How to Fix the “Different SIM Detected” Issue on the iPhone

By , Aug 5, 2010

A few weeks ago we told you about a trick to activate an iPhone without the original SIM card. This was used by jailbreakers and unlockers who didn’t have the original SIM card to activate their iPhone. It worked well for a while but it seems Apple caught up to it and put an end to it all by hooking the activation wildcard ticket to the ICCID of the used SIM. Fortunately, an alternative method was found to go around the “Different SIM Detected” message you might get.

Step 1: Download iFunBox from here.

Step 2: Download the patched LockDown folder from here.

Step 3: Run iFunBox and sync it with your iPhone.

Step 4: Go to /private/var/root/Library/ and replace the Lockdown folder with the one you downloaded in step 2.

Step 5: Reboot your iPhone.

I haven’t tried this myself but it seems to work well. If you do try it, please let us know how it went by leaving a comment below.

[Sherif Hashim]

  • Share:
  • Follow:

We Recommend

Newer Comments →
  • Tod

    I don’t understand step #4. does this mean you have to SSH your phone to replace the file?

  • Paulius

    No, trough iFunBox you can browse your iPhone files ;) connect to iFunBox,find this dir /private/var/root/Library/ and replace the Lockdown folder

  • Bo’Selecta

    Does step 4 work if the iPhone is on emergency mode(stuck on apple logo)?
    Do i still need phonebook sim for this to work? Or I can just update ios4 and go through above steps, cos I am on iPhone 3gs ios3.3 jailbroken unlocked, and I don’t want to mess things,
    thnks for your help.

    • Adam

      Instead of restoring ur iPhone to the new ios just click update . This will not lock ur phone to the need activation . However it will unjailbreak and lock so ull need to jailbreak it and unlock it from here jailbreakme.com hope this helped

    • smoth rida

      after loading ur IOS u need to jailbreak iphone thts wen u can u ifunBox.

  • Chris

    Hi Sebastien, does it mean u dont have to put in a phonebook sim or any other sim to get it activated? that is after following the above steps, of course.

  • Nathan

    When you say sync it with your iphone, do you just open funbox and press sync on itunes? and also, how do you find this /private/var/root/Library/ through funbox? i cant find a way to find that.

  • kenny

    does,this work with all iPhone models,i wanna use it with my iPhone 3GS,have it on 3.1.3,and wanna update to 4.0,but not doing it as i dont have the original carrier sim card to activate after the update.pls if anybody who has tried this could confirm that it works.thank u .

  • Iphone

    will work After JB only or you can use on fresh restore iphone?

  • http://trippletech.com junaid

    I used this for my Jail Broken iPhone, and it worked great! Though i was skeptical at first but glad it worked out :)

  • jarin

    it makes no sense ifunbox says it should be jailbroken first to view files. The iphone should be activated before any jailbroken process so whats the use of this?????

  • Bonbon

    I’m sorry but its useless as you should activate before you can jailbreak it and w/o having the phone jailbreaked you cannot reach the folder and files…
    I tried it
    Yet i hope someone will help with that hope that Sherif himself

  • VnABC

    Anyone can answer my question? My wife has AT&T (iPhone 3GS plan), can I buy an iPhone 4 off craigslist, cut the mini sim to become micro sim then use with the iPhone 4? 1st, will this work? 2nd, will we get this different sim card detected? Thanks guys

  • futurama_8b

    Can’t access the root files with unjailbroken iphone

  • milad

    Thankx

    It works on my iphone 4 :-)

  • Bonbon

    milad, how did it work, was your phone were alreaady activated.?

  • K

    I activate it, jailbreakme.com it, ultrasnow it. Then I get an error saying a different sim card was inserted. So I follow this method, it removed the Different Sim Card issue and allow another sim card to load, but I CAN’T SYNC TO ITUNE. I have an error “iPhone cannot connect to iTune, invalid response was received”

    Help

  • Bo’Selecta

    Thanx K, you explained better than the article. I hope someone would help you with your problem.

  • Iphone

    install `afc2add` from cydia

  • George

    Worked like a charm! Tnx

  • Federico

    Afer change files in the lockdown folder, i have recived an iTunes Error “iTunes cant read the iphone “” error” Any idea?

    Thanks.
    FEDE

  • Iphone

    Federico
    kindly read above post install `afc2add` from cydia

  • Federico

    Hello Friend,
    i have installed afc2add, and mi iPhone is unlocked.. But after i change the files in the folder “lockdown” iTunes cant connect with the iPhone…

    ¿? :( ani idea?

  • Iphone

    This document describes how to solve the problem indicated by the following error:
    1. Restore your iPhone to 4.0.1 or higher.
    2. Once the product has been restored and requires activation, insert a oneSIM-card in
    order to activate the product.
    Please keep in mind that oneSIM must be removed right after that the activation
    phase has been completed.
    3. Open Safari browser and visit the website jailbreakme.com in order to install Cydia.
    4. Install afc2add and UltraSn0w in Cydia.
    5. Connect the iPhone to the computer and launch iFunBox software
    6. Select your phone.
    7. Select Raw File system
    8. Browse to the folder /var/root/Library/ and delete the Lockdown folder. Once you have deleted the file, upload the Lockdown folder included in this ZIP archive.
    9. Restart the product and insert any SIM-card from any carrier.

  • Nathan

    Okay I found a way to get past this without even having to use ifunbox on 3.1.2. Here are the steps:

    1) Put iPhone into recovery mode
    2) Restore to 3.1.2 so you can use blackra1n to jailbreak.
    3) Insert your SIM card into the phone and open blackra1n and jailbreak the phone.
    4) iPhone should now be “hacktivated” and the “different sim detected” screen should be gone.

    • Chris

      Tryed everything and this worked thanks bro bootneuter don’t got nothing on this!!!!

    • smoth rida

      dude that Method is for those who have old iphones that come with 3.1.2,3.1.3

  • shaf

    I tried the steps by Iphone #23 and it worked great and finally my phone read my SIM without trouble but now i can not sync to iTunes as it keeps saying iTunes could not connect to this phone because of an unknown error. I tried rebooting my phone and also tried difference usb ports but no luck. please help.

  • ashwani
  • http://yahoo vergel

    thank you!! after using phone book sim card to activate iphone 3gs 4.0 without the original sim and jailbreak and unlock the unit i use this workaround and this really works!! thank you.

  • Mohammed

    Hi,
    All steps right just In step 4 you need to delete LockDown file first then you can put that file called LockDown and reboot your iphone .That’s all.
    I have tried this myself and it worked well. 100% work my iphone is 3GS 32GB

  • Allison

    I am confused. Will this method work on a newly restored iPhone 3GS running on iOS4.0.1?

  • http://www.helloo.dk helloo.dk

    It’s easy.. with iPhone 3G and 3GS with firmware 4.0.1

    Step 1: Download iFunBox.
    http://www.pars-gsm.com/Downloads/ifunbox_en.zip

    Step 2: Download the patched LockDown
    http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/attachment.php?attachmentid=241032&d=1281017319

    Step 3: Restore your phone with firmware 4.0.1

    Step 4: Open your phone with dits simcard or the simcard you got with the phone

    Step 5: Connect with wifi and open internet

    Step 6: Go to http://jailbreakme.com/ on your phone
    follow the screen.

    Step 7: Open Cydia
    Install afc2add
    install ultrasn0w

    Step 8: Reboot your phone

    Step 9: Run iFunBox and sync it with your iPhone.

    Step 10: Go to /private/var/root/Library/ and replace the Lockdown folder with the one you downloaded in step 2.

    Step 11: Reboot your iPhone.
    and now you can change simcard!

  • talbo

    Ok… for the iphone 3 model….
    What about iPhone 4???

  • Ruthless

    what about the 2g with 3.1.1

  • Ruthless

    3.1.3

  • Thomas Higgins

    Hi all the easyest way to unlock any iphone is this

    Step 1: Insert the phonebook SIM in your iPhone to get out of emergency mode.

    Step 2: Go to Cydia and add the following source: http://cydia.pushfix.info.

    Step 3: In the PushFix repo, look for Hacktivation Patch and install it.

    Step 4: Reboot your iPhone.

    Done! You should now be able to swap SIM cards without any problem.

  • Bono

    Have you checked it with iPhone 4?

  • Thomas Higgins

    No Bobo,

    but i did with the rest,

  • prince94310585

    WoooooW It WORKED

  • prince94310585

    thnx

  • thisisbetty
  • VINEET

    IT WORKS LIKE CHARM…VERY GOOD SOFTWARE………

  • manfred

    After I finished all steps, it didn’t find the carrier. Then, I restored my backup Lockdown folder (I copied it before all steps) to my phone. Problem comes after I reboot my phone, “connect to itunes” screen comes up again.Then, I connected the iphone to pc and it seems that iTunes could not recognise my phone. and then I opened iFunbox again, and it could not find my phone as well. What can I do now?

  • babak

    hi to all
    i have very strong problem….i forget user code for my 3gs os 3.1.3 not factory unlock…and i haven’t shsh on any firmware….
    do you have any method for reset or clear user code?
    i now i can restore to 4.1 and clear usercode but i can’t JB and unlock….
    please help me
    thx

  • Drew

    I was up till 1:38 AM trying to get my mommy’s iPhone fixed for shiT-Mobile’s service and this website’s advice and instructions did work! The instructions were all right!!! Thank you, the sims worked for me and I was able to use my AT&shiT sim card from my iPhone to activate her iPhone and then use this tutorial to allow us to swap the sim cards out!

    Nice job with the Lockdown files!

  • hammadjadoon

    yeah its work with my iphone but my iphone is still on searching no network its iphone 3gs running 4.1 plz send me solution for that on jadoon1_khan@yahoo.com
    Thanks in advance

  • smoth rida

    i av an iphone 3g with fimware 4.0 i restored and jailbreaken it with redsnow 9.0.5 and it went wel.but on the sim is were i av the problem pliz help me activate gsm sim detection.mumbagriffen@gmail.com

  • http://www.facebook.com/rayvandy Rayvandy

    ive been restoring my 3gs running on 4.0.1 for almost 6 times, sometimes, replacing the Lockdown folder just doesn’t work. There were some possible various error:

    1. the “different sim” msg went away, but u can’t connect to itunes AT ALL, saying that “itunes could not connect to the iphone because an invalid response was received from the device” neither ifunbox can connect after that, even though the afc2add is already installed
    OR
    2. the “different sim” msg DIDN’T go away, itunes and ifunbox could not connect
    OR
    3. it works flawlessly

    i really dont understand what the mistake is.. :(

  • Ciaran

    Worked a treat had to manually search for the file to replace but is totally unlocked now cheers

  • Vygoss

    I think its dont work with version 4.2.1

  • Smoth rida

    Helo their I av iPhone 3g baseband 5.14.02 plz help me unlock it. Thanks in advance

  • balu

    Step 1: Download iFunBox from here.

    Step 2: Download the patched LockDown folder from here.

    Step 3: Run iFunBox and sync it with your iPhone.

    Step 4: Go to /private/var/root/Library/ and replace the Lockdown folder with the one you downloaded in step 2.

    Step 5: Reboot your iPhone

    after doing this process my iphone went to emergency mode but sim is detecting please help me out how to get rid of emegency call mode

  • Lesly

    hi, i need help. i have an iphone 3g and i dont have the original sim. what can i do?

Newer Comments →