iPhone developer agreement updated

by Kiks52 on 2 Apr 2009

The agreement license for Apple’s developer program, Developer Connection, saw an update today that took a hit on something Apple (excluding our good friend Woz) has always been against: jailbreaking. According to ArsTechnica, who received a copy of the updated agreement, it mentions the following details:

(e)You will not, through use of the Apple Software, services or otherwise, create any Application or other program that would disable, hack or otherwise interfere with the Security Solution, or any security, digital signing, digital rights management, verification or authentication mechanisms implemented in or by the iPhone operating system software, iPod touch operating system software, this Apple Software, any services or other Apple software or technology, or enable others to do so; and

(f) Applications developed using the Apple Software may only be distributed if selected by Apple (in its sole discretion) for distribution via the App Store or for limited distribution on Registered Devices (ad hoc distribution) as contemplated in this Agreement.

In an on-going discussion at iPod touch Fans, user SkylarEC had some good points. Skylar, a member of Apple’s developer program himself, posted his opinion on what this update means:

That only states three things:

  • An developer can not use Apple software to create jailbreaking utilities/tools.
  • A developer may not use Apple software to create code signing utilities (such as ldid).
  • A developer can not distribute iPhone/iPod touch applications created with Apple software via any other means but Apple themselves.

GCC is not Apple software, so I will continue to compile [jailbroken] apps using it. If Apple wants to complain about developing on OS X, then I will simply plug in my Linux machine that has the complete working/patched/upgraded toolchain on it and tell Apple I used that to develop.

“Honestly,” added Skylar, “this is nothing to really worry about.”

UPDATE: According to TUAW, this information has been in the agreement since October 2008 and isn’t anything new.

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