iPhone. News and Tips

Today is fool?s day but I?ll be dead serious, sorry.

As you know, at the moment the basic way to install software on one?s iPhone is via Installer.app developed by Nullriver Software, the author of SummerBoard and PSPware. There are other methods as well — like doing it manually via SSH, or Cydia, yet Installer.app remains one of the few iPhone must-haves.

Nullriver, however, is not developing or supporting Installer.app on an ongoing basis (no wonder, the company employs just two people), so updates and modifications don?t happen that often.

Some time ago we offered our help in development of some functionality and some enhancements to the application. As a result, we agreed on the basic co-development principles.

Installer.app consists of two parts — AppTapp.framework, in charge of software downloads, source updates, etc., and Installer.app itself, which is in fact no more than a graphical interface for the framework. From now on we (RiP Dev) will be developing, upgrading and modifying the «engine», while Nullriver keeps working on the interface part.

What next? Many things in fact. We begin with barely noticeable changes. First of all the application will be now loading faster. As a next step, we?ll accelerate source refreshment and optimize extraction of files archived using Windows. And then we?ll see what happens. We are thinking about many fun options, like installation from the local disk without Wi-Fi, rating system for applications and quite a few other things.

Installer.app will definitely remain a free-of-charge product. For us it?s more of a «socially significant» noncommercial project — as passionate iPhone users we would like to make one of its key applications better. We?ve been nurturing this idea for quite a while, and now we seem to have the opportunity to make it real.

The first update is coming up very soon. We appreciate your feedback on how to make Installer.app better. Thank you! =)

text by Slava Karpenko (slavikus), RiPDev.