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fixups edited this page Mar 22, 2012 · 16 revisions

iProxy – since they charge extra for tethering

At least when you don’t want to jailbreak your iPhone so far you’ve had only one option if you want to connect from your laptop via iPhone to the internet. And that’s paying an additional fee to your mobile carrier to provide you with the signed tethering profile.

iProxy does not give you tethering – it just gives you the next best thing. A HTTP and a SOCKS proxy on your iPhone. Similar to what the famous netshare app did before it got pulled from the App Store.

iProxy is not as convenient as the real tethering. The internet connection is a few clicks more away. But if you’ve got a developer certificate (or have a friend that has one) it certainly is cheaper than handing out the money to your favorite telco. Especially if you only need this connection every now and then.

Developers

You will need to have a Apple developer certificate (which is about 100 bucks per year) installed and ready. If that’s the case compiling should be very simple. Just

git clone git://github.com/tcurdt/iProxy.git

or download the latest tar-ball from github. Select the “Release” configuration and iProxy should get installed directly on your iPhone if you press “build and run”. (Assuming you are an iPhone developer you will already be familiar with that) If you want to pass on a copy to a friend make sure you update the “Distribution.mobileprovision” file with your distribution profile and provide your friend with the iProxy-2.×.zip in the build directory.

Users

If you are not an iPhone developer and are completely lost with the instructions for “compiling” iProxy you still might be able to get a copy. You will have to find a developer who hasn’t used up his 100 device registrations per year and who is willing to give you an “ad-hoc” build. Once you have provided him with your device id, he will give you a zip file. (Note: you you can find the device id in iTunes on the iPhone “Summary” screen when you click on the serial number.) Inside the zip file there is the application, a dSYM file and a “Distribution.mobileprovision” file. First drag the mobileprovision file into the iTunes library, then do the same with the application. (Just ignore the dSYM file.) After a sync you should be ready to go.

Unfortunately getting iProxy configured is a little bit more configuration than with the original tethering. But once configured it’s not so bad. You first need to make sure the laptop can talk to your iPhone, then you need tell your system/browser to use the HTTP and/or SOCKS proxy on your iPhone. For detailed instructions check Configuring iProxy.

Using iProxy to tether your iPad to your iPhone

This requires you to purchase a small additional device, but is still worth it.

Read this