Tutorials

How to Downgrade Your iPhone From iOS 4 to 3.1.3

Sébastien Page ∙ June 28, 2010

Every time Apple releases a new firmware, they stop signing the older one, which means you technically can't downgrade to a previous firmware by restoring. Fortunately, if you have your ECID SHSH on file on Saurik's servers, then you might be able to downgrade your iPhone from iOS 4 to 3.1.3 or earlier.

The trick is to make iTunes believe it is requesting a signature from Apple's servers while it will actually be talking to Saurik's servers.

Downgrading from iOS 4 to 3.1.3 does require you saved your SHSH on Saurik's servers. If you haven't, then you can't downgrade.

Downgrade from iPhone iOS 4 to firmware 3.1.3

Step 1 for Windows: Make sure you are logged in with administrator privileges. Launch Notepad and navigate to C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc. Add the following at the very bottom of the file: 74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com

Now save the file back where you found it.

Step 1 for Mac: In Finder, select Go To Folder, and enter /etc. Search the hosts file and right click on it to open with TextEdit. Add the following at the very bottom of the file: 74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com

Click Save As to save the edited file on your desktop. Name the file hosts, and make sure to uncheck the box that says "if no extension is provide, use .txt".

Now drag and drop this edited file to /etc.

Step 2: Download the firmware you want to downgrade to from here.

Step 3: Put your iPhone in DFU mode. Launch iTunes and plug your iPhone in. Press and hold the home and and sleep button together for 10 seconds. After exactly 10 seconds, release the sleep button while still holding the home button. Keep holding the home button until iTunes tells you it has found an iPhone in recovery mode.

Step 4: Now hold the Option key (Mac only) or Shift key (Windows only) while clicking the Restore button in iTunes. A dialog box will pop up and you’ll be able to choose the firmware you downloaded in step 2.

Step 5: At this point, some of you will be fine. The iPhone will restore without any problem. However, some of you might end up in recovery mode again. It's ok. We just need to kick the iPhone out of recovery mode. To do so, download and launch iReb for Windows or iRecovery (both Mac and Windows).

Welcome back to 3.1.3!

[image Life Hacker]

How to Check Your iPhone Bootrom Version

Sébastien Page ∙ June 28, 2010

The latest version of PwnageTool to jailbreak the iPhone 3GS has a few requirements that depend on your bootrom version. Many people have been asking me how to know what's the bootROM of your iPhone so here are some simple instuctions for both Mac and Windows.

The old bootrom refers to those produced before September 2009, version number 359.3. The new bootrom is version 359.3.2 or later.

How to find your bootrom version on Windows

Step 1: Put your iPhone in DFU mode: Launch iTunes and plug your iPhone in. Press and hold the home and and sleep button together for 10 seconds. After exactly 10 seconds, release the sleep button while still holding the home button. Keep holding the home button until iTunes tells you it has found an iPhone in recovery mode.

Step 2: Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Device Manager.

Step 3: Double click Universal Serial Bus Controllers, then click the Apple Mobile Device USB Driver item and click the Properties button.

Step 4: Select the Details tab, then select Device Instance Path from the Property dropdown menu. Scroll all the way to the right to locate your bootrom version.

How to find your bootrom version on Mac

Step 2: In the Apple menu at the top left of your screen, select About This Mac, then click More Info on the window that appears.

Step 3: Select USB from the Hardware list on the left, then click to select Apple Mobile Device (DFU Mode) from the USB Device Tree on the main panel.

Step 4: In the detail panel right below the main panel, you should find the Serial Number. Your iBoot version is at the very end of it.

How to Opt Out of iPhone Targeted iAds

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated February 22, 2017

One of the big features of iOS 4 is iAd, a new advertising platform created by Apple, supposedly so developers can make more money and keep their app prices on the cheap.

Like anyone who enters the ad business, Apple had to update their privacy policy, which you agreed to by installing iOS 4.

Gizmodo were the first this morning to bring light on this part of Apple's privacy policy:

To provide location-based services on Apple products, Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services.

Unfortunately there is no way to opt out of this tracking. No matter what, Apple will still track what you do and where you. Yes, that sucks!

However, you can opt out of Apple's targeted ads by navigating to https://oo.apple.com/ from your iOS device and voila. I guess Apple could have made this more obvious.

Tutorial: How to Jailbreak iPhone iOS 4 With PwnageTool

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated August 31, 2010

The Dev Team just released the latest version of PwnageTool to jailbreak iOS 4. There are many requirements that your iPhone must fulfill in order to be jailbreakable with PwnageTool and you should make sure to read this before going ahead with the jailbreak process.

Let me make this clear, READ THIS before going any further in the jailbreak process. Your iPhone might not be eligible for a jailbreak.

Now that we have the "warning" out of the way, jailbreaking your iPhone iOS 4 with PwnageTool is fairly easy and straightforward. PwnageTool is a Mac only tool that is used to jailbreak while preserving the baseband to make sure you can unlock if necessary at a further date.

This step by step guide and tutorial will show you how to jailbreak your iPhone iOS 4 using PwnageTool.

Step 1: Download the latest version of PwnageTool from our iPhone downloads section. You will need a torrent downloader (ie. uTorrent) to download the file.

Step 2: Make sure iTunes is up to date (currently version 9.2). If not, update iTunes and reboot your computer.

Step 3: Sync and backup your iPhone in iTunes.

Step 4: Download the latest iOS 4 firmware from here for your specific device.

Step 5: Launch PwnageTool and select your iPhone.

Step 6: PwnageTool will automatically detect your firmware. Click on the blue arrow to continue.

Step 7: PwnageTool will now ask if you have an iPhone contract that you would normally activate with iTunes. Choose YES if you have a contract with an official carrier (ie. AT&T in the US) and you don't care about unlocking your device. Click NO if you don't have a contract with an official carrier and want to unlock your iPhone.

Step 8: PwnageTool will now create the custom IPSW.

Step 9: When done, you will see the "iHaz success" message.

Step 10: Now that you have your custom cooked firmware, you need to install this firmware on your iPhone. To do so, plug your iPhone in iTunes. Once iTunes has recognized your iPhone, hold the “Alt/Option” key and click “Restore” at the same time. DO NOT click “Restore” without holding the “Alt/Option” key! A dialog box will pop up and you’ll be able to choose the custom IPSW file you created.

Step 11: PwnageTool will now install your cooked iOS 4 firmware on your iPhone. This process might take a few minutes so be patient. When done, your iPhone will reboot.

You're done!

Additionally, make sure to check out these instructions if you need to unlock your iPhone.

UPDATE: This post is slightly outdated. Check out this page for the latest jailbreak information.

Jailbreak iPhone 3G on iOS 4 With RedSn0w

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated June 29, 2010

You can now jailbreak your iPhone 3G running iOS 4 using RedSn0w. This version of RedSn0w will only jailbreak the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G.

At the time being the only way to jailbreak the iPhone 3GS on iOS 4 is to use PwnageTool. RedSn0w should be updated soon to jailbreak both the iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 4, so be patient.

According to the Dev Team, "For now, the redsn0w beta release supports only the iPhone3G and iPod Touch 2G at today’s 4.0. It’s still a beta, so you’ll need to let Cydia reorganize, reload, and update after using redsn0w."

This being said jailbreaking the iPhone 3G iOS 4 with RedSn0w is fairly simple.These instructions are to jailbreak the iPhone 3G iOS 4 using RedSn0w. Instructions are the same to jailbreak the iPod Touch 2G.

How to Jailbreak iPhone 3G iOS 4

Step 1: Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed (iTunes 9.2).

Step 2: Download iOS 4 for iPhone 3G to your desktop from our iPhone downloads section.

Step 3: Update your iPhone to iOS 4 via iTunes.

Step 4: Download the latest version of RedSn0w from here.

Step 5: Point RedSn0w to the iOS 4 you downloaded in step 2.

Step 6: Select "Install Cydia".

Step 7: Follow the onscreen instructions.

Step 8: Let RedSn0w do the hard work for you. Once jailbroken, your iPhone will reboot.

That's it!

Now as mentioned above, this is just a beta release of RedSn0w, which means you might have a few issues. One of the most common issues is that the Cydia icon appears all white. In order to fix this, simply add the following repo to Cydia and reboot your iPhone: http://apt.saurik.com/cydia-3.7.

If needed, you may now unlock your iPhone 3G running iOS 4 by following these simple instructions.

How to Password Protect Specific iPhone Apps

Sébastien Page ∙ June 10, 2010

LockDown is a new application available in Cydia that lets you protect individual applications with a password. If like me your iPhone gets into many hands, there might be some applications you'd like to use LockDown with.

If you have an iPhone and your kids are used to play with it, installing LockDown on a few of your apps might be helpful to prevent them from accidentally delete some of your stuff.

LockDown gives another layer of protection to your sensitive data, even though we saw that anyone willing to can easily steal your iPhone data.

You can download LockDown from Cydia for free. One advice though, don't do the mistake I just did... Don't install this on your iPad (at least not as of today) because it is not compatible and will get you into trouble...

How to Check Your AT&T Data Usage

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 12, 2019

Yesterday I told you about AT&T's new data plans. While these plans will benefit a large majority of iPhone owners, there is still a few of us who'll have to closely monitor our data usage to make sure we don't go over board.

Checking your data usage on the AT&T network is pretty easy and straightforward and will prevent you from having bad surprises when the bill comes.

Checking Your AT&T Data Usage

How to check your data usage on AT&T's website

I think the best and most comprehensive way to check your data usage for your iPhone is to do so directly from AT&T's website. This will give you a nice graph showing the last 6 months of data activity, making it clear for you to see what you used through your 3G or EDGE data connection.

This graph excludes all data transferred over wifi network connections because this is not part of your AT&T data plan. That means you can download/upload as much as you want from your iPhone over wifi, you will never be charged for that.

How to check your data usage with AT&T's myWireless app

AT&T has a free application in the App Store called myWireless. On top of giving you important information such as how many voice minutes or SMS you've used, the app will also show you how much data you've used for the current billing period. That's a great way to monitor your data usage on the go directly from your iPhone.

I really like the myWireless app. It is clean and simple and it also allows you to pay your bill from your iPhone. I consider it a must-have.

That's it, now you should be able to manage and monitor your data usage efficiently. For those of you who decide to stay on the unlimited plan, that shouldn't be an issue at all.

If you have more tips and tips like this, please feel free to share them in the comment. [Credit images: TiPB - MacObserver]

SNES (HD): Super Nintendo Emulator for Jailbroken iPad

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 10, 2018

Most of us with jailbroken iPhones are already familiar with the PlayStation, Game Boy, Nes and Super Nes emulators, those hacks that bring our favorite old games to the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Because bigger is better, now comes SNES (HD), a Super Nintendo emulator for iPad and controlled with an iPhone. Don't need to read this previous sentence again because I'm going to repeat it for you: SNES (HD) is a Super Nintendo emulator for iPad that allows you to play any Super Nes game and control them with your iPhone.

SNES (HD) is an iPad port of the popular Super Nintendo emulator Snes9x. It is based on ZodTTD’s iPhone port snes4iphone but it has been rewritten for the iPad.

How to install the SNES (HD) Super Nes emulator on your iPad

Step 1: Your iPad and iPhone must be jailbroken. If it's not, jailbreak them. At the time this article is written, Spirit is the best way to jailbreak your iPad and iPhone.

Step 2: In Cydia, add the following source to your iPad and iPhone: http://wherethewoozlewasnt.com/cydia. SNES (HD) should be released in the ModMyI repo soon but for the moment, you will need to add this source manually.

Step 3: Once the source has been added, install SNES (HD) on your iPad and ControlPad on your iPhone.

Step 4: Now you need to add Super Nintendo ROMs to your iPad in /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/SNES. The best way to add ROMs is by using WinSCP for Windows or CyberDuck for Mac. If you don't have any Super Nintendo ROMs in there, you obviously won't be able to do anything. For legal reasons I cannot tell you where to find ROMs but a quick Google search with right keywords should get you what you're looking for.

Step 5: Make sure bluetooth is enabled on both your iPhone and iPad. Launch SNES (HD) on your iPad and ControlPad on your iPhone.

Step 6: Your iPad and iPhone will start looking for each other. After about a minute, "Tap to Connect" will pop up on your iPhone. Tap on the entry for your iPad, and in a second the iPad will display an “Accept/Deny” screen. Hit "accept" and you’ll be connected.

Step 7: Select a ROM from the list of ROMs available (it depends on how many you added) and enjoy your Super Nes emulator for iPad.

100% credit for this goes to the developer of SNES (HD) and his blog Where the woozle wasn't. I simply made the instructions clearer and easier.

This Super Nintendo emulator for iPad is free but the developer accepts donations. If you're going to use SNES (HD) that'd be nice if you could send him a few bucks by visiting his site and hitting the "donate" button.

If you're still on the fence about installing SNES (HD) on your iPad, watch this video.

Android on iPhone 3G Now Available

Sébastien Page ∙ May 24, 2010

A couple of weeks ago, iPhone hacker PlanetBeing showed us a demo of Android running on an iPhone 3G. This week, he posted full instructions on how to install Android on an iPhone 3G.

In all honesty, I can't see why one would want to install this on the iPhone besides the thrill of the technical challenge. At this time, this port of Android is highly unstable.

Although this port does everything that you expect your smartphone to be able to do, it isn't usable for day-to-day activities just yet--I haven't implemented any power-management functions, so a fully charged iPhone running Android will last only an hour or so.

A few bugs and performance issues remain, too, so while the phone will be usable, it won't be fast. If you do something unexpected (such as forcing the iPhone off), there is a small chance that you may end up restoring your device. However, it is impossible for any bugs to brick or disable your iPhone permanently.

Finally, media syncing is not working, so loading your media onto your phone is kind of a pain. I'm working as hard as I can, though, and I expect to fix these issues soon.

PlanetBeing posted full instructions explaining how to install a port of Android on your iPhone.

If you don't have the required setup or feel a little scared by the instructions, you may want to give a try to iPhoDroid, by Sergio McFly.

iPhoDroid is an app that will make your life much easier. It will automatically transfer all the necessary files to run Android on your iPhone. The other advantage of iPhoDroid is that it is developed for Mac, which means you won't need a Linux machine like you would if you followed PlanetBeing's "manual" instructions.

If any of you dare taking a shot at installing Android on your lovely device, I would love to hear about your experience.

How to Customize Your iPhone With Themes

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated February 5, 2016

In this article, I would like to show you how to customize your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch by adding a theme to it. This is a very simple thing to do.

The most advanced readers of this blog will most likely see this as old news but not everyone is an iPhone expert and I've been getting the same questions a lot lately:

how can I customize my icons? how can I add a theme to my SMS application? how can I add a wallpaper to my springboard? etc...

By default, your iPhone is not very customizable. Sure you can add a wallpaper to the lockscreen, but that's about it. iPhone OS 4 will give you more options and will allow you to also add a wallpaper to your springboard, but that's still not enough to many of us who wish to customize our iDevices from head to toes.

Thankfully, the jailbreak community is here to take over where Apple stopped.

Theming your iPhone is very easy. Follow these simple steps and you should be good to go in 10 minutes.

Step 1: Jailbreaking

The very first step is to have a jailbroken iPhone (or iPad, or iPod Touch). I understand that "jailbreaking" can sound intimidating, especially for those of you who aren't very technical people. But jailbreaking is a fairly simple and safe process.

For more information about jailbreaking, I suggest you read about what jailbreaking is and why jailbreak your iPhone.

If you haven't been discouraged yet, then it's time for action! There are various methods for jailbreaking your device, depending on the model and the software version.

At the time I am writing this, the latest iPhone firmware is 3.1.3 and can be jailbroken with a tool called Spirit in less then 1 minute (see Spirit tutorial here).

To make sure you are using the latest jailbreak available, please visit this page and search for your device model and firmware version, then use the relevant jailbreak tool.

After jailbreaking your iPhone, you will have a new application called "Cydia" on your spingboard. Cydia is like the App Store for jailbreak apps.

Once you have jailbroken your iPhone, we can go to the next step.

Step 2: Install WinterBoard

In Cydia (the new app that was installed when you jailbroke your iDevice), search for WinterBoard.

WinterBoard is an application available for jailbroken iPhones and idevices only. This application allows you to download themes and to activate and manage them on your iPhone.

Once you have located the application, install it. It should take no more than a few seconds. After installing WinterBoard, I suggest you reboot your device.

Step 3: Find and Activate Themes

Now that we have installed our theme manager WinterBoard, we need to find themes. This is probably the hardest part of the job because there are hundreds, if not thousands of themes available.

To search for a theme, go to Cydia > Sections > Themes. You will notice there are sections for specific themes such as battery themes, keyboard themes, etc, but I just want to focus on the essential.

There are themes for every tastes: bands, cars, celebrities, colorful, abstract, etc... Chances are if you're looking for something specific, you will find it.

Not all themes are equal. Some themes only include a wallpaper, some include full customization with battery, dock, icons, dialer, keyboard, SMS, and more. Again, you will have to spend some time browsing to find the right theme for you.

Once you found a theme, simply install it in Cydia, then go back to WinterBoard to activate the theme. In WinterBoard, go to "Select Themes" and select the theme you just downloaded.

Close WinterBoard and wait for your iPhone to respring.

You're done! Your iPhone or iDevice is now customized.

Once you're more familiar with themes and WinterBoard, don't hesitate to explore more themes and the various options of WinterBoard. You can customize virtually every aspect of your iPhone, iTouch, or iPad.

Happy theming!

Rename: Change Your iPhone Applications Names

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 16, 2017

Don't like the name of your apps? There's an app for that too...

Rename II is an application available in Cydia that allows you to rename your stock and jailbreak apps.

I first heard of Rename on AIS and I thought I should look into it a little more:

To change the name of an application, just select it from the list. You will then get a pop-up where you can enter what you would like the new title of the app to be. Once you are finished renaming the app you can select Ok and then hit the Home Button, your device will respring and the apps will be renamed on your SpringBoard.

You can even rename your apps using Emoji icons. Pretty cool, huh?

To install Rename II, you will have to add the SOSiPhone source to Cydia: http://cy.sosiphone.com/

Tell us what you think about this app!

Watch Live TV On Your iPhone or iPad With WinTV Extend

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

Do you want to watch live TV on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad? It's now possible thanks to Hauppauge and their WinTV-HVR TV tuner boards.

According to the company's press release:

Live TV for these Apple devices is provided by Hauppauge's "WinTV Extend", which will be a feature in Hauppauge's new WinTV v7.2 application. WinTV Extend transmits live TV to Internet and WiFi connected devices such as the Apple iPad, iPhone and others. The WinTV v7.2 application provides live TV and TV recording to PCs equipped with a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR TV tuner.

Soon available for $9.95, the new WinTV Extend feature will take the live TV signal and transmit it over the Internet where it can be received by any web browser via Safari. More details will be available on Hauppauge's website soon.

I'm not enough of a TV fanatic to make use of this but you might... What do you think?