I just updated Installer, I was checking it and saw an update for Greg Meach's Summerboard Themes. I hit update and it may have been there before but now the update button is red and says he is an "Untrusted Source".

Why exactly is he an Untrusted source?

I have some of his stuff on my phone haven't had any problems.

If he is untrusted why are his apps in Installer?

Originally Posted by viper

I just updated Installer, I was checking it and saw an update for Greg Meach's Summerboard Themes. I hit update and it may have been there before but now the update button is red and says he is an "Untrusted Source".

Why exactly is he an Untrusted source?

I have some of his stuff on my phone haven't had any problems.

If he is untrusted why are his apps in Installer?

Oh boy...use your BRAIN.

Untrusted is everything which hasn't been certified and/or verified by Nullriver for example. Sometimes is also happens that although the package comes from a "trusted" (well, define trusted) source, you get the "untrusted source" message.

Fact is: Apple is somehow right. ANY third party application/file you download to your iPhone is a security risk. Right now, only a few applications have been controlled and verified to be somehow safe but sometimes there are websites which offer installer.app packages for direct install and you should be careful about these offers.

I can't recommend to anyone to use a ssh enabled/third party app equipped iPhone in a high security environment or actually in ANY business environment.
I would NEVER EVER use such an iPhone if I would work for a government, security agency, police/security force, company with a high risk of industry espionage, etc. Keep that in mind.

Everything discussed/installed should be considered as some sort of experimental stuff, nothing really ready for daily usage in a production environment.

Some people think that open source is safer than other stuff but the truth is, it is easier to verify and it is easier to be much earlier aware of possible safety issues but this doesn't mean open source is 100% safe to use. It isn't.

So why are we doing all this with the iPhone? Pretty simple: it leads the way to a somehow safe and professional iPhone third party distribution channel/source because the only alternative would be Apple and their 3rd party SDK kit/certification and I'm pretty sure that although it will be pretty much safe and controlled, it will also not include a lot of interesting open source projects which just can't afford to pay the certification/license fee to Apple (if they actually ask for money but I can't imagine they'll do that for free ).

Thanks for the fast reply 997TT.

It seems as far as Apple is concerned they all should have the same warning... but not all of them have that message before install.


To clarify my question:

What would someone, Greg Meach for example, need to do to to reach "Trusted Source" 'status' the way Ste, Nullriver have?

Or why is Ste, Nullriver, considered trusted by Apptapp and Greg Meach not?



I just assumed to get into the Installer app list, there is some sort of process to be certified and/or verified by AppTapp or whomever.