A new iPhone development project has recently surfaced and begun to gain public interest as it is the first ever firewall for the iPhone and iPod touch. This firewall alerts users whenever an application requires use of the App Store (even if it is hidden), access to the internet, and access to personal and private data (such as your contacts, device’s UDID number, etc.).
The firewall will work in two parts: first, it will make use of the MobileSubstrate plugin by Jay Freeman (which means it will unfortunately be consuming a bit of RAM at all times, which is pretty bad news for people on a 1st or 2nd generation iPhone or iPod touch, especially if a lot of MobileSubstrate addons are already being used). Every time a user starts up an application, a menu will be brought up to find out what the user is trying to access. From there, you are able to:
- Allow the connection only once
- Block the connection only once
- Always allow the connection
- Always lock the connection
- Allowing any request for a specific application
- Block any request for a specific application
Secondly, a user will be able to access the firewall through an application on the springboard that will allow the user to modify and/or cancel the rules set to specific applications. More information on when the new firewall will be released in Cydia for approximately $2 is to come in the near future. Below is a video preview of the upcoming iPhone firewall:
Via [iSpazio]
Hi! I'm the dev of Firewall iP. Let me first thank you for the nice article.
About memory usage: I'm developing on an iPhone 3G and let me assure you I didn't notice any differences in memory usage (free mem is on my status bar). I'm able to play gangstar without problems (gangstar connects to the net at launch).
The Firewall iP plugin is quite small: less than 40 kB. so less than half the size of the sbsettings plugin.