Apple makes it legal to port Siri to an iPhone 4

By Andrew Couts December 16, 2011

Siri-iPhone-4S-Assistant — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Apple’s Siri voice assistant stands as one of the primary selling points of the iPhone 4S, which is the only device that includes the feature. Yes, many hackers have tried to put Siri on other Apple gadgets, but they have so far been unstable and otherwise severely flawed. But that is all about to change.

As Alex Heath at Cult of Mac reports, Apple has released now released iOS 5.0.1, which includes the Siri code unencrypted, making it possible — and legal — for hackers to port Siri to older versions of the iPhone.

The notable change to iOS 5.0.1 was first uncovered (publicly) by well-known iPhone hacker MuscleNerd, who posted the information to Twitter. MuscleNerd notes that iOS 5.0.1 is “the first public 4S ipsw where the main filesystem keys are obtainable (due to non-encrypted ramdisks).” By un-encrypting the Siri code, Apple has made it possible to port the feature to other devices without violating Apple’s copyright.

It is entirely possible that Apple will close this loophole soon — in fact, we’d wager that that is a highly likely scenario — when it releases iOS 5.1. For now, however, those of you who have stuck with the iPhone 4, and choose to jailbreak your device, could very soon have Siri all to yourself.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…

Mobile

iPhone SE 4: news, rumored price, release date, and more

The Apple iPhone SE (2022) and Apple iPhone SE (2020) together.

While the spotlight always seems to be on Apple’s mainline iPhones, the iPhone SE is a great pick for those who are on a budget. If you want an iPhone that doesn't break the bank, the SE is the way to go.

The original iPhone SE came out in 2016, and then Apple revamped it in 2020 and 2022 by giving it some more modern hardware. The iPhone SE tends to get updated every two or so years rather than annually like the traditional iPhone. This means that we should see a new iPhone SE 4 this year, but it’s not so cut-and-dried with this particular model.

Mobile

3 reasons why I’ll actually use Anker’s new iPhone power bank

A person holding the Anker MagGo Power Bank.

Power banks are a necessary evil, and even if you don’t consider yourself a “power user” who's likely to drain a phone’s battery in less than a day, there will be times when one comes in handy. And when I am forced to carry one, I want it to be as helpful and versatile as possible.

I’ve been trying Anker’s MagGo Power Bank 10K -- meaning it has a 10,000mAh cell inside it -- and there are three reasons why I'm OK with it taking up valuable space in my bag.
It has a screen on it

Mobile

Here’s how Apple could change your iPhone forever

An iPhone 15 Pro Max laying on its back, showing its home screen.

Over the past few months, Apple has released a steady stream of research papers detailing its work with generative AI. So far, Apple has been tight-lipped about what exactly is cooking in its research labs, while rumors circulate that Apple is in talks with Google to license its Gemini AI for iPhones.

But there have been a couple of teasers of what we can expect. In February, an Apple research paper detailed an open-source model called MLLM-Guided Image Editing (MGIE) that is capable of media editing using natural language instructions from users. Now, another research paper on Ferret UI has sent the AI community into a frenzy.