Chinese iPhone 4 - need to change google maps source

[Arksaw]

Hi,

I have a chinese iPhone 4 (4.2.1) - a legit one bought from Apple in Shanghai where I live. What they didn't tell me at the time, was that although you can change the language back to English, as you'd expect, the Maps app is locked to chinese language, which renders it completely useless unless you understand Chinese characters. Even more annoyingly, when outside china, the map continues to display street names and all other text etc in Chinese! The map also shows borders as how China sees them, albeit I couldn't care less about that.

Anyway, I've looked around, and it appears this has been resolved for a number of people where they've successfully edited the following file lib file, albeit based on a 4.1 jailbreak, to change certain bytes, which has resulted in english, rather than chinese characters on all maps:

file: dyld_shared_cache_armv7
location: /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/

old "www.google.cn"
new "www.google.fr"
00B7E68A: 66 63
00B7E68B: 72 6E

FR (France) was used to maintain filesize, otherwise it might jump. Someone uploaded this new file with the hex changed to FR, but it wouldn't work on my 4.2.1 o/s (not surprisingly - file size was way different).

I've SSH'd the relevant file onto my PC and have searched for the same "www.google.cn" reference in ascii and then changed cn to fr with a hex editor. I've then copied back the file using WinSCP via SSH on my iPhone. Unfortunately the maps app doesn’t open (shudders when it tries to open).

Is there something I’m missing on dragging files back onto the iPhone? Any other thoughts?

And for reference, I can't go back to 4.1 (I upgraded the phone to 4.2.1 before I knew anything about this, or jailbreaking for that matter).

Cheers...

[modymyiexpat]

I have an Iphone 4 which I purchased in Hong-Kong recently and my friend purchased one here in Taiwan recently and we both have the same TWN GSM carrier. If we open Google MAPS we get different locations. Another friend of mine also gets a different location and he has TWN GSM though he gets the same location that she gets. When I asked him why we all have different locations and mine was so far off he asked me if I got mine in Hong-Kong or China and I said yes. He said that the ones purchased in Hong-Kong and China were in accurate because China did not want the GPS using Google MAPS or any other source giving an accurate position. From what I understand is that the Hong-Kong sold ones and China sold ones were tweaked to give a different position nearby.

[Arksaw]

The Google maps app on iphones has a very well publicised issue with the gps accuracy of its maps in mainland china - my 3GS had it and so did my 4g, until I upgraded to 4.21, at which point both were spot on - well the maps APP is, google maps, accessed via the web, is still off. There are lots of 3rd party maps apps which corrected the offset, abeit the proprietary app does it with the latest version of firmware.

My original post was how to stop a chinese iPhone 4 accessing a chinese version of google maps, rather than non-chinese version...

[modymyiexpat]

The Google maps app on iphones has a very well publicised issue with the gps accuracy of its maps in mainland china - my 3GS had it and so did my 4g, until I upgraded to 4.21, at which point both were spot on - well the maps APP is, google maps, accessed via the web, is still off. There are lots of 3rd party maps apps which corrected the offset, abeit the proprietary app does it with the latest version of firmware.

My original post was how to stop a chinese iPhone 4 accessing a chinese version of google maps, rather than non-chinese version...

I am running version 4.1 on mine. Is there that big of a difference between 4.1 and 4.2 for location using Google Maps? Mine is also Jailbroken. You mention that there are 3rd party applications available which correct this offset issue. Which application is good for correcting this offset issue?

[Arksaw]

Using the inbuilt maps app, 4.1 is way off across Shanghai (can't comment on rest of China). With 4.2, it was spot on.

Using Googlemaps via Safari, both 4.1 and 4.2 are both off.

GlobalNav is, in my opinion, the best of the 3p maps apps which deal with the offset problem

[nmn]

stop stop stop
use "www.google.us" or even "www.google.uk"
cmon it took me 10 sec

[Arksaw]

I can only assume you're on os 4.1, as any changes to the coding of the dyld lib file under 4.21 cause the app to crash, so not quite the 10 second job you so helpfully suggest...

[nmn]

ok if it crashes then someone post a file for this from the US and include the app so he can replace it

[Arksaw]

The underlying file is the same wherever it's from. I've got a Hong Kong iPhone 4 and a Chinese one, and both lib files are identical. As per my original post, changing the google.cn reference to .fr/.uk/.us in the coding, under o/s 4.1 stops the phone using chinese google as a maps source.

Given this, not sure how posting a file from US would solve, as file would be the same as I've currently got - it's how the iphone interprets the global firmware, which is presumably in the bootrom.

Just frustrating that this can be solved easily on 4.1, yet the same crack on 4.2 causes the app not to open. Maybe when unteathered solution is available?

[nmn]

can u reinstall with a US version of the firmware? or u want to preserve the jailbreak?

[Arksaw]

Thanks for thoughts, but as I said, the firmware is the same wherever - I download mine over VPN from UK Apple, yet I still get same issue on my chinese iphone, whereas my wife's Hong Kong phone doesn't. And yes, I'd like to keep jailbreak.

[nmn]

i would ask one of the Dev-team they would probably know, take a spin over to their site or get in contact with like MuscleNerd
you could also wait until a jailbreakable baseband update is available then it would overwrite the bootrom and baseband

[Arksaw]

Cheers - that's a good idea! There are plenty of expats living in China who've bought Chinese iPhones who find the whole maps app in Chinese to be a right pain! I don't care where China wants to draw the international boundaries on the map - I do care that when I'm in London, all the street names show up in Chinese, rendering the whole thing near useless!! I know they're are plenty of 3rd party maps apps, but the main one obviously integrates with so many other things, that I'd prefer to use that one. Am sure this is solvable!

[Arksaw]

Pretty sure I was in a minority of 1 with this problem, but for anyone else who's interested, or cares, the dyld file is hackable with the latest greenpois0n JB. Maps in English at last!!

[genesis133]

Can you elaborate on that a bit more please? i've got the same problem. Cheers!

[Arksaw]

If you're using Windows, install WinSCP (or Apple equivalent) to access the iPhone's file structure via SSH.

Go to /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/ and copy dyld_shared_cache_armv7 to your pc

Use a hex editor (i use hex editor neo for windows) to make the following changes:
- search for ditu, and replace ditu with maps (only 1 reference)
- search for google.cn and replace cn with fr (only 1 reference)
Save file

Rename original file on iPhone_OLD
Copy over edited file to iPhone
Reboot
Voila - Maps in English

Just for reference, you can also change so google search defaults to your local google, rather than google.cn and also reinstall the youtube app.

Do these 3 things, and the phone's identical to a non-chinese version.

Be wary about upgrading os - this hack didn't work on 4.21 teathered redsn0w, only unteathered greenpois0n.

Hope that helps...

[genesis133]

When you have time, do you mind uploading the edited file please? im downloaded a hex editor, but not quite sure what im doing... Also instead of replacing the Google with Google is it possible to replace with Google ? since i have from NZ.

What do i need to do to change so that safarai google will default to Google ? and how to reinstall youtube app as well?

greatly appreciate your help =]

Im using untethered greenpois0n, so all should be good =]

[Arksaw]

Just uploading the file - will post a link to sendspace when it's done. As for the region reference to google, it doesn't matter that the maps reference .fr (the maps don't then change to french!) - the important thing is to preserve the hex coding by not adding any additional characters, so simple to change cn to fr, and I assure you, the maps will be in English!

As for the other 2 issues - follow the last couple of posts at the bottom of Page 10 (which also have links to downloading files) - google search will then reference wherever you've set the region on the phone, so .nz if that's where you've set region format under settings on the phone.

Chinese iPhone 4 serious map issues : Technology Issues - Page 10

You'll need to use WinSCP or similar to copy all the files onto your phone.

Post maps link shortly

[genesis133]

ahhh i see okay then, thank you so much!

[Arksaw]

And link for the edited maps file - copy to location in my earlier post.

Download dyld_shared_cache_armv7 from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

Let me know how you get on!