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(Update 2: Hacked yet again) How one user 'hacked' the OnePlus 2 invite system

To buy the OnePlus 2, you need an invite and most people use the registration list. Here's how one user 'hacked' the list to jump 350,000 places in the list

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Published onAugust 5, 2015

Update 2: After OnePlus emailed Jack Cooper to say they were patching the exploit that allowed him to hack the invite system (see original article bottom followed by the update below), Jake decided to hack the system yet again. This time, he used a couple of methods he first discovered when attempting to hack it the first time.

As it turns out, the second hack worked as well -- we wonder whether OnePlus will give him another early invite or maybe this time they'll just give him a phone. As for Jake, he's back to college or so he says:

Studying for finals is overrated right? Yea it is.

Update: OnePlus has issued a response to the hack titled "A note on mischief" on its own forums. The company explains that it's aware of Jake Cooper's attempt to move up in the rankings, and that it knew this exploit was present in the invite system. OnePlus says:

We've already implemented a few measures on our end to limit it, but before any invites go out we will fine-comb the list for fraudulent entries (there's a multitude of ways to check for this) and we will continue to introduce measures to make it ever more difficult.

As it turns out, the company is actually awarding Mr. Cooper an early invite "extra early for his efforts". Now, you probably won't get an early invite if you successfully hack the invite system at this point, but it's still nice to see the company take the hack so well.

Original post: Part of the strategy that keeps OnePlus different to its rivals is in the supply of its handsets; while other companies let you buy one as easily as possible, OnePlus claims to keep its inventory in check by using an invite system.

[related_videos title=”OnePlus in video:” align=”left” type=”custom” videos=”630400,629200,629182,629181,629179,406250″]Its first handset, the OnePlus One, debuted the invite system and a fair amount of issues including poorly conceived marketing campaigns and a lack of supply resulted in several tweaks to invites for the OnePlus 2. The company said they had 30 to 50 times the amount of inventory at the launch of OnePlus One available for its successor but despite this, there’s still some confusion over the invite system as there’s several ways to get an invite to buy the handset.

While some users can gain invites having been one of the early backers of the OnePlus One, many have had to sign up to OnePlus’ registration list, which currently sits at over 1.5 million registrations. A user found that despite signing up and being number 9,000 on the list, he was pushed back down to 70,000 after other users climbed above him by through referrals.

What did he do? As Jake Cooper says, he took it to OnePlus:

You wanna dance OnePlus? Let’s dance.

To simplify what appears to be a long process, Cooper used Python to run a series of scripts that fooled the invite system into thinking he was referring users. As a result, he jumped from position 334,633 (out of 1,639,895) to 1,694 (out of 1,590,221). Jake hasn’t shared the exact script and has told OnePlus about the vulnerability but if you’re handy with scripts and want to know more, you can read Cooper’s in-depth explanation at the source link below.