Prevent use of Tongbu hack

Why are you distinguishing between Tongbu apps and other apps ? Is there something special about Tongbu apps or are you actually trying to prevent students from installing any apps of their own ?

No. You cannot download paid apps for free with Tongbu. You're downloading other apps, not the paid apps. Someone takes a paid app, extracts all the clever programming that does what the app does, then packages it into their own app, which they then make available for free. These apps skip Apple's vetting process because whoever did this also released their own app installer (Tongbu Assistant / iClover) for the iPhone, so they don't need the app cleared for use with iTunes.

Of course, you have no idea what these apps are doing besides doing whatever the app does. For all you know, while you're running an app, as well as doing what it's doing, in the background it's sending private information from your phone to a pirate site somewhere.

So the effect is the same as your users installing any other app you don't know about onto the iDevice you gave them. And the question is the one I asked originally: Why are you distinguishing between Tongbu apps and other apps ? If you have strict ideas about which apps your users should be running, use Configurator or Profile Manager to stop them from running anything you didn't preload onto their devices.

Also, for tongbu and other app cracking programs you need a computer if you have ios7 to make the apps work. If you don't have a computer than the apps will open and then crash. So this may deter the kids.. Good luck.

Hmm... doensn't look like they need a computer anymore.

See: http://www.autofixinfo.com/wrOLcHoWXIOA7g/Install-cracked-apps-on-iOS-7-with-ton gbu-app-for-iphone-no-computer-no-jailbreak-required.html

As for iOS devices in general regarding administration: They are either:

a) Supervised and fully controled by IT, or

b) Adminstered by the user and support is limited to certain agreements between user and IT-support.

An IT administrator is better off letting go of the general idea that a user, who uses his/her own device or the device is given and can be used at home, should be administered like you can administer desktop computers.

I would like to comment further on tungbo-hack specifc (tried it out to see for myself)

"Justhappy" is correct.

Even if you don't need a computer to actuall install the apps, most of the time the illegally donwloaded apps will crash at startup.

There are computer apps out there (Mac & Win) whic will "fix" these apps when connected via USB. After fixing these apps, they mostly work.

Ah yes, I have now noticed that tongbu apps are crashing on start up even after the fix crash on the computer. This might be good as students can no longer use this way to get apps.You would normally need to fix the crash of the tongbu app on the computer to be able to download them without a password but even after you do this they are now crashing.

My friend has just told me that he has been using using tongbu and is now worried that they're using his private information. What should he do?

I don't think tongbu takes private info. Maybe it may take some device info but no serious info like address and credit card.

If your friend is concerned about his privacy he should stop using Tongbu. That's what it does: defeat the guards Apple built into iOS that stop apps from doing things they shouldn't. The measure which apple uses to make sure you're not running unlicensed apps is the same measure it uses to make sure a licensed app only does things listed in its permissions list.

Kobz98 wrote:

My friend has just told me that he has been using using tongbu and is now worried that they're using his private information. What should he do?

Your friend should immediately restore his iPad to factory settings. (He should not restore from a backup!) Then he should stop using Tongbu entirely, and any of the apps that he had downloaded through Tongbu. Those apps should never be restored from a backup or reinstalled in any other way.

As for any personal information that might have been stolen by Tongbu or one of the illegal apps installed using Tongbu... well, cat's out of the bag now. There's nothing that can be done to call it back. He would be wise to change any passwords that were stored on or entered using that device.