I should have known better to upgrade my iPhone to version 1.1.1, but i bit the bullet and did it. I soon realized that I missed all of the 3rd party apps on my iPhone (they get wiped out, and there's no way to install them with 1.1.1). Sure the iTunes WiFi Music Store is cool, the new iPod controls are cool, double tapping home is cool, but 3rd party apps are so much more useful. I soon came to regret doing the update. I thought I would have to live with my iPhone as-is and forget about all of the useful 3rd party apps, or so I thought.

Erica over @ TUAW was the first to report that the iPhone Dev Team has come up with a way to allow you to restore your iPhone's firmware from version 1.1.1 back to 1.0.2. I just did it and restored my 1.1.1 iPhone back to 1.0.2 and and finally have all of my 3rd party apps back which are so much more useful than the iTunes WiFi Store. Engadget has posted a video showing you how to do this.

Maybe this will be a wake up call to Apple that the iPhone NEEDS 3rd party apps and more importantly iPhone owners want them. The majority of people going back to 1.0.2 are doing it to bring back the ability to install 3rd party apps, not unlocking their iPhone. Apple embrace the 3rd party developer community already, clearly people outside of Apple are making some great applications. As clever as Apple is it only took a little over a day for the iPhone Dev Team to do what they do best, make the iPhone a much better iPhone.

Labels: hacks, iphone