It was inevitable I guess, that sooner or later there would be cracked Apps available for the iPhone. (for a explanation of what I mean by “cracked app” or “pirated software” see the article “Software cracking” in the Wikipedia.).

I had heard that some cracked Apple App Store Apps were being distributed in some way on Jailbroken iPhones. It was only when I was doing some research for the Blog Entry “148 Apps“, that I came across some evidence of this. I was going to refer to a blog where someone had installed the maximum amount of apps on his iPhone, and had a picture showing all the screens of his iPhone full of Apps. Then I spotted a suspiciously named app, Googled the name and discovered it was a source for cracked Apps. It was a good picture but I could not use it.

So why am I writing about cracked Apps? Well, first I must make this disclaimer: as a former Software Developer, I’m definitely against using cracked apps. Also, searching the web for and downloading cracked apps for any platform is one of the surest ways of getting some sort of malware on your machine.

One of the primary methods to install cracked apps on an iPhone is by using tools only available on Jailbroken iPhones. However, the developers of software for Jailbroken iPhones are very much against cracked apps. The last thing they want is to give Apple another reason to want to shut them down. Also, their apps are among the ones being pirated.

Of course cracking of Applications happens on every popular platform. One of the most pirated applications in the world today is an Operating System: Windows XP Professional.