More iPod nano hacks: method to install custom firmware

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_c8VM7lVo4&w=480&h=385]

Following yesterday’s proof of concept for hacking into the new iPod nano’s file system, developer Steven Troughton-Smith has figured out a way to put the device into DFU mode to install custom firmware files. The first part of the process is something anybody can do now with their sixth generation iPod nano. That is to hold down the iPod’s restart buttons until you see a black screen and a double reboot.

From here, Troughton-Smith modified the popular jailbreak utility iRecovery to work with the non-iOS iPod nano. After this, he used the newly modified iRecovery application to install an extracted operating system file onto the iPod nano (video above). This file was built to boot the iPod nano into a white screen mode and that is exactly what it did.

This obviously does not sound groundbreaking but in reality it is. An encrypted firmware file was just installed on an iPod nano and functioned as intended by the installer. This discovery is a step in the right direction for custom made firmware files to be installed on the iPod nano and is the best evidence yet for a possible iPod nano ‘jailbreak.’

A hacker/developer close to 9to5mac has let us know that Troughton-Smith’s discovery is a big step in the right direction, but before any custom firmware can actually be installed and used through this method an actual exploit in the iPod nano OS will be need to be found. To summarize, the method to install custom firmware on the iPod nano is present, but the jailbreak community is in need of an exploit to actually make this method useful.