DISCLAIMER: Gumball Tech and its writers does not support piracy. If you like what you are using, then BUY IT.

Downloading iPhone apps for free (illegally) is a very controversial subject. Should you do it? Will you get caught? Is it even worth it? Well, most people would immediately say yes. We are just going to say: maybe. While the primary goal of iPhone pirating is to provide users with a try-before-you-buy downloading experience, many users abuse this and download and keep as much as they can get. So, should you do it? Continue reading to find out.

Hackers were working on cracking apps before the app store was unveiled. This gave them a head start on cracking them. In late 2008, apps were cracked, and were being available for free download online in rapid succession. Hackulous was basically the birth place of these cracked applications. Appulous then became the index where users could easily find all of them. There was then an iPhone application for jailbroken users, called Installous, made by ‘puy0′. Installous was still a project based with a homebase at Hackulous. He recently left them, and made a slightly different application called Install0us. Both Installous and Install0us easily lets users browse various application databases to download and install them from right on their device, wherever they are.

The iTunes App Store is filled with tens of thousands of applications. MOST OF WHICH are very poorly made and cost a decent amount of money. If you actually buy the applications, the total amount of money spent on apps can really add up quickly. Do you think it’s really worth money to purchase something that you’ll either never use, find no interest in, or will soon delete? This is what this is all about: trying the applications before you buy them.

So, should you do this? Well, ask yourself: Will I only be doing this to try the apps before I buy them? -or- Will I be leeching my heart out to save money? If you answered yes to the first question and no to the second, then go on reading the rest of this post. If you answered maybe or no for the first question and yes for the second, then press either CTRL+W or CMD+W on your keyboard. Leeching and being a pirate isn’t what this is all about.

If you really want to go through with this, make sure your iPhone or iPod Touch is jailbroken. You must then add cydia.hackulo.us (if you want Installous) and/or cydia.install0us.com to Cydia under Manage>Sources. If you aren’t sure which application to install (Installous or Install0us), then install them both and try them out to determine which one you should use. Install0us has more features compared to Installous.

Once they are installed, open them up. Installous will automatically load http://appulo.us. Install0us will need you to enter in a website. You can then search for the application that you want. Most popular applications are in the Appulous database. Smaller ones are not (a good thing for independent developers).

Remember:

IF YOU LIKE THE APP, BUY IT!

Developers put a lot of time and money into making these apps for you to enjoy (that is, if you are legit). Most of the apps cost a dollar or two, which isn’t much money anyway. Really evaluate the applications before determining whether or not you should pay for it or delete it (DON’T KEEP IT IF YOU DIDN’T PAY FOR IT).