Cydia hack enables AirPlay for all apps

Users disappointed with the current limitations of AirPlay on iOS 4.2 have discovered a means to get it working in any app. A new Cydia-based hack, AirVideoEnabler (Cydia link), lets users push video from apps that use Apple's standard video container, up to and including the embedded video player in Safari. The approach requires a jailbreak and isn't necessarily stable.

The tool came after a discovery that apps need more explicit support for AirPlay video than was initially made available. By default, iOS 4.2 needs a certain private programming sub-class to enable video and not just audio, TUAW found. Mobile app developer Steven Troughton-Smith further discovered that enabling the feature requires only switching an undocumented but simple wireless playback flag in code to "yes."

Apple's reasons behind removing access for regular developers may be due to stability, since original test code had it periodically causing serious and potentially permanent crashes. It's nonetheless hoped that Apple will make the necessary programming interfaces public so that developers can submit apps using full AirPlay support instead of requiring tricks like the Cydia exploit.

AirPlay still has some limitations in an official form, including a need to support the codes that Apple allows itself, such as H.264. [via 9 to 5 Mac]

by MacNN Staff