David Crookes looks at what you can do to your phones, tablets, e-readers and computers
There is a game you can play online at hackerexperience.com, that puts you in the pants of a hacker seeking money and power. It allows you to install viruses, look for the most effective software, steal cash and complete missions. It may sound esoteric, but it’s by no means the only such game around. A quick gander at Steam will show titles such as Hacknet and Hack Run Zero, which are based on a similar theme. Even iOS lets you tap into the desire to flip over to the dark side – Hacker’s Quest is one such text adventure that proves to be rather good fun.
We mention this because hacking, by and large, is scorned upon but, given the chance, most of us would like to have a bash at it just to get a feel of the thrill of unlocking something that should – on the face of it – be impossible to crack. These games are harmless and they go some way to satiating any desire to go further. There are some hacks that you can perform on your own technology, though, that will enhance it and open up possibilities previously closed to you.
To be clear, this article is not going to be a set of instructions that will allow you to get into the systems of the Pentagon. It’s not going to show you how to pull off a News of the World-style phone hack (regardless of how low-tech that actually was in practice). It’s not going to prompt Apple CEO Tim Cook to rattle off a 1,117-word letter to you in the way that he did following attempts by the FBI to get his company to build a backdoor to the iPhone. Instead, we’re going to show you how you can make some tweaks that would only harm your own stuff if you messed things up.
There is an element of risk to this, as messing around with your devices can invalidate the warranty. You could even end up bricking your phone, tablet, e-reader or computer. If you tread carefully, though, you can achieve great things – and if you’re using a device that you’re not too bothered about destroying (because you have money to burn or you’re just a laid back kinda guy or gal), then hacking can give you greater control of your technology.
So here’s how you can hack your phone, tablet, e-reader and computer and the things it will allow you to do.
Android Hacking
Hacking your own Android phone or tablet is very popular trend among users. It’s called ‘rooting’ because it allows you to gain ‘root access’ to your device which, out of the box, you are prevented from having. Manufacturers like to lockdown their phones to a degree to make them more secure for users, but rooting takes away the restrictions and opens up hitherto barred areas. For that reason, you won’t find rooting tools in Google Play, but that’s not to say you can’t delve under-the-hood.
For whenever a new handset is released, the hacking community makes a concerted effort to unlock it. Within days, weeks or, for the trickiest of devices, months, details will appear online showing you how to gain root access. Even so rooting phones remains tricky, with a fair few steps required to achieve the result you’re after. It’s for this reason that you’re always advised to make a backup of your smartphone or tablet files, ensure it’s well charged (the advice is above 50% but why not be on the safe side and go for 100?) and make sure you have a set of instructions in front of you that you trust implicitly.
If you’ve never rooted before, one of the best paths for Android is CF-Auto- Root, which you can find out more about by going creator Chainfire’s website at chainfire.eu. The developer tends to concentrate on Samsung devices, including the new Galaxy S7, but the tool works for a number of other phones. In fact, you can see a list of them at autoroot.chainfire.eu. We point you here because it would be difficult for us to start delving into the ins and outs of exactly how you can root the handset you actually possess since the process is different for each handset.
Look online for your phone – Google ‘[handset name] root’, for example – and you should get a good steer. In general, you’ll be downloading a flashing tool, making Developer options available via Settings > About > Build Number (tapping it repeatedly) and extracting a file. We must encourage you to read and re-read the instructions you find until you’re confident you understand what’s going on before you embark on a root, though. What’s more, you should always look at the website you’re taking instructions from to be absolutely sure you trust the advice being given.
Once you have a rooted Android phone, you can start to benefit from a wide range of hacks. It’s possible to flash a vanilla ROM to your phone – that is, a version of Android that doesn’t have any of the superfluous add-ons to the OS that a lot of manufacturers like to infiltrate your device with. This is the one you get with a Google Nexus and a lot of people prefer it (although some do grow accustomed to using the likes of TouchWiz on Samsung devices).
You’ll also be able to flash CyanogenMod (www.cyanogenmod.org), which is an alternative open source operating system based the official Android releases. It is intended to replace the OS pre-installed on your phone and tablet and it comes with some added extras. Now on its thirteenth version based on Android 6.0.1, it is great for upgrading a handset that isn’t being updated any more and its handy for adding features that may otherwise be lacking. It also removes the bloatware installed by your carrier and lets you receive more frequent security updates.
Over the years, CyanogenMod has grown in popularity and it’s installed on millions of Android devices (the OnePlus One phone came with it built-in although the OnePlus 2 didn’t). It lets you take advantage of a privacy guard, a global blacklist, a quick settings ribbon, themes and homescreen customisation. It has a file manager, profiles, navigation bar customisation, a built-in equaliser, tethering and advanced device control. As the biggest custom ROM it has attracted financial investment and it has become a major challenger to Google and the carriers.
“It takes the OS from their control and puts it under your control,” says technology analyst Robert Enderle. To make life easier for users, CyanogenMod has produced an installation app for rooted Android phones. You just need to go to get.cm on an Android device and download the .apk file, go to Settings>Security and check Unknown Sources, open the .apk file and install it and then follow the instructions you’ll be given. You’ll then need to download any of the proprietary Google-branded apps that you want because licensing restrictions doesn’t allow CyanogenMod to include the Play Store, Gmail, Maps and so on – just go to wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Google_Apps to find out how to do this.
Rooting and using new ROMs gives you greater flexibility and allows you to benefit from apps that have otherwise restricted functionality. Disk Digger Pro, for example, is available from Google Play; it can undelete and recover lost photos, documents, videos and music from your memory card and internal memory, but will only perform a limited scan on unrooted devices. Others including Device Control, System App Remover, Titanium Backup and Greenify work brilliantly on rooted devices. SuperSU keeps tracks of apps you have given root permissions to.
Of course, you can open yourself up to other issues through rooting. If you decide to tinker with a Samsung Galaxy S6 or S7, for example, it will not only remove security protections and lead to problems with the warranty, it will also cause some increasingly important services such as Samsung Pay to grind to a halt (the same goes for Android Pay and banking apps, which don’t particularly like rooted devices). Over-the-air installs on a Nexus 5X or 6P will be more difficult, and on Sony devices, you may find that you’re barred from using some the in-built camera features.
On the other hand, you should be able to squeeze more power out of the battery and increase the speed of your device, which are two important hacks (see Top hack tools for Android).
Jailbreaking iOS
Android is not the only mobile OS that can be hacked, though. While Apple’s iPhone and iPad are far more closed than Android, they can be broken too in a process called jailbreaking. It’s fair to say that the number reasons to do this have fallen in recent years as the feature-set of iOS has grown and grown. There are also repercussions such as losing a level of security and the ability to update iOS in line with everyone else. However, if the restrictions of iOS and the App Store annoy you, or if you want to customise the look of your handset, then it’s really the only way to go.
The app to use is Pangu 9, which you download by heading on over to www.downloadpangu.org. It’s vitally important that you have backed up your iDevice – as the there are many things that can, and sometimes do, go wrong. Before you launch Pangu 9, you’ll need to disable Find my iPhone, TouchID and Passcode on your iDevice. You then need to run the PC .exe file as an administrator, plug the device in and press Start, following the on-screen instructions.
As with Android, you really need to do your research and make sure you know what you’re doing. However, when all of that is done, you’ll find you have access to an app called Cydia. This is essentially the jailbroken – unofficial – app store.
Cydia will offer up a host of new apps, which take advantage of a jailbroken handset and it is advisable to only use this from a security point of view. What you’ll find, though, is that the functionality of iOS is increased: you’ll be able to enjoy emulated retro games, for example, or get live weather updates via Meteor. You’ll be able to use Activator to assign custom actions to button presses and gestures and add your own Quick Action menus using Shortcuts. If you want to determine what appears in the Control Center, you can use CCSettings and if you want to jazz up your display, download Anemone. Those on pre-iPhone 6 devices can call up Siri by saying Hey Siri using the app Untethered Hey Siri.
There are some ‘hacks’ that work without jailbreaking, though. The Accessibility menu in Settings, for instance, has some great functions. It allows you to tinker with zoom options, increase the size of the text, reduce motion (which helps to save power) and even add a touchscreen Home button (look under Interaction and tap AssistiveTouch). This works wonders if your Home button is broken or if you want quick access to various functions.
One useful non-jailbreak hack, though, is the ability to install the Kodi media player app. It can’t be installed via the App Store, but can be found in Cydia and yet if you download the Kodi deb file, iOS App Signer and Xcode for Mac, you can get it on your iPhone manually. Check out the instructions at tinyurl.com/n7ccgy7 to find out more about this. Finally, on the subject of iOS jailbreaking, if you want the latest operating system, you could consider signing up to the Apple Beta Software Program (beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/welcome). The 9.3 beta has just ended, but keep an eye out for future calls for help and you’ll be able to trial iOS and indeed OS X versions before they are publicly available. It’s free too.
Hacking Computers
Finally, we’re going to look at how you can hack a computer. There are lots of fun things you can do with computers, as you can imagine. You could try running OS X on your PC (check out http://www.hackintosh.com/ for some inspiration) or dual boot a Mac with OS X and Windows using Boot Camp. You could look to take an old PowerPC Mac as far as possible (such laptops can be snapped up for less than £100 on eBay and you can “upgrade” them to 10.4 Tiger and, at a pinch, Leopard if you make use of leopardassist.sourceforge.net to fool it into thinking it can handle speeds in excess of 700MHz).
There are also some registry tweaks you can make to Windows but before you embark on any of them, make sure you make a full back up. For instance, balloon notifications can be activated by navigating to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer registry key, right-clicking and selecting New>DWORD (32-bit), naming it EnableLegacyBalloonNotificiations and, right-clicking that to make 1 the value. Search online for a good selection of these registry tweaks – there are far more than we could go into here.
Before you do that, though, try the brilliant GodMode which brings up a host of crucial settings in one place – it can be enabled by creating a new folder in your root drive and renaming it GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. And consider downloading Textify, which lets you copy text from otherwise uncopyable dialogs and windows (rammichael.com/textify#more-1605). It’s possible to personalise Windows 10 at Start > Settings > Personalisation > Colours and customise the Start Menu (right click tiles to resize). Maps can also be used offline at Settings > Download or Update Maps. Default programs can be altered by rightclicking a file, going to Open With and Choose another app.
Those with a Chromebook may want to rise to the challenge of hacking it properly. Anyone who is able to persistently compromise a Chromebook in guest mode can enjoy a $100,000 reward. Google is handing out the cash through its Security Reward Program as it seeks to make the system safer for users. Yet to date, it hasn’t yet had a successful submission. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some cool tricks. By pressing Control, Alt and ? on your keyboard, you will see available keyboard shortcuts. You can also produce web apps by clicking the menu button within the Chrome window and selecting More tools > Add to shelf before right-clicking the resulting shortcut and selecting Open As Window. It’s even possible to make use of iTunes on a Chromebook – you just need to import the library into Google Play Music.
Things arguably become even more interesting with a Raspberry Pi. Amazon’s senior evangelist for Alexa, recently released a DIY Hack which allows you to produce your own Amazon Echo with a Raspberry Pi 2 which will save you a bit of money (the project is available to view at tinyurl.com/j8n2d75). There are lots of other things you can do with a Pi, from producing an Art Frame using OpenFrame to creating your very own retro emulator. Which brings us to yet another path: the ability to take the oldest of machines and turn them into something new. Got an Amstrad CPC and fancy slapping a new operating system on it? Try SymbOS (symbos.de). Want to produce a portable Commodore 64? Go to www.64hdd.com/c64-projects.html for that and lots of other projects.
There is certainly much to whet your appetite here (which is essentially what we’ve been trying to do). The key message is to be curious and experiment, because the machines you have at your disposal can often do far, far more than they appear able to.
It’s possible to give a fresh lease of life to old tech and to take new computers, smartphones, tablets and e-readers in a brand new direction with thought, research and perseverance. And if you have any tips of your own, be sure to head to our forums or drop us a line at the usual addresses. We’d love to hear them.
Hacking An E-reader
As well as being able to hack computers, tablets and smartphones, it is possible to jailbreak a humble e-ink e-reader. The Kindle is one of the most popular to hack and it opens the door to a host of goodies ranging from customised screensavers and fonts to games and readers.
There are audio players for kindle, and dictaphone mods. There is even a complete OS replacement called Duokan, which overwrites the existing system and widens the number of eBook supported formats. It also integrates an enhanced PDF reader, internet browser and dictionary support.
Hacking a Kindle can be straightforward on older models, but the seventh generation Kindle and the Paperwhite 2 started to make life more difficult, with Amazon looking to stamp out the practise because it disrupts its ecosystem. To find out more, we advise you to check out the Kindle Hacks Information at Mobileread.com (wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle_Hacks_Information), which gives the low-down on what you need to do. At the same time, though, there are ways to get around restrictions without going to extreme measures.
If you want a Kindle to read epub books, then you should use Calibre to convert them to the Kindle format. Get it at calibre-ebook.com/download. If you want to add custom fonts, then you need only download the ones you want in the ttf format (try www.fontsquirrel.com), connect the Kindle to the PC with a USB cable and create a folder called Fonts (where your fonts will reside) and then create New > Text Document in the root directory called USE_ALT_FONTS (deleting the .txt suffix). When the Kindle (Paperwhite) is ejected and restarted, the new fonts should be available for use.
You can also have pictures display on a Kindle. With older models, create a folder called pictures in the root directory of the Kindle, create folders for your collections, copy the images across and then press Alt+Z to start the image viewer. With newer ones, create a folder called images and ensure the images have .jpg extensions.
If you don’t have a Kindle, but have a different type of e-reader, then look around the internet for other hacks of a similar nature. The truth is, most e-readers can be jailbroken and changed to better suit your needs. Certainly if you have an older model knocking around, it can be well worth experimenting with.
Top Hack Tools For Android
Greenify
Greenify looks for apps that are slowing your device and places them into hibernation, preventing them from hogging resources and draining the battery. As long as you leave certain apps alone – such as instant messaging and alarm clocks – this will greatly improve your device.
Smart Booster
If you need to give your device a leg up, then Smart Booster will allow you to quickly clean the cache, increase the amount of available RAM, scan and clean junk from your SD card and allow you to disable auto-starting apps. It comes with four levels of control from gentle to aggressive.
ROM Manager
This popular app is the perfect choice for managing and running different ROMs on your Android device. ROMs can be downloaded and installed direct from the SD card. There’s a premium version, which lets you enjoy automatic backups and premium ROMs.
Trickster MOD
There are various settings in your kernel and this app will allow you to tweak them with a host of advanced settings that lets you dabble with your CPU, set a Device hostname, allow for kernel backup and restore and delve into the colour profile, among lots of other things.
Nandroid
With a Nandroid backup you’re able to make a backup of your entire system – and that really does mean entire. It’s pretty much essential when hacking a device, whether phone or tablet, because it makes it possible to rescue a soft-bricking of your device.
Benefits of rooting an Android device
1 You can install Android updates before the handset manufacturer gets around to releasing the new version.
2 It lets you download root-only apps such as Rec, which lets you record video and audio streams.
3 Overclocking your device becomes possible on rooted devices. Some kernels include such software, but there are apps too.
4 You’ll be able to load apps on to your SD card if your handset has the ability to use them, which will save internal storage space.
5 It will allow for cool peripherals – try SixAxis Controller, which lets you turn a PlayStation wireless controller into an Android gamepad.
No Root Android Hacks
You can do these without risking your warranty...
1 Enable Developer Options
From Android 4.2 onwards, Developer Options has been hidden, but by going to Settings > About Device > Build Number you can make it visible. Tap Build Number seven times and it will say “You are now a developer”, et voila!
2 Disable Or Enable Features
Developer Options allows you to keep your screen awake while charging, allow the bootloader to be unlocked, view and control running services, show CPU usage, destroy activities when you leave it and flash screen to show updates. There’s loads to choose from.
3 Discover inactive Apps
With Marshmallow came a feature called Doze, which closes apps in the background and stops apps from launching on their own. You can tap Inactive apps in Developer Options and see what’s active, turning off those you don’t want.
4 Take Top Quality Pictures
Download the app Manual Camera, which costs £2.38, and you can benefit from full manual control and RAW images. Download the Manual Camera Compatibility app first though to make sure you can use it.
5 Remove Bloatware
Don’t get stuck with clutter. Go to Settings > Apps and tap some of the built-in apps such as News, Keep and Google+. Tap Uninstall and the unwanted app will be removed from the system and disable those that can’t be uninstalled.