One of the most-used Popcorn Time forks will release an iOS app for non-jailbroken devices tomorrow. The new release opens up a whole new audience of hundreds of millions of devices. In addition, the Popcorn Time team suggests that other developers will soon be able to use the custom installer to break Apple's closed ecosystem too.

In just a year the Popcorn Time brand has managed to establish itself as one of Hollywood’s main threats, and even Netflix fears the open source project.

One of the big appeals, aside from the easy-to-use interface, is the fact that it’s available on many platforms and devices. Now, there’s a brand new release that will extend this list.

On its one year anniversary tomorrow the Popcorn-Time.se fork will release an installer for non-jailbroken iOS devices. This means that anyone with an iPhone or iPad can install the popular app.

“We intentionally postponed our one year celebration since we wanted to celebrate it with this groundbreaking release the world has been waiting for,” the Popcorn-Time.se team tells TF.

The Popcorn Time fork already had an iOS app, which they released a few months ago. However, the new one is special as it can be installed on any device.

The developers say they use a new custom installer that can add apps to iOS devices without requiring a jailbreak. Popcorn Time’s dedicated iOS page will link to the new installer starting tomorrow

“The beauty is in the simplicity of this installer,” the team says.

“All a user will need to do to get Popcorn Time on a non jailbroken iOS device is to download the ‘iOS installer’ to his desktop computer, connect his iOS device to the computer with a USB cable, and then just follow simple instructions that will download the app on the iOS device.”

Popcorn Time on iOS



In addition to watching films and TV-series on mobile devices, the iOS app also supports playback on Chromecast and Apple TV, similar to the desktop application.

According to the developers, however, having the option to easily add apps to iOS devices without a jailbreak is the main ‘revolution’ of this new release. And Popcorn Time is just the start.

“The team we worked with on this solution has already launched this website with one clear intention in mind: To fight the closed ecosystem Apple has created, screening and choosing for us what we can or cannot install on the devices we purchased and paid top dollar for,” the team tells TF.

This means that many more non-Apple-approved apps may come to iOS devices in the future. Needless to say, Apple is not going to like this, but the team says that the developers are prepared for battle.

“The installer guys have no doubt that this will be a long journey, playing ‘cat and mouse’ with Apple that probably won’t like them breaking their closed eco-system. But seeing their work now and future updates for the installer they’re already working on, we’re sure they’re ready for any obstacle Apple will throw their way,” they note.

TF tried a closed alpha release of the new installer and it works as advertised. The Popcorn Time app does indeed install without any hassle. The only limitation is that the installer requires a Windows machine, but the Mac version is expected to be ready later this month.

It will be interesting to see how Apple responds to the new revelations. In any case, it’s clear that the list of Popcorn Time enemies just got longer.

Stay tuned…

Breaking Apple’s ecosystem



deviant