Joaquim Barbosa

Guide to futurerestore: Introduction

This is an introductory article which explains what futurerestore is and how it works, as well as how to follow our futurerestore guides to upgrade/downgrade your device.

Before attempting any of the guides, everyone should read this article. It explains whether the guides apply to you, and if they do, which ones you should follow, as well as making sure that you fulfil the requirements for it to work. Not everyone can use futurerestore.

Guide to futurerestore Part 1: How to set a generator

This is Part 1 of a two-part guide on how to use futurerestore.

Before attempting this guide, everyone should read the introductory article, Guide to futurerestore: Introduction. It will explain whether this guide applies to you, as well as making sure that you fulfil the requirements for it to work.

If you currently have a jailbreak and you want to move to a different firmware with futurerestore’s generator mode, you must follow this guide first before following Part 2.

If you currently have no jailbreak, and you want to move to a different firmware with futurerestore’s Apnonce collision mode, you can skip this guide and head straight to Part 2. This method does not apply to most users.

Guide to futurerestore Part 2: How to use futurerestore to restore to unsigned firmwares

This is Part 2 of a two-part guide on how to use futurerestore.

Before attempting this guide, everyone should read the introductory article, Guide to futurerestore: Introduction. This will explain whether the guides apply to you, as well as making sure that you fulfil the requirements for it to work.

If you currently have a jailbreak and you want to move to a different firmware with futurerestore's generator mode, you must follow Part 1 of the guide before following Part 2.

If you currently have no jailbreak, and you want to move to a different firmware with futurerestore's Apnonce collision mode, do only this part of the guide. This method does not apply to most users.

How to save .shsh2 blobs on A12+ devices

With the introduction of the A12 chip, Apple strengthened the security around generating nonces, saving blobs, and restoring in general. The basic process remains the same, but due to a feature called nonce-entanglement (yes, really), there are a few extra hoops we need to jump through to save valid blobs. This tutorial will show you how to do so.

How to save your .shsh2 blobs online with TSS Saver

If you want to use futurerestore to restore your Apple devices to unsigned firmwares, you will need to have .shsh2 blobs saved for the firmware you want to restore to. Jailbreakers often want to move to an unsigned firmware in order to use a jailbreak there, when newer signed firmwares do not have one. All jailbreakers should save blobs for all their devices periodically in order to have the option of using futurerestore in the future. This guide will go through how to use the online TSS Saver tool to get the .shsh2 blobs you need.

Updates to futurerestore allow unsigned restores to iOS and iPadOS 14 for jailbreakers

If you've been following our recent jailbreak coverage you'll know that there is now a jailbreak available for iOS and iPadOS 14, released by the unc0ver team. Another tool is also on the horizon, being worked on by CoolStar. However, the exploit which it uses will only work on iOS and iPadOS 14.0-14.3, not the current 14.4, nor Apple's upcoming firmware, 14.5.

The problem for would-be jailbreakers had been that iOS and iPadOS 14.0-14.3 are no longer signed by Apple, which means users could no longer move to those firmwares through traditional methods. It therefore looked like anyone who wasn't already on iOS or iPadOS 14.0-14.3 was going to miss out on the first semi-untethered iOS 14 jailbreak.

Does the Chimera jailbreak work on the newly released iOS 12.5.1?

On Monday, we reported on Apple's point update release of iOS 12.5.1 for older devices which cannot run iOS 13 and higher. The only stated change in the update was a fix for a bug in the COVID-19 exposure notifications feature, which Apple had previously added to older firmwares to allow more device owners to make use of it.

Although the release notes didn't mention any other changes, it would not have been unusual for Apple to have taken the opportunity to patch the vulnerabilities used by iOS 12.x jailbreaks, such as the Chimera jailbreak for iOS 12-12.5. The update could also have rendered the jailbreak tool unusable accidentally. Unrelated changes in the firmware, or hard-coded firmware support in the Chimera app itself, could also have required an update to the tool for it to work again.

How to get the new iOS 14.2 emojis on your jailbroken device

The last few iOS point releases had been all quiet on the emoji front, but iOS and iPadOS 14.2 brought over 100 novelties to users, including such ragers as "Pinched Fingers" (that emphatic gesture which often accompanies a hackneyed impression of an Italian), "Bubble Tea", "Ninja", and "Tamale" (at last!). Whilst stock users will have to update to iOS 14.2 to make use of these little beauties, jailbroken users don't have to, thanks to developer Poomsmart.

Choosing between losing your jailbreak by updating to iOS 14.2, or being unable to spam your friends with the Dodo emoji, is thankfully not necessary. We'll show you how to get the best of both worlds.

How to set a generator with nonceEnabler on iOS 9 and 10

First off, this guide is only necessary for 64-bit devices which are currently jailbroken on old firmwares, such as iOS 9 and some versions of iOS 10. The jailbreaks for those firmwares did not always include a way to set a generator for use with futurerestore, and nonceEnabler provides that ability. Nearly all newer jailbreaks provide their own simpler ways of setting a generator, and they do not need to use nonceEnabler, nor this guide. If your device is not currently jailbroken on an old firmware such as the ones mentioned in this guide, and/or has its own method of setting a generator, refer instead to our main futurerestore guides.