eSign+ (or eSignPlus) is a modified version of eSign that allows and supports the installation of IPA files on TrollStore instead of using certificates. This is an TrollApps alternative for users which prefer the eSign interface more or want to switch for any particular reason. This is not an official or approved app store of TrollStore (opa334 has disapproved of official app stores for TrollStore due to piracy concerns).
Before starting the entirety of this block of text, keep in mind that the eSign+ persistence app can be called the eSign+ helper app. These are not exact since these have slightly different purposes but the outcome is the same, really.
No. Here's the truth and history of eSign+: This was uploaded by an more obscure source and it generally was hard-to-find. A few Reddit threads were about this tool which barely anybody had found and only one YouTube video of it by TechJunkie Aman. TechJunkie Aman had been using the same source as everybody else, the same broken and non-working source as of today. One day, while following that tutorial... the source didn't work and I couldn't get the files! I LOOKED EVERYWHERE FOR THE FILES... EVERY ARCHIVE... EVERY CLUE... EVERY FOOTPRINT... I found it on some random web server archive which served the files (the web server is defunct as of today). That's how I got the tarred version of eSign+ which works as of today (assuming the TechJunkie Aman or other official tutorials that may have been released have worked) and was able to untar it, modify it and generally spread and use it.
However, it's not just a case of "total theft". The program itself has been barely rewritten from original eSign (UI elements, license etc. etc.) except the functionality. In the other hand, without my intensive search, eSign+ would remain unfound. Without my dedication to the repository, extras and other things coming out (eSign++ is coming!), this would remain a myth on the shadow.
You need to keep in mind that eSign+ is in it's pre-alpha phase, meaning that it's not even in it's beginner phase yet! In other words, bugs are more common.
This is the truly unmodified version (tarred and untarred) eSign+. This doesn't include the possible bugs of eSign++ or any modified eSign+ (which in turn isn't eSign+) version. The bugs are:
- Helper Application Bug (Tested): The original helper app works as expected when setting it up however when making a new helper app (particularly after removing the helper app) with any system binary/app. The new helper binary/app doesn't work and upon opening, it automatically closes. It may happen or may not happen for you.
- Small TrollBug (lolololol): This is a small bug. Firstly, the application will not show up in TrollStore which makes uninstallation slightly harder. When uninstalling the app, you need to go to eSign+, Settings and click the red Uninstall button and choose the best option for your needs. After that, refresh the icon cache on TrollStore, not your jailbreak. If the app doesn't go away after that, refer to the "How to Uninstall eSign+?" section.
- Source Problem (Confirmed): The eSign source cannot be uninstalled due to eSign leftovers being into eSign+. This source cannot be uninstalled and it returns an zip error when attempting installation.
- This isn't a bug but it's a small nuisance. The bundle identifier is still xyz.yyyue.esign and a few other details (not the name) are eSign. This is especially true when installing the IPA but it also happens with the traditional method. A fix must be rolled down in the beta phase!
Those are all the currently found bugs. For unfound/new bugs, please report it as a GitHub issue (keep in mind: I'm not a expert on iOS coding, somebody either needs to pull request or this bug needs to be very well documented: possibly going down deep to the precise file causing the issue). If your issue was reported but hasn't got fixed, if it's a big issue, bump it (respond to it with not "bump" but a simple message about it to bring it on top of the issues) or if it's a small issue, wait for it to eventually get attention.
99.999% of the time, eSign+ will be gone after simply uninstalling it via the app and refreshing the TrollStore icon cache. If it's not uninstalled or you simply want to get all traces of eSign+ off your device, it's quite easy to do both in these moves:
- Uninstall the application in the eSign+ settings
- If you have Filza (assuming you have not installed eSign+ from other sources, installed it from TechJunkie Aman's tutorial or simply from Filza), open it and check the path of where you installed the app at, the helper app at (rewind possible followed tutorials or steps). When found, remove the entire app (not including helper binary)
- (Optional) Go to the helper app and uninstall it
- (Optional but recommended) Perform system cleaning in iClean (or iClean Pro) to clean off the app
- Go to the Files app (or Filza), find the eSign+ folder/ZIP and uninstall it. This ensures that the pre-install traces of the app get removed.
- Refresh the TrollStore icon cache
- (Optional but recommended) Remove all the .plist files and traces of the eSign+ app
- If this issue still isn't fixed, do all the optional steps if undone. Lastly, refresh your jailbreak's icon cache. If the app is still there, restart your phone.
That depends on the way you are setting eSign+ up! The traditional way to setup eSign+ (refer to "Installing and setting up eSign+") requires a rootful jailbreak. The other ways of setting this program up don't require any jailbreaking or are easier to do. If you don't have jailbreak privileges, use the other methods of setting eSign+ up.
The traditional method of setting eSign+ up requires a jailbreak of the rootful environment since apart from the convenience reasons (installing apps that are typically only installed and found in their true power at jailbroken environments), the modification of system files and directories, change of group and user ownership and permission changes all require jailbreaking and a rootful one, that is!
It's the eSign 5.0.0 version under the hood. That's not the newest version but it's not old at all!
This tool can perform regular signing however it's main purposes is "Troll Install" (installing via TrollStore). If you want to exclusively use eSign+ or further projects of eSign+ for signing with certificates, please use eSign since as of today, it's a better maintained and updated project and it's planned that eSign+'s other projects will totally remove such signing functionality.
The helper app means the app which installs and manages the other app (eSign+ in this case) which makes it easy to manage and install the other app (eSign+). It is a very different app compared to any system app or anything else. A system app is an app provided by iOS by default. Apps can also be called binaries. These apps are lightweight and include Books, Notes, Calculator, Camera, Photos etc. These apps are built into the system by default. An useless system app is an app which you don't use or care about at all in iOS. This app will be replaced with the helper app when following the traditional method. Root is the superuser of Linux/macOS systems. This user can do anything, root's UID is 0. It can do anything (read, write and execute) even under other circumstances of file permisions!
This includes the entire tutorial from start-to-finish on how to install and set up eSign+. It has several methods of doing so, it's sorted from the oldest to newest. This list is not sorted through reliability metrics, it's sorted through oldest to newest. Changes to this sorting may happen if such methods don't work at all.
None of these ways require any external device such as a computer or any SSH session unless in cases where you cannot install the files into your iOS device! You should follow all steps into your iOS device. Keep in mind that all of these ways are constantly getting monitored and updated for bug fixes and simpler setup. These tutorials don't assume any prior experience, explain steps well and call directories "folders but some methods may be harder than others by nature".
This method is known as the "traditional" method because for a long time, it has been the only way to set eSign+ up. This way is reliable however it's only drawback is the fact that it requires a rootful jailbreak and Filza (for setting up eSign+ helper app into a system binary to install eSign+). If you don't meet such requirements, skip over this method and move on to the next ones. This way doesn't need the installation of an IPA as the helper app sets eSign+ up!
- Go to eSignPlus's repository which is at https://github.com/eSignPlus/eSignPlus, click the Code button and lastly, click the Download ZIP button. This downloads the entire repository as an compressed ZIP file.
- When downloaded, open Files and navigate to the file (if not already there). Once you see the file, click the ZIP file (or hold it and select Uncompress from the file's menu). This will make a folder of eSign+'s helper app which is essential.
- Once the folder is created, open it and share the eSignPlus folder (which is inside the folder you opened) to Filza.
- In Filza, you will see a folder named eSignPlus or eSignPlus (1) (with the number being the amount of duplicate times the folder was created). Open the folder and open the folder inside of it named eSignPlusSetup5.0.0 (5.0.0 is the name of the eSign version being used, not the eSign+ version). You will see two files: esignhelper and App.
- The App file represents the name of the system app which you are willing to replace with the helper app. Rename the App file to the system app you will replace it with. This system app should be one you don't use (that's useless for you) since it will be permamently replaced with the helper app unless you reinstall the system app which will remove the helper app. You can find list of built-in system apps at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_built-in_iOS_apps#Applications. A good name to give it is Books since the Books app is useless for most people. In other words: rename the App file to the name of a useless built-in iOS app like Books. The chosen app must already be installed and it must be the exact same name!!!
- After doing that, hold the file that you just renamed and select Copy from the file's menu. This should temporarily appear in a blue box: "1 item(s) in Pasteboard. Tap here to Paste"
- Click the button with one box in front of the other box. This button can create Filza windows. After clicking the button, click the + button to create another Filza window.
- Once you do that, it should open the Documents folder but it can open any other folder. In there, click the star button (also known as the Favorites) and click on Apps manager. Apps manager is a feature in Filza that shows every app installed in the system including hidden ones. In older versions or different versions of Filza, there may be another tab named Favorites by itself that takes up half the screen that has Apps manager. You must find Apps manager to proceed. If you cannot find that, you need to go through steps 8.1-8.4!
8.1. If you cannot find Apps manager in Filza, you need to use the terminal to do so. This step is a little more complex but it gets the job done. Firstly, install NewTerm 2 or any version of NewTerm. You can install anything that gives you access to the terminal.
8.2. Once installed, open NewTerm 2 (recommended) or any other terminal you have installed and run this exact command: sudo find / -name "Books.app" 2>/dev/null. Replace Books with the system app name you are going to set as the helper app such as News*. It will return the path of the Books application.
8.3. Do not choose /System/Library/AppPlaceholders/Books.app or anything with a different application name such as /System/Library/AppPlaceholders/Tips.app! Those are placeholders. If something like /private/var/containers/Bundle/Application/91B4B2F8-F16E-4CA5-A837-0853DC9CB3DC/Books.app or something similar to that with a different application name or different UUID, that is indeed the right path. Other paths such as /Applications may also have the .app file, but it's practically never heard of with iOS system apps.
8.4. Open Filza, click on the path's name which is in black or white text and the Go to Folder... dialog will pop up. Write the path in the dialog's input (you can copy it in NewTerm 2 or store it somewhere) and click OK. You should be inside the Books.app directory! If you are inside that directory (the directory name should be Books.app), click the > Back button which will take you back. You can start following the rest of the tutorial starting at step 10!
- If you are at located at the Apps manager in Filza and haven't followed steps 8.1-8.4, find the system app that you have chosen to replace with the helper app. If you cannot find it, keep scrolling in the app list. After finding, click the ⓘ button and a menu of the app should pop up. When the menu of items pops up, click the Bundle button which should have a value as it's path. When clicked, you will go to the application's directory.
- When the system app is opened, you should see the Books.app folder (or Calculator.app, in other words the name of the system app that was chosen). You may see a couple of .plist files, ignore them. Now, open the folder by clicking it.
- When you're at the folder, click the Pasteboard button (file with three dots) and if you have done the fifth step right, an dialog shall appear saying: An item named "Books" already exists in this location. Do you want to replace it with the one you're moving? (the Books item may be different depending on the system app chosen). When that happens, click the Replace button! If that dialog hasn't appeared, it signifies that the process was done unsuccessfully meaning you have to delete everything related to eSign+ and restart the whole process. The system app will get replaced with the helper app's UI. The steps that are about to follow are very crucial!
- Once the modified file replaces the system file, click the ⓘ button and a menu should pop up. Firstly, you need to change it's ownership permissions. Go to the Ownership section and you should see two menu options: Owner and Group. Click the Owner (or Group) menu option and then have the owner become 33. _installd! Scroll down to the Group section and change their permission level to 33. _installd. Click the Save button and then return back to the menu. Keep in mind that you cannot modify the Owner and Group permissions in different menus, you need to do this on the same menu!. You should choose _installd specifically and not experiment with other daemons, users or groups due to security concerns and other nitpicks! This is meant to actually give installation privileges.
- Once that is done, go to the Access Permissions, click the Sticky menu option and click the Mask numeric field. This can be easily used to set up and modify permissions for the owner, group and everyone else. Click on the number and change it entirely (if this is difficult, click the number two times/select it and then overwrite it) to: 0755. This makes the installation process possible.
- We haven't yet imported the esignhelper file which provides the code and functionality of the helper app. To do that, switch to the other Filza window by clicking the same button you have clicked on step 7 of the tutorial (box in front of the other box). After doing that, switch to the other window with the esignhelper file and the system app which we are done with.
- Copy esignhelper in the same way as step 6 (hold or long press the file and press the Copy button in the menu).
- Go back to the other tab and paste the file. This file is also required and serves as a library to the app you have just been done modifying (the helper app). No dialog should appear this time!
- Do steps 13-14 on the file you have copied. In other words, change it's owner and group to 33. _installd and change it's sticky note to 0755 (rwx for owner, r-x for group, r-x for others)
- You are done! Open the system app which you have modified to be as the helper app which is Books in this tutorial. For it's first launch especially if it was installed or reinstalled, it may appear and seem like the ordinary Books app. If this happens, simply close and open (relaunch) the app again. You will see the Books app suddenly become eSign+ Persistence Helper!
- Simply press on "Install URL". As of today (this is a TODO and MUSTFIX), this app uses the broken URL to install eSign+ by default. If you click on Install eSign+ two times, it will not work due to an issue with the "official" URL. You will do a little bit of overriding, you can do this in two ways and one is recommended:
20.1. (Unrecommended, Most Reliable) Select the Chinese button instead, this will prompt you to choose your own eSign+. You need to choose the tarred file and not the folder since the chooser only accepts TAR files. This will reliably and automatically make the installation complete.
20.2. (Recommended, Reliable) For updates and more support, use the GitHub URL. It's not the most reliable option since any changes may require manual intervention however apart from the updates, easy-to-fix changes and rigorous checking before commits, this option will still be very reliable and provide yYou with more benefits.
After it's eventual installation, it now works! Congratulations for setting the program up, follow the Post Install section for all the best things to better your eSign+ installation for every installation method!
Congratulations for installing eSign+!
Here are all the things you need to do for an optimal user experience after you open eSign+:
- Go to Download, click the ... (three dots), click Setting and toggle Auto import and Auto delete on to ensure all apps get imported and their useless IPA gets removed. Apart from saving storage and making eSign+ more convenient, this is standard practice for eSign.
- You need to add some sources. The CyPwn TrollStore repository is a good start! You can view more details in REPOS.md.
That's it!