd rather stream those types normally. Now I kind've get the best of both worlds, since I can download Safari unsupported types, stream supported types, and DL the supported types using HistoryDL.
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John Biggs said 6:16PM on 12-04-2007
Webbuy:
I'm on a Vista machine and, unless I'm mistaken, can only rely on plist's that appear online for download. How might I configure my setup like yours? Thanks.
Jeff said 7:07PM on 12-04-2007
PLEASE EXCUSE THE CAPITALS - BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT!!
WHAT WE REALLY NEED IS FOR SOMEONE TO MODIFY THE MOBILE QUICKTIME PLUGIN TO ALLOW SUPPORT FOR M3U FILES
OR
FOR THE MOBILE QUICKTIME PLUGIN TO RETURN THE USER TO THE WEB PAGE WHERE THE LAST TRACK WAS INITIATED. IT CURRENTLY DOES THIS BUT ONLY IF YOU MANUALLY CLICK A TRACK - IF IT IS AUTO INITIATED VIA JAVASCRIPT THEN AFTER PLAYING THE TRACK THE QT PLAYER DOES NOT RETURN THE USER TO THE BROWSER.
THE REASON FOR ALL THIS IS SO THAT DOT.TUNES CAN PLAY ONE TRACK AFTER THE OTHER AND STREAM AN ENTIRE PLAYLIST TO THE IPHONE OR TOUCH.
PLEASE EMAIL THOUGHTS TO team@dottunes.net
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Calvin said 12:04AM on 12-05-2007
Hi this sounds like a great app. Does anyone know if it is possible to download pdf to the ipod touch with this.
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