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Amazon's new Instant Video app for iPad brings plenty of new TV and movies to iPad users running the latest version of iOS. However, the new app won't work for iPad users who've jailbroken their devices.
One of The Verge's readers downloaded the new Instant Video app to his iPad, which was running a Cydia-enabled jailbroken version of iOS 5.1.1. The reader contacted Amazon customer support, who confirmed that the application triggers an error on jailbroken iPads and that the error message sent to Amazon indicated that the reader's device had been jailbroken.
The customer service representative, "David R.", directed the reader to contact the provider of the iOS jailbreak to provide a solution. It's not immediately clear what in the jailbreaking process interferes with the Instant Video app or vice versa, although the presence of either the APT encryption key manager or the Cydia app store appears to be a factor. But it's not at all uncommon for device jailbreaks to break streaming video, usually because of incompatibility with the video's DRM.
We've reached out to both Amazon and Cydia for more detail, and will let you know what we hear.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Amazon.com" <cs-reply@amazon.com>
Date: Aug 1, 2012 5:33 PM
Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry
To: "xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx" <xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx>
Hello xxxxx,
I'm sorry that the Amazon Instant Video service isn't yet working on your iPad.
The service is absolutely available to you. What we're finding is that this specific error is popping up for folks whose iPads have any kind of jailbreak installed. A jailbreak is a program installed on your device that lets you do stuff not necessarily supported by the manufacturer. For example, if Apple blocks access to fictional service provider Orange you can add a thing that gets around that block.
If you do not believe their device to be jailbroken, please see if you have any of the following apps installed on your iPad:
- "APT"
- "Cydia"
- "Installer" ("Installer App" is okay, but just "Installer" is another version of the first, "APT".)
The presence of any of these indicates a jailbreak, and our service won't work. From the error message that you provided, it appears your device has been jail-broken. We are unable to provide any troubleshooting for your device.
You will need to contact the site or person where you received the jail-break for your device.
...
Best Regards,
David R.
Amazon.com
