iOS

Exporting Xcode App to the iPad without Apple Developer Account (Updated)

The following steps are derived from this YouTube video. Instead of distribute to the Cydia store, these steps allow you to have your app running on your own iPad.

Update: Here is the video for the Xcode portion of the steps, the iPad portion of the steps continues on step 15.

1. Open Finder.
2. Navigate to /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.plateform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS5.0.sdk/. Note that the very last folder is based on the current version of iOS. For instance, if the latest iOS version is 5.1, then this folder maybe named iPhoneOS5.1.sdk, 6 is iPhoneOS6.0.sdk, and so on.
   

   iOS SDK path

3. Copy SDKSettings.plist  onto the desktop and open it in the Xcode.
4. Go to DefaultProperties -> CODE_SIGNING_REQUIRED and change its value from YES to NO.
   

   SDKSettings.plist

5. Save and close the Xcode.
6. Move SDKSettings.plist back to the original folder.
7. Connect your iPad.
8. Open the Xcode again.
9. If this is your first time to connect your iPad to Xcode, The Organizer window should appear. Choose the iPad from the list and click the “Add to development” or the button which contain the same meaning.
   

   The Organizer window in Xcode.The "Add to development" or similar button appears at below of the "Screenshots" row if this is your first time  connecting your iPad to the Xcode. It's a colored button (maybe in green).

10. Navigate to File -> New -> New Project to create a “Single-View Application” test project.
    

    Single View Application selected in the project templates window

11. Go to Project Name -> Application Name -> Build Settings -> Code Signing.
12. Change all the options in the Code Signing section to “Don’t Code Sign”.
    

    Code Signing section in Build Settings

13. Choose the name of your iPad in the Scheme list.
    

    Scheme list in Xcode

14. Click the Run button and it will compile the app and transfer to the iPad for you.
    

    The Run button

15. Once the app built successfully, unlock your iPad. The Xcode will give you an error message stating that “Error launching remote program: failed to get the task for process 379.” or something similar, meaning that Xcode cannot automatically launch the app. Don’t worry, the app is already installed on your iPad. All you need to do is find the app and launch it.
    

    Error opening iPad app in Xcode

16. When you update the app in the future, just choose your iPad name from the Scheme list and click run. Ignore the error and open the app on your iPad manually.
17. When you finished testing the app, simply tap and hold the app and tap the remove button just like any other apps.
    

    Remove Xcode app just like a normal app

Note that this method is only used for learning purpose. When you want or are ready to distribute your app to the app store, you still need to pay the yearly fee to sign up for an Apple Developer account.

Leave a comment below if you have any issue about any of the above steps.

iOS Camera AE Lock

I found this camera trick in this CNET video.

1. Open the camera app on the iOS home screen.
   

   Tap on the camera icon to open the camera app

2. Tap and hold the part of the environment you want to focus. The white square will begin to flash and it will display the text “AE Lock” (Auto Exposure Lock) at the top of the camera button.
   

   The flashing white square and the text

3. Once you lock the exposure, you can take a different photo with locked AE.
   

   Photo taken from the locked AE of a different environment

One thing to note is that be sure not to lock the place where is too bright or too dark. In doing so, it will cause the negative effect:

In this photo, I locked the brightest part of a different environment and this is the result. (Note that the computer screen is on)

All of the above photos were taken with iPad although the video talks about iPhone. I think this trick applies to all the iOS devices since they have the same operating system.

Although iPad is not suitable for taking photo since it’s too large and tends to shake while taking the photo, I found the best way to avoid the shakiness while holding the iPad to take photo is using Smart Cover.

Using smart cover to stabilize the shot

Transmission on the iPad

Transmission is the default torrent client for most Linux distros. It has fast download speed and requires minimal system resources. Now the iPad 2 has been jailbroken, you can download torrent directly to your iPad by installing Transmission in Cydia. However, as the following screenshot shows, this app doesn’t have an app icon once it is installed.

In order to access the app, just open Safari on the iPad and type localhost:9091.

But there is one issue. Because this app is a daemon, it’s same as a service in Mac/Windows, meaning that the app won’t run until the next time iPad is started, you need to restart your iPad by pressing the sleep button, swipe to power off the device, wait a moment, and press the sleep button again to start the device.

Once the iPad is restarted, open Safari and go to localhost:9091. Then you can start to download torrent by tapping the Open button and paste in the torrent URL.

If you don’t think you can remember this URL or don’t want to type this URL every time you want to download or check the torrent, you can bookmark this URL.

Or if you want more quick way to access the app, the ideal solution is to place an icon on the SpringBoard (or Home Screen) by tapping the ‘Add to Home Screen’ button.

This way you can access the app directly on the Springboard with an added bonus of removing the address bar.

One more thing to remember is that you can view the torrent details (including where the files are downloaded to) by tapping the Inspector button.

After the download is completed, you can either use an iPad app to view the files or transfer to Mac/PC depending on their usages.

iPad 2 Jailbroken!

As you can see in the heading above, I changed the blog name as well as its description to cover more development topics. In addition to web development, I will also discuss mobile development, mainly iOS and Android since I owned iPad 2 and Nexus One.

With the recent jailbreak for A5 devices (iPad 2 and iPhone 4S) released, my iPad 2 has been very useful to me like never before. I installed some Cydia apps such as VLC Media Player, iFile, and Transmission as well as some other Cydia apps and tweaks

Installed Jailbreak apps on my iPad

Installed jailbreak tweaks (extensions) on my iPad

Now that the jailbreak for my iPad is completed, I will be focused on developing Cydia apps. I will post some tutorials on how to develop for Cydia as I learn from across the web, as well as any tips I found when I’m using my iPad.