We are developing an iPhone application for which i need to read iPhone Settings value (precisely the status of 'Settings->General->Date & Time->Set Automatically'). Is there any way easy/difficult way to find out that value? Any tips and tricks will be highly appreciated.
You can use the following code (I just found this out by examining the contents of the /var/mobile/Library/Preferences/ directory on my iPad):
NSDictionary *pref = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] persistentDomainForName:#"com.apple.timed"];
BOOL autotime = [[pref objectForKey:#"TMAutomaticTimeEnabled"] boolValue];
NSLog(#"Automatic time is %#", autotime ? #"enabled" : #"disabled");
These keys are undocumented and you should probably not use them in an AppStore app. You can, however, safely use them in in-house apps or softwares for jailbroken devices.
Nope, sorry, this is not possible.
Related
Is there any way to get own phone number by standard APIs from iPhone SDK?
At the risk of getting negative marks, I want to suggest that the highest ranking solution (currently the first response) violates the latest SDK Agreement as of Nov 5, 2009. Our application was just rejected for using it. Here's the response from Apple:
"For security reasons, iPhone OS restricts an application (including its preferences and data) to a unique location in the file system. This restriction is part of the security feature known as the application's "sandbox." The sandbox is a set of fine-grained controls limiting an application's access to files, preferences, network resources, hardware, and so on."
The device's phone number is not available within your application's container. You will need to revise your application to read only within your directory container and resubmit your binary to iTunes Connect in order for your application to be reconsidered for the App Store.
This was a real disappointment since we wanted to spare the user having to enter their own phone number.
No, there's no legal and reliable way to do this.
If you find a way, it will be disabled in the future, as it has happened with every method before.
Update: capability appears to have been removed by Apple on or around iOS 4
Just to expand on an earlier answer, something like this does it for me:
NSString *num = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] stringForKey:#"SBFormattedPhoneNumber"];
Note: This retrieves the "Phone number" that was entered during the iPhone's iTunes activation and can be null or an incorrect value. It's NOT read from the SIM card.
At least that does in 2.1. There are a couple of other interesting keys in NSUserDefaults that may also not last. (This is in my app which uses a UIWebView)
WebKitJavaScriptCanOpenWindowsAutomatically
NSInterfaceStyle
TVOutStatus
WebKitDeveloperExtrasEnabledPreferenceKey
and so on.
Not sure what, if anything, the others do.
Using Private API you can get user phone number on the following way:
extern NSString* CTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber();
+(NSString *) phoneNumber {
NSString *phone = CTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber();
return phone;
}
Also include CoreTelephony.framework to your project.
You cannot use iOS APIs alone to capture the phone number (even in a private app with private APIs), as all known methods of doing this have been patched and blocked as of iOS 11. Even if a new exploit is found, Apple has made clear that they will reject any apps from the app store for using private APIs to do this. See #Dylan's answer for details.
However, there is a legal way to capture the phone number without any user data entry. This is similar to what Snapchat does, but easier, as it does not require the user to type in their own phone number.
The idea is to have the app programmatically send a SMS message to a server with the app’s unique installation code. The app can then query the same server to see if it has recently received a SMS message from a device with this unique app installation code. If it has, it can read the phone number that sent it. Here’s a demo video showing the process. As you can see, it works like a charm!
This is not super easy to set up, but it be configured in a few hours at no charge on a free AWS tier with the sample code provided in the tutorial here.
As you probably all ready know if you use the following line of code, your app will be rejected by Apple
NSString *num = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] stringForKey:#"SBFormattedPhoneNumber"];
here is a reference
http://ayeapi.blogspot.com/2009/12/sbformatphonenumber-is-lie.html
you can use the following information instead
NSString *phoneName = [[UIDevice currentDevice] name];
NSString *phoneUniqueIdentifier = [[UIDevice currentDevice] uniqueIdentifier];
and so on
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *name; // e.g. "My iPhone"
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *model; // e.g. #"iPhone", #"iPod Touch"
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *localizedModel; // localized version of model
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *systemName; // e.g. #"iPhone OS"
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *systemVersion; // e.g. #"2.0"
#property(nonatomic,readonly) UIDeviceOrientation orientation; // return current device orientation
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *uniqueIdentifier; // a string unique to each device based on various hardware info.
Hope this helps!
To get you phone number you can read a plist file. It will not work on non-jailbroken iDevices:
NSString *commcenter = #"/private/var/wireless/Library/Preferences/com.apple.commcenter.plist";
NSDictionary *dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:commcenter];
NSString *PhoneNumber = [dict valueForKey:#"PhoneNumber"];
NSLog([NSString stringWithFormat:#"Phone number: %#",PhoneNumber]);
I don't know if Apple allow this but it works on iPhones.
No official API to do it. Using private API you can use following method:
-(NSString*) getMyNumber {
NSLog(#"Open CoreTelephony");
void *lib = dlopen("/Symbols/System/Library/Framework/CoreTelephony.framework/CoreTelephony",RTLD_LAZY);
NSLog(#"Get CTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber from CoreTelephony");
NSString* (*pCTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber)() = dlsym(lib, "CTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber");
NSLog(#"Get CTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber from CoreTelephony");
if (pCTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber == nil) {
NSLog(#"pCTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber is nil");
return nil;
}
NSString* ownPhoneNumber = pCTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber();
dlclose(lib);
return ownPhoneNumber;
}
It works on iOS 6 without JB and special signing.
As mentioned creker on iOS 7 with JB you need to use entitlements to make it working.
How to do it with entitlements you can find here:
iOS 7: How to get own number via private API?
AppStore will reject it, as it's reaching outside of application container.
Apps should be self-contained in their bundles, and may not read or write data outside the designated container area
Section 2.5.2 :
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#software-requirements
I have an app submitted to the app store that was rejected due to:
2.30 Apps that do not comply with the Mac OS X File System documentation will be rejected
They claim my app is modifying the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.spaces.plist file which is unsupported.
My app is in fact modifying that file, but only with NSUserDefaults via: (I'm omitting some code for brevity...)
NSMutableDictionary *spacesDefaults =
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] persistentDomainForName:#"com.apple.spaces"];
NSMutableDictionary *dict = [spacesDefaults objectForKey:#"app-bindings"];
NSString *bundleId = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] bundleIdentifier] lowercaseString];
[dict setObject:#"AllSpaces" forKey:bundleId];
[spacesDefaults setObject:dict forKey:#"app-bindings"];
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setPersistentDomain:spacesDefaults
forName:#"com.apple.spaces"];
It seems to me that this falls under the first bullet of "File-System Usage Requirements for the Mac App Store" http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#releasenotes/General/SubmittingToMacAppStore/_index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40010572
* You may use Apple frameworks such as User Defaults, Calendar Store, and Address Book that implicitly write to files in specific locations, including locations is not allowed to access directly.
Does anyone know why this would get rejected? I just don't see it...
Thanks!
This is a really important issue that I bemoaned on the Apple Dev Forums...
And I suppose that filing a Feedback Request might have an effect, someday... But apparently this LAME restriction.. which limits an App's ability to do ANYTHING outside the sandbox.. EVEN IF it's something your user can do... This is a serious step backwards in the ability of third-party apps on the mac to perform SIMPLE, implicit commands by the user.
This seems like a fundamental paradigm shift on Apple's part. Here's the jist of the above forum listing..
NSUserDefaults can be used only for our own app,
and sandboxing will not allow to modify other apps defaults
Additionally, you cannot modify in any way ANY other app's .plist, via XML, or otherwise.
And, no, doing defaults write via a task or terminal on another domain, besides YOUR OWN APP is outlawed as well. Ugh, it's very annoying.
Is there any way to get own phone number by standard APIs from iPhone SDK?
At the risk of getting negative marks, I want to suggest that the highest ranking solution (currently the first response) violates the latest SDK Agreement as of Nov 5, 2009. Our application was just rejected for using it. Here's the response from Apple:
"For security reasons, iPhone OS restricts an application (including its preferences and data) to a unique location in the file system. This restriction is part of the security feature known as the application's "sandbox." The sandbox is a set of fine-grained controls limiting an application's access to files, preferences, network resources, hardware, and so on."
The device's phone number is not available within your application's container. You will need to revise your application to read only within your directory container and resubmit your binary to iTunes Connect in order for your application to be reconsidered for the App Store.
This was a real disappointment since we wanted to spare the user having to enter their own phone number.
No, there's no legal and reliable way to do this.
If you find a way, it will be disabled in the future, as it has happened with every method before.
Update: capability appears to have been removed by Apple on or around iOS 4
Just to expand on an earlier answer, something like this does it for me:
NSString *num = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] stringForKey:#"SBFormattedPhoneNumber"];
Note: This retrieves the "Phone number" that was entered during the iPhone's iTunes activation and can be null or an incorrect value. It's NOT read from the SIM card.
At least that does in 2.1. There are a couple of other interesting keys in NSUserDefaults that may also not last. (This is in my app which uses a UIWebView)
WebKitJavaScriptCanOpenWindowsAutomatically
NSInterfaceStyle
TVOutStatus
WebKitDeveloperExtrasEnabledPreferenceKey
and so on.
Not sure what, if anything, the others do.
Using Private API you can get user phone number on the following way:
extern NSString* CTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber();
+(NSString *) phoneNumber {
NSString *phone = CTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber();
return phone;
}
Also include CoreTelephony.framework to your project.
You cannot use iOS APIs alone to capture the phone number (even in a private app with private APIs), as all known methods of doing this have been patched and blocked as of iOS 11. Even if a new exploit is found, Apple has made clear that they will reject any apps from the app store for using private APIs to do this. See #Dylan's answer for details.
However, there is a legal way to capture the phone number without any user data entry. This is similar to what Snapchat does, but easier, as it does not require the user to type in their own phone number.
The idea is to have the app programmatically send a SMS message to a server with the app’s unique installation code. The app can then query the same server to see if it has recently received a SMS message from a device with this unique app installation code. If it has, it can read the phone number that sent it. Here’s a demo video showing the process. As you can see, it works like a charm!
This is not super easy to set up, but it be configured in a few hours at no charge on a free AWS tier with the sample code provided in the tutorial here.
As you probably all ready know if you use the following line of code, your app will be rejected by Apple
NSString *num = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] stringForKey:#"SBFormattedPhoneNumber"];
here is a reference
http://ayeapi.blogspot.com/2009/12/sbformatphonenumber-is-lie.html
you can use the following information instead
NSString *phoneName = [[UIDevice currentDevice] name];
NSString *phoneUniqueIdentifier = [[UIDevice currentDevice] uniqueIdentifier];
and so on
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *name; // e.g. "My iPhone"
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *model; // e.g. #"iPhone", #"iPod Touch"
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *localizedModel; // localized version of model
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *systemName; // e.g. #"iPhone OS"
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *systemVersion; // e.g. #"2.0"
#property(nonatomic,readonly) UIDeviceOrientation orientation; // return current device orientation
#property(nonatomic,readonly,retain) NSString *uniqueIdentifier; // a string unique to each device based on various hardware info.
Hope this helps!
To get you phone number you can read a plist file. It will not work on non-jailbroken iDevices:
NSString *commcenter = #"/private/var/wireless/Library/Preferences/com.apple.commcenter.plist";
NSDictionary *dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:commcenter];
NSString *PhoneNumber = [dict valueForKey:#"PhoneNumber"];
NSLog([NSString stringWithFormat:#"Phone number: %#",PhoneNumber]);
I don't know if Apple allow this but it works on iPhones.
No official API to do it. Using private API you can use following method:
-(NSString*) getMyNumber {
NSLog(#"Open CoreTelephony");
void *lib = dlopen("/Symbols/System/Library/Framework/CoreTelephony.framework/CoreTelephony",RTLD_LAZY);
NSLog(#"Get CTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber from CoreTelephony");
NSString* (*pCTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber)() = dlsym(lib, "CTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber");
NSLog(#"Get CTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber from CoreTelephony");
if (pCTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber == nil) {
NSLog(#"pCTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber is nil");
return nil;
}
NSString* ownPhoneNumber = pCTSettingCopyMyPhoneNumber();
dlclose(lib);
return ownPhoneNumber;
}
It works on iOS 6 without JB and special signing.
As mentioned creker on iOS 7 with JB you need to use entitlements to make it working.
How to do it with entitlements you can find here:
iOS 7: How to get own number via private API?
AppStore will reject it, as it's reaching outside of application container.
Apps should be self-contained in their bundles, and may not read or write data outside the designated container area
Section 2.5.2 :
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#software-requirements
hi i am new to iphone development. i need to store a buttontag value temporarily and use it in another view is there any method to do this pls help me
Safari for iPhone supports cookies as every other browsers does. If you refer to a real objective-c coded app you might have a look at the NSUserDefauls and their related documentation in the SDK. These allow you to easily store and retrieve simple data.
Just a quick example here:
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setBool:saveUsername forKey:#"saveUsername"];
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setInteger:tabIndex forKey:#"startupTab"];
Don't worry, I'm not trying to hack someone else's app, if that's what you're thinking =).
I want to have 2 versions of my app, a free version and a deluxe version. My plan was to use an in-app purchase to enable the deluxe version by setting a boolean value in the plist file.
My question is: is this secure or is it easily circumvented? And if it is not secure, can someone suggest a simple alternative? I don't want to download additional content, I would rather keep all of the functionality within the app and enable it somehow.
Edit: I don't mean the application plist file, but something like the user defaults file.
You should store this in the keychain, this is what I'll do. The keychain is far more secure than a .plist or the user defaults (which are .plists, too, as far as I know). Have a look at SFHFKeychainUtils, you should be able to use this or just implement a better method exactly for the need to save a simple bool.
It is easy to edit the com.something.plist without jailbreaking. With a free tool* you can browse your device, you can also edit and save these files. If you store your inapp purchase something like this:
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setBool:YES forKey:#"com.example.pack1"];
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] synchronize];
then this will be written to the plist:
<key>com.example.pack1</key>
<true/>
If you name your packages like this: pack1, pack2 etc., and somebody edits your plist (copy/pasting the first key), he/she could use the locked feature easily.
A not too hard to implement method would be to save like this:
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setValue:[self sha1ValueForKey:#"com.example.pack1"]
forKey:#"com.example.pack1"];
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] synchronize];
where -sha1ValueForKey: is
-(NSString *)sha1ValueForKey:(NSString *)key {
return [self sha1:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"<SALT>%#", key]];
}
You have to change <SALT> to something.
You can find -sha1: here: http://www.makebetterthings.com/iphone/how-to-get-md5-and-sha1-in-objective-c-ios-sdk/
After this you can verify if the key matches the hashed value.
If somebody wants to hack your plist he/she has to know your hashing mechanism and salt.
This is not the safest way to protect your application but it is easy to implement.
*iExplorer
EDIT:
The suggested method only protects - somewhat - your IAP if the user doesn't have access to the hashed value. If someone gets it from somewhere, it is easy to copy that data to the plist. If the SALT is device dependent copying is useless.
I would recommend reading up on verifying in-app purchases. It sounds to me like you are trying to roll your own in-app purchase verification system which may be wrought with issues you might not have thought of yet. You have to be careful with your user's purchases that they will behave the same in your application as they will in any other, lest ye lose their trust (and future sales!)
Instead of worrying about the Info.plist file, why not just set a preference? Somewhere in your code, this would give you your boolean value:
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] boolForKey:#"someKey"];
If the value doesn't exist, the result will be nil. This code sets the value:
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setBool:YES forKey:#"someKey"];
Plus, these values will be backed up in iTunes, so if the user moves their backup to a new iPhone or simply restores from backup, the values will be restored.
I don't have an answer, but it seems that editing your plist file dynamically is not possible, if I trust this subject :
You can not edit you're info.plist
file dynamically. When you submit your
app to The App Store, your app bundle,
which includes info.plist, can't
change because the signature created
when you compile you app is based on
the bundle.
Any pirate has a jail-broken iPhone
Any jail-broken device offers full file system access via tools like PhoneDisk, etc
Any file system access allows people to change the values in your applications .plist file
Game over.
Now, its not trivial to wrapper that up for the script kiddies but then again its not that hard either.
Storing state in defaults is no more nor less safe from privacy than having two versions of your app. Pirates will either pirate the deluxe version, or they'll pirate the unified version with the flag set.