Sébastien Page

Sebastien is the Founder and Editor in Chief of iDB. Once a BlackBerry user, Sebastien instantly fell in love with the iPhone when it was first announced in 2007. Shortly after, he decided to start sharing his knowledge of the iPhone and its nascent ecosystem, which led to the creation of this blog. Sebastien currently owns 14 iPhones, 4 iPads, a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, a MacBook Air, 2 Apple Watches, 3 Apple TVs, countless HomePods and AirTags as well as a few pairs of AirPods.

Dev Team Releases RedSn0w Jailbreak

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

After the release of PwnageTool for Mac yesterday, the Dev Team just announced the release of of RedSn0w, a jailbreak method that will work for iPod Touch, iPod Touch 2G, iPhone, and iPhone 3G. RedSn0w can also unlock the iPhone 2G.

RedSn0w, which works on both Mac and PC, provides similar functionality to QuickPwn, which makes me wonder whether or not the Dev Team will update QuickPwn, or simply replace it with RedSn0w.

According to the Dev Team:

GOLDEN RULE: If you are using a 3G iPhone with yellowsn0w and rely on yellowsn0w to obtain cellular service, then you should NOT use redsn0w right now. Ultrasn0w (the 3G carrier unlock) is not included with this release and therefore your baseband will be locked and unable to use an operator other than the official one it was bought for. UltraSn0w will be released via APT (cydia and icy) soon. If you have an original iPhone (1st generation) then 3.0 carrier unlock works with this redsn0w release. Yellowsn0w in its current form will NOT work with the baseband version that is present in the 3.0 update, you will need Ultrasn0w, which will be released sometime soon, Ultrasn0w will work with all iPhone 3G models (but not 3GS), even ones that were previously unlockable, Ultrasn0w (when available) will be released via APT (this means you will be able to get it via Cydia or Icy). Please read all parts of this post before downloading and using these tools. Read items 1, 2 and 3 again and again. At the bottom of this post are the bittorrent files for the latest version of redsn0w. This app is suitable for the recent 3.0 release redsn0w will NOT work for the iPhone 3GS. redsn0w WILL work for Original iPhone (1st Generation), Original iPod touch, iPod touch 2G and the iPhone 3G (not the iPhone 3GS).

The Dev Team also suggests to use PwnageTool on Mac (see tutorial and guide) to build custom firmware files with more flexibility.

SHA1 SUMS

SHA1(redsn0w-mac_0.7.zip)= 284639d37fd6675056814b6c8a5b0583ad91c370 SHA1(redsn0w-win_0.7.1.zip)= e264e44954aa417a3eb12ed29770790a30f85a66

Official Bittorrent Releases -

Mac OS X torrent Windows torrent

Note that UltraSn0w, the iPhone 3G jailbreak, hasn't been released yet. Also note that there is currently no way to jailbreak or unlock the new iPhone 3G S.

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Tutorial: Unlock iPhone 2G 3.0 Using PwnageTool For Mac

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

This tutorial will show you how to unlock your iPhone 2G using PwnageTool for Mac. This guide will allow you to use your iPhone 2G with any carrier.

1. Make sure you have downloaded the latest version of iTunes 8.2 and that you have updated your iPhone to the latest 3.0 firmware.

2. Create a folder on your desktop. In this folder, download PwnageTool 3.0 and your iPhone 2G 3.0 firmware from our iPhone downloads page. Also download bootloader files 3.9BL, 4.6BL.

3. Launch PwnageTool, agree to the warning, and select the “expert mode”.

4. Select your iPhone model (iPhone 2G) and click the blue arrow to continue.

5. Now if your computer doesn’t automatically detect the iPhone 2G 3.0 firmware you downloaded in step 1, browse for it.

6. You will then have a menu with 7 choices. Choose “general”, which will allow you to set your own root partition size. Click the blue arrow to continue.

7. You will now have 3 checkboxes. Make sure that "activate the phone" and “enable baseband update” are checked. You will also need to increase the root partition size. Usually setting the root partition around 700MB is enough. Click next to continue.

8. When you get to the “bootneuter settings”, only check the boxes for "unlock baseband" and "auto delete bootneuter.app". Click the blue arrow to continue.

9. The  “Cydia settings” allow you to choose packages to download now so you don’t have to download them from Cydia later. Choose any of the packages you want and click next.

10. You will now have the possibility to choose your own boot logo. I will skip this step as it is useless.

11. After setting your own boot logos (if you chose to), you will now be able to build your own IPSW file. Click the blue “build” button to start.

12. If it's the first time you do this, you will get a message asking you to upload the bootloader file v3.9. When asked to search the web for it, click "no". When asked to browse for it, click "yes" and select it from the folder we created in step 2. Repeat the process for bootloader v4.6.

13.You will then be asked if you're a legit iPhone user. If you click "yes" this will not unlock the phone, thus defeating the whole purpose of this guide. Make sure you click "no".

14. You will then have to choose a folder to save your custom firmware (ie. desktop). You custom firmware will now be built, which may take up to 15-20 minutes. Be patient.

15. Enter your administrator password.

16. When asked if your iPhone has been pwned before, say “no”, even if it has. Make sure your iPhone is connected to your computer and turn it off, as prompted.

17. This is the tricky part. You will now have to follow directions to enter DFU mode. It will ask you to hold the home and power buttons for 10 seconds. Then, you will have to release the power button and hold the home button for 10 seconds.

18. If done correctly, you will get a message saying that you successfully entered DFU mode. Close PwnageTool and launch iTunes.

19. iTunes will then give you a message saying it has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. Click OK.

20. In iTunes, hold the Alt/Option key and click “restore” at the same time. It will open a window where you will have to select the custom firmware that you built a few minutes before.

21. iTunes will then restore your iPhone 2G using the custom firmware. This step may take 15-20 minutes so again, be patient.

22. Once done, you will have to “set up your iPhone”, either as a new phone (which I recommend), or from backup.

23. Reboot your iPhone and you should have a Cydia icon on the springboard.

24. Congrats! You just unlocked your iPhone 2G using PwnageTool 3.0

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Tutorial: Jailbreak Your iPhone 3G 3.0 With PwnageTool For Mac

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

This tutorial will show you how to jailbreak your iPhone 3G using PwnageTool for Mac. Following this guide is the first step to take in order to unlock your iPhone 3G later on using UltraSn0w.

1. Make sure you have downloaded the latest version of iTunes 8.2 and that you have updated your iPhone to the latest 3.0 firmware.

2. Create a folder on your desktop. In this folder, download PwnageTool 3.0 and your iPhone 3G 3.0 firmware from our iPhone downloads page.

3. Launch PwnageTool, agree to the warning, and select the "expert mode".

4. Select your iPhone model (iPhone 3G) and click the blue arrow to continue.

5. Now if your computer doesn't automatically detect the iPhone 3G 3.0 firmware you downloaded in step 1, browse for it.

6. You will then have a menu with 6 choices. Choose "general", which will allow you to set your own root partition size. Click the blue arrow to continue.

7. You will now have 3 checkboxes. Make sure only "enable baseband update" is checked. You will also need to increase the root partition size. Usually setting the root partition around 700MB is enough. Click next to continue.

8. When you get to the "bootneuter settings", simply click the blue arrrow to continue.

9. The  "Cydia settings" allow you to choose packages to download now so you don't have to download them from Cydia later. Choose any of the packages you want and click next.

10. You will now have the possibility to choose your own boot logo. I will skip this step as it is useless.

11. After setting your own boot logos (if you chose to), you will now be able to build your own IPSW file. Click the blue "build" button to start.

12. Choose a folder to save your custom firmware (ie. desktop).

13. Your custom firmware will now be built, which may take up to 15-20 minutes. Be patient.

14. Enter your administrator password.

15. When asked if your iPhone has been pwned before, say "no", even if it has.

16. Make sure your iPhone is connected to your computer and turn it off, as prompted.

17. This is the tricky part. You will now have to follow directions to enter DFU mode. It will ask you to hold the home and power buttons for 10 seconds. Then, you will have to release the power button and hold the home button for 10 seconds.

18. If done correctly, you will get a message saying that you successfully entered DFU mode. Close PwnageTool and launch iTunes.

19. iTunes will give you a message saying it has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. Click OK.

20. In iTunes, hold the Alt/Option key and click "restore" at the same time. It will open a window where you will have to select the custom firmware that you built a few minutes before.

21. iTunes will then restore your iPhone 3G using the custom firmware. This step may take 15-20 minutes so again, be patient.

22. Once done, you will have to "set up your iPhone", either as a new phone (which I recommend), or from backup.

23. Reboot your iPhone and you should have a Cydia icon on the springboard.

24. Congrats! You just jailbroke your iPhone 3G using PwnageTool 3.0 :)

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Unboxing the iPhone 3G S

Sébastien Page ∙ June 19, 2009

This is a short video of my iPhone 3G S unboxing. With all the news falling this morning (especially the release of PwnageTool), I haven't really had time to play with it yet but I shall do this shortly.

For those of you wondering about my accent... I'm French!

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Dev Team Releases PwnageTool 3.0 For Mac

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

The Dev Team just released a new version of PwnageTool that will jailbreak the iPhone 1st gen., iPhone 3G, and the iPod Touch 1s gen. The new iPhone 3G S is not supported yet.

According to the Dev Team:

Because of some bugs and unexpected changes this will be a multipart release, starting with the release of PwnageTool for Mac OS X. QuickPwn for Mac OS X and Windows will follow sometime soon, please don’t bug us about it, we are working flat out to get everything finished to release them.

GOLDEN RULE: If you are using a 3G iPhone with yellowsn0w and rely on yellowsn0w to obtain cellular service, then you should NOT use PwnageTool right now. UltraSn0w is not included with this release and therefore your baseband will be locked and unable to use an operator other than the official one it was bought for. UltraSn0w will be release via APT (cydia and icy) soon. If you have an original iPhone (1st generation) then 3.0 unlock works with this PwnageTool release. Yellowsn0w in its current form will NOT work with the baseband version that is present in the 3.0 update, you will need Ultrasn0w, which will be released sometime soon, Ultrasn0w will work with all iPhone 3G models (but not 3GS), even ones that were previously unlockable, Ultrasn0w (when available) will be released via APT (this means you can get it via Cydia or Icy). Please read all parts of this post before downloading and using these tools. Read items 1, 2 and 3 again and again. At the bottom of this post are the bittorrent files for the 3.0 capable version of PwnageTool. This app is suitable for the recent 3.0 release. PwnageTool will NOT work for the iPhone 3GS. PwnageTool WILL work for Original iPhone (1st Generation), Original iPod touch (1st Generation) and the iPhone 3G.

This will just unlock the 1st gen iPhone. It will not unlock your iPhone 3G or iPhone 3G S. The Dev Team will release UltraSn0w soon and this is the tool you will need to unlock your iPhone 3G.

Official Bittorrent Releases -

http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/4963802/PwnageTool_3.0.dmg.4963802.TPB.torrent SHA1 = 2e19d39398233f88ae0782fd82462a9223791f7f

iPhone 3G S owners will have to wait for the Dev Team to come up with a jailbreak first. Stay tuned for more info and tutorials on how to do all this...

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iPhone 3G S Info Roundup

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated February 5, 2016

The new iPhone is coming out tomorrow so I wanted to post a little roundup about everything we posted so far on the blog about the iPhone 3G S.

About the iPhone 3G S

Everything you need to know about the iPhone 3G S Guided tour of the iPhone 3G S More RAM and memory for the iPhone 3G S iPhone 3G and 3G S compared side by side Early delivery for the 3G S? Cost of ownership of the iPhone 3G S vs. the Palm Pre vs. Android G1 How to do everything on the iPhone

Buying an iPhone 3G S

7 reasons to buy the new iPhone 3G S 6 reasons the iPhone 3G S sucks

AT&T

AT&T screwing iPhone 3G owners who want to upgrade AT&T's marketing stunt to appear like the good guys How to buy an iPhone 3G S without an AT&T contract AT&T won't charge extra for MMS

3.0 Firmware

113 new features available in 3.0 3.0 firmware download available 100+ undocumented features in 3.0

Jailbreak and Unlock

Demo of UltraSn0w Warning to unlocked and jailbroken iPhone owners Update about UltraSn0w
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100+ Hidden Features In iPhone 3.0

Sébastien Page ∙ June 18, 2009

Copy/paste, landscape keyboard, MMS, spotlight search are just a few of the new features of the new firmware 3.0. But did you know there are over 100 hidden features?

MacRumors put together a list of undocumented features in 3.0. Here are some of the most interesting ones:

You can now download apps redeemed from promo codes on the device. previously you could only redeem them and had to download them in iTunes The keyboard letter keys are a few pixels narrower than in the last OS, and the spaces between the keys slightly wider Mail preview loading is much faster You can now share a contact Unknown incoming calls show the location of the call You can send as many pictures as you want in Mail

Visit MacRumors for the full list of new features.

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Simple Hack to Enable Free iPhone Tethering On Any Carrier

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 12, 2019

Just a few hours after Apple released firmware 3.0 to the public, some smart guy already figured out a way to hack the iPhone to allow free tethering on most carriers, including AT&T. What's even better about this hack is that you don't have to jailbreak your iPhone.

How to enable free tethering on iPhone 3.0?

1. On your iPhone, launch Safari

2. Go to the following website: http://help.benm.at/tethering.php

3. Find your country, select your provider, and tap "download".

4. Go to Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering Bluetooth or USB

5. Done!

Is this legal? Well, not really... I suggest you don't tether your iPhone too much using this hack as carriers have a way to find out and can very well overcharge you or simply disconnect you, as UK carrier 02 reportedly said it would:

Under those terms we reserve the right to charge customers making modem use of their iPhone or disconnect them.

Use with caution...

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iPhone 3.0 Jailbreak Update

Sébastien Page ∙ June 18, 2009

The Dev Team posted an update regarding the iPhone 3.0 jailbreak. It seems the jailbreak is harder than they expected, but there's nothing too hard for our favorite team of iPhone hackers.

We have two issues that we’ve been trying to resolve:

There are new 3.0 complications with YouTube.app if you’re on a hacktivated (unofficially activated) device There’s a bug in Apple’s new version of asr that our custom IPSW’s are tickling and causing crashes on, on some devices.  (For the nerdy or curious among us, the details of that bug were tweeted by planetbeing a month ago.)

As of Thursday morning we now have a workaround for #2.  For #1, we’ll try our best to get it fixed but we may end up releasing a preliminary jailbreak in which YouTube doesn’t work for hacktivated devices, and then follow that up with a more complete jailbreak when we can.

As a reminder, this jailbreak is necessary to inject UltraSn0w, the payload that will allow you to unlock your iPhone.

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Unlocked iPhone Owners Should Not Update to 3.0 Yet

Sébastien Page ∙ June 17, 2009

Just a quick post to remind every unlocker and jailbreaker out there that if you can't live without your jailbroken and/or unlocked iPhone, you should not update to 3.0.

Updating to 3.0 will simply prevent you from jailbreaking or unlocking your iPhone, no matter if it is a 1st gen or iPhone 3G.

My advice to you: wait a few days for the Dev Team to release a new jailbreak for 3.0 and for UltraSn0w (the new app that will unlock your iPhone) to be released.

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AT&T’s iPhone 3G S Upgrade Price Drop Is A Marketing Stunt

Sébastien Page ∙ June 17, 2009

Earlier today, AT&T issued a press release aimed at calming down its angry customers (I am one of them) who pre-ordered the new iPhone 3G S and were not eligible for an upgrade.

Previously, only customers who were eligible for an upgrade could get the iPhone 3G S at the best price. So if you bought your iPhone 3G last year at launch, like most of us, you theoretically wouldn't be eligible for a full upgrade until December of 2009.

According to AT&T's press release:

We’re now pleased to offer our iPhone 3G customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September 2009 our best upgrade pricing, beginning Thursday, June 18.

That's incredibly nice of AT&T except that most 3G customers aren't eligible until December anyways. Still according to AT&T, those eligible for their best upgrade pricing are customers "who spend more than $99 a month per line".

My opinion is that this is just a marketing stunt from AT&T. If you read various iPhone blogs right now, they are all excited about this piece of news basically saying that AT&T redeemed itself and did the right thing. You should not be fooled by their good words. Unless you spend over $100/month on your iPhone plan, you will not be eligible for the best price ($299 for the 32GB).

For those of you who spend more than $100/month on your iPhone plan, you might be eligible. In this case, read the following information from AT&T:

If you’re one of the customers who benefits from this change, and you’ve already preordered from an AT&T store, we’ll adjust the price of the device when you pick it up. If you benefit from the change and you pre-ordered from AT&T online, we’ll send you an e-mail and issue you a credit.

If you pre-ordered an iPhone 3G S through Apple’s online store, your upgrade eligibility will be reassessed based on AT&T's new upgrade policy for iPhone 3G owners. If you are eligible for the lower price, Apple will issue you a credit for the difference as applicable.

I called AT&T this morning and they confirmed I was not eligible. I was very polite and friendly with the customer service rep and explained her my situation. I switched from T-Mobile to get the iPhone back in 2007. I've been a loyal customer since then and I pay my bills as soon as they show up in the mail. I told her that I feel left out and that it would be a nice commercial gesture to credit the price difference (roughly $200) to my account. In the end, she credited my account of $50, which is better than nothing.

Still, I feel that AT&T is not doing the right thing here.

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