Filed under: iPhone
Jailbroken iPhone 3GS gets FaceTime... sort of
Jailbreaking team iPhoneIslam has managed to enable FaceTime on a jailbroken iPhone 3GS... sort of. iPhoneIslam's app, "FaceIt-3GS," is currently available in the Cydia store, and allows users to enable FaceTime in the iPhone 3GS's Settings app.
However, the functionality is quite limited. The most obvious stumbling block is hardware-related -- without a front-facing camera, the FaceTime experience will be quite limited on the iPhone 3GS no matter how creative jailbreakers get. iPhoneIslam's FaceIt-3GS app doesn't enable FaceTime via the 3GS's rear-facing camera either, though, so the only added functionality this hack appears to give 3GS owners is the ability to accept FaceTime calls from an iPhone 4, newest-generation iPod touch, or Mac, and view the sender's video stream.
Not being able to use the rear camera for sending video is disappointing, but if your iPhone 3GS is already jailbroken, you might want to give this a try anyway. Only being able to view someone else's FaceTime video is limiting, but it's better than having no FaceTime on the 3GS at all. You can see a video of the hack at work above -- but make sure to turn your volume down before you get to the end of the video.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](https://web.archive.org/web/20101109233843im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Andrew Rivlin said 12:24AM on 11-08-2010
Requires 4.1 minimum. I am waiting for 4.2 + Ultrasn0w before going past 4.0.x
Reply
Extant said 12:26AM on 11-08-2010
Couldn't you just use Skype to view their video stream, without jailbreaking?
Reply
ninjarider said 1:30AM on 11-08-2010
or you could just use tango which is in the app store
Reply
Ryan S. said 1:36AM on 11-08-2010
Just tested it on my 3GS, works perfectly, and it DOES use the rear camera, so it is true FaceTime... Well, more like WallTime, but that's a different issue. It does do live video chat, and even works on the T-Mobile network. (With using SMS to activate, I wasn't sure if it would or not.)
Reply
MJZimmer88 said 12:58PM on 11-08-2010
Then i guess the race is on to see who can develop the best mirror/case so they can see you out of the rear-facing camera!
the management said 1:59AM on 11-08-2010
me n friend already got around the hardware limitations. its the the most eloquent solution but isnapme works pretty good. but we been using it with tango. i wish someone would make a case with an easy snap on snap off periscope style camera
Reply
Sam said 2:37AM on 11-08-2010
For reference,
FaceIt-3GS requires you to add the iPhoneIslam.com repository.
In Cydia
Go to Manage
Sources
Edit
Add Source
Repository URL = http://apps.iphoneislam.com
Confirm and it will now show up when you search for it.
Sam
Reply
ahmed said 2:44AM on 11-08-2010
im sorry but u r a bit old
it actually enables the camera the video u show is their first video
they put up another video where the camera works
just go se their website i wont link
please correct ur post :)
Reply
Maurizio said 2:59AM on 11-08-2010
The Repo is down for me...anyone else experiencing this?
Reply
Phil M said 3:04AM on 11-08-2010
Yeah, it seems the repo went down really quickly.
Maurizio said 4:55AM on 11-08-2010
Ok, the repo is back up, downloaded and installed, but now I'm getting the "Waiting for activation" message (which I have tried all methods to fix that I have found on forums/websites) but still no luck.
Anyone?
SIP said 9:56AM on 11-08-2010
I too got the "Waiting for activation", so I re-installed. Now, I don't even have FaceIt in my Settings, it's disappeared altogether.
HD said 8:23AM on 11-08-2010
big fat meh...
Reply
delailah m. said 9:29AM on 11-08-2010
mr.Colin ZeteBoy
it's not appropriate to talk like that about Islamic countries
terrorism is some thing even real Muslims don't except it
terrorism is not any thing near Islam
and it seems to me that u don't know any thing about Islam
Jim said 9:56AM on 11-08-2010
You know someone's going to hack together some kind of snap-on mirror attachment to make the 3GS camera front face, right?
Reply
Ryan S. said 10:11AM on 11-08-2010
iSnapMe. Been out for a while. :P I think it's going to get a lot more customers very quickly. xD
stuck said 10:48AM on 11-08-2010
The important thing here is voice calling. Screw the video.
Reply
collegereg said 1:30PM on 11-08-2010
Not sure why you would want to jailbreak just for this. 3Gs can easily run both Tango or Fring to do video chat on 3G network. Get creative on using the rear camera, but it works.
Reply