Install iPhone apps painlessly

The folks at Nullriver have released a GUI installer that makes installing unsupported third party iPhone applications painless and fairly safe. AppTapInstaller leads you step by step through the process, which doesn't require using the terminal.

You simply connect your iPhone, go to iTunes and make sure the automatic sync checkbox is disabled, and quit iTunes. Follow the prompts in the installer and you will be told to press the Power and Home buttons on the iPhone and hold both of them for 25 seconds. Make sure you don't let go of the buttons until you see a screen telling you to connect it to iTunes. At that point, you can proceed to the next screen in the installer. Just keep clicking Next when it tells you to do so, and you'll then find an Installer icon added to your iPhone home screen.

The Installer icon on your iPhone will allow you to install any of their listed applications over EDGE or WiFi without connecting to a computer. The first thing you install should be Community Sources, which gives you access to a larger collection of applications. You should also install Launcher before any other applications, since the home screen doesn't scroll so you can only access 4 additional icons (including Installer itself). OpenSSH is also very useful if you're comfortable with the terminal, as it will allow you to log in to your iPhone from the terminal and copy files to or from it.