Tutorials

AT&T Loophole + Google Voice = Free Calls On Your iPhone

Guest Author ∙ October 2, 2009

You may have heard of the new AT&T add-on called A-List that gives you unlimited calls to and from 5 numbers of your choice. Thanks to a little bit of thinking outside the box, and mostly thanks to Google Voice, you can actually get unlimited calling to any numbers in the US.

For those of you who don't know how Google Voice works, let me explain briefly. Google Voice gives you a free phone number that entitles you to free calls in the US (and very cheap calls overseas). If you try to make a call from the Google Voice app on your iPhone (or the web-based version), Google Voice will call you at your number and connect you to the number you dialed. I'm not sure if that makes sense but basically, when you use Google Voice for calls, you don't get free calls, minutes are taken off your plan, which kinda defeats the whole purpose.

Here is how the loophole works. Simply add your Google Voice number to your A-List. Now every time Google Voice calls you to connect the call with the dialed number, it will be free of charge and you'll be able to call anyone in the US for free (really free).

I'm not sure this is very clear but Google Voice users will surely understand and see the benefits of this little trick. Let's just hope AT&T doesn't figure this one out and puts an end to it.

Do you use Google Voice? If so, you should definitely look into it...

Thanks kper for sending us this tip.

How to Downgrade iPhone 3.1 Baseband From 05.11.07 to 04.26.08

Sébastien Page ∙ September 29, 2009

Every time there is a new firmware coming out, updating puts you at risk of updating your baseband as well, making it impossible to unlock your iPhone. This time is no different than the others and many people accidentally updated their iPhone to firmware 3.1, updating their baseband to 05.11.07 at the same time.

Fortunately, there is an easy way for iPhone 3G users to downgrade their baseband from 05.11.07 to 04.26.08. Note that this is for iPhone 3G users only. If you have an iPhone 3GS, then read my article on how to downgrade the iPhone 3GS firmware from 3.1 to 3.0.

Note that this trick only works on iPhones that have the 05.08 (5.8) bootloader from the factory, which is just a very limited amounts of iPhone 3G that were released in the first few weeks of the production cycle. If you don't know your bootloader version, you may run Fuzzyband and it will tell you what version you have and whether or not you can downgrade your baseband.

1. First, your iPhone 3G has to be jailbroken. For more information, read my iPhone 3.1 jailbreak article.

2. Launch Cydia and search for the Fuzzyband app. Install it and reboot your iPhone.

3. Launch the Fuzzyband app and tap "downgrade" to start downgrading your baseband from 05.11.07 to 04.26.08.

4. Reboot your iPhone. You should now be on baseband 04.26.08 and be able to jailbreak and unlock your iPhone using UltraSn0w.

How to Enable MMS on iPhone OS 3.0 or 3.0.1

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

Those of you on a 3.0 or 3.0.1 jailbroken iPhone who were anticipating the iPhone MMS release last week might have been disappointed by the fact that you have to be on the latest 3.1 firmware to download and install the carrier update. Rejoice because there is a simple hack that will allow you to have MMS on your iPhone.

1. First, download the AT&T Profile .IPCC 5.5.

2. Make sure iTunes is closed and run one of these commands, depending on your operating system:

On Windows: Note that it took me a few minutes to get this to work... It seems I was always typing something wrong.

Windows XP: Go to "Start", click on "Run" and type "cmd" then hit Enter. Now type the following: cd C:\Program Files\iTunes\ and hit ENTER then type iTunes.exe /setPrefInt carrier-testing 1 and hit ENTER Windows Vista: Go to “Start” and type “Command Prompt” in search and then hit ENTER. Now type the following: cd C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes\ and hit ENTER then type: iTunes.exe /setPrefInt carrier-testing 1 and hit ENTER

On Mac OS X:

Open Terminal by going to Applications > Utilities. Type the following: defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE and hit ENTER.

3. Launch iTunes and plug your iPhone. PC users should hold the SHIFT key on their keyboard (Mac users should hold the ALT key) and click on CHECK FOR UPDATE, while still holding the SHIFT or ALT key. A windows will pop up.

4. Navigate to the .IPCC file we downloaded in step 1.

5. It will update your iPhone, which should take just a few seconds.

6. Unplug your iPhone and reboot it.

7. You should now have MMS enabled.

Some people report loss of cellular data network and loss of visual voicemail. I haven't experienced any of that but if you do, here is how to fix it.

Go to Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data Network to update your configuration.

Visual Voicemail change wap.cingular to acds.voicemail MMS settings should match the following (leave blank fields blank):

APN: wap.cingular Username: Password: MMSC: mmsc.cingular.com MMS Proxy: 066.209.011.32 MMS Max Message Size: 614400 MMS UA Prof URL:

Troubleshooting: Reader "Since OS 7" gives an important tip in the comments.

Those receiving the 0xE800003D error: Did you install a carrier theme from Cydia? Like the AT&T logo or MakeitMine? If so remove that and try again. It seems that others before were getting that error because of this.

That's it. As usual, since this is a hack, you are taking the risk of messing up your iPhone...

How to Fix iPhone’s Visual Voicemail Delays

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article that highlighted the iPhone Visual Voicemail delays some users reported. Basically the problem was that your iPhone stopped alerting you of new voicemails. The only way to find out you had new voicemails was to reboot your iPhone, or by dialing "1" + Call to get your voicemails the old fashioned way.

My fellow Twitter friend @HifiSamurai shared a link to a ZDNet article this morning that explained why some of us don't have Visual Voicemails anymore and how to fix it.

The problem started when we installed the iPhone tethering hack. The .ipcc file (carrier settings hack) also changed an option that disables Visual Voicemail. The solution is actually very simple.

On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. This will reset your carrier settings but it will leave the tethering hack untouched.

Isn't this a life saver? If you have little know iPhone tips or hacks, feel free to share :)

How to Set Up Google Sync for iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

Me and my other half will be traveling for about a year starting November 3rd. That kind of long trip requires a minimum of preparation, and figuring out how to keep my iPhone up-to-date is pretty high on the list of things to do.

My biggest issue is for syncing contacts and calendars while we're away. I will have a netbook but this netbook doesn't have Outlook, which prevents me from syncing and backing up contacts and calendars with my PC.

After a little bit of digging around, it appears that Google Sync is my best chance to keep my iPhone contacts and calendars safe. As reluctant as I am to completely rely on Google (I'm a Google hater), I didn't have many options. Of course I could choose to pay $99/year for MobileMe but I think this service is a terrible joke aiming at making money off Fan Boys. I'd rather go with the free Google Sync alternative...

Setting up Google Sync took me about 10 minutes from start to finish, including test time. It is very easy and straightforward. This step by step guide will show you how to set up Google Sync on your iPhone and sync your iPhone contacts and calendars with Google over the air and get push Gmail as well.

Edit Videos On Your iPhone 3G

Sébastien Page ∙ September 21, 2009

Last month, we talked about a simple hack to let you edit videos on your iPhone 2G or 3G the same way the iPhone 3GS does. iPhone OS 3.1 just made this hack obsolete for 3G users as it is now possible to edit videos on the iPhone 3G without hacking the phone.

If you updated your iPhone 3G to the new 3.1 firmware, you should now be able to trim videos and save them in your camera roll. In order to edit a video, you should have someone email you the video and save it to your camera roll first. From there, you can access the video, edit it, and save the changes.

That's a nice little upgrade for the iPhone 3G. Though I still think it's scandalous Apple didn't allow the 3G to get video recording.

Unlock iPhone 3.1

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Every time a new iPhone OS comes out, it gives headaches to jailbreakers and unlockers. This time is no exception to the rule... The new iPhone OS 3.1 has been available for a few weeks and the Dev Team has successfully been able to unlock it.

It took a while but all 3 iPhones (iPhone 2G, 3G, and 3GS) can now be unlocked. You will either need to use PwnageTool or UltraSn0w to unlock your iPhone, depending on the model.

Jailbreak iPhone 3.1

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

With a new OS always comes a new jailbreak... As always, the Dev Team has been working day and night to bring us a reliable jailbreak for iPhone 3.1.

So far, only a Mac version of PwnageTool is available but the Team is working on updating RedSn0w for both Mac and PC. We just have to be patient.

It is also important to note that there is no jailbreak for the iPhone 3GS so far. There finally is a jailbreak for the iPhone 3GS 3.1. It's a little tricky though so please make sure you read the information below. I wrote a couple tutorials on how to jailbreak iPhone 3.1 using PwnageTool.

Tutorial: Jailbreak & Unlock iPhone 2G 3.1 Using PwnageTool

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 13, 2009

This guide and tutorial will show you step by step how to jailbreak and unlock your iPhone 2G using PwnageTool for Mac. At the time I am writing this, only PwnageTool for Mac is available to jailbreak or unlock iPhone 2G 3.1. Tools for PCs should be available soon. For the latest information about jailbreaking methods (including iPhone 3G and 3GS), I suggest you read our jailbreak page.

UPDATE: This tutorial also works for iPhone OS 3.1.2. Instead of using the 3.1 firmware, simply use a 3.1.2 firmware.

Please make sure you read and understand everything before starting the process. If you're new to jailbreaking, please take the time to follow the tutorial step by step. Problems often come when people want to go to fast or skip a step, so again, please take your time to read and understand every step.

1. First, make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed on your computer. If not, update to the latest iTunes available.

2. On your desktop, create a folder called "jailbreak". In this folder download and save the following files available from our downloads page:

PwnageTool 3.1 3.1 IPSW firmware for iPhone 2G (iPhone1,1_3.1_7C144_Restore.ipsw), or 3.1 firmware for iPhone 2G (iPhone1,1_3.1.2_7D11_Restore.ipsw) if you want to jailbreak 3.1.2 BL 3.9 BL 4.6

When downloading the 3.1 firmware, make sure you use FireFox and not Safari as Safari often brings up unwanted issues. To download PwnageTool, you will need a torrent downloader such as uTorrent.

3. Launch PwnageTool. Click OK to the warning message. Then choose "Expert Mode".

4. Choose your device. It should be the one on the very left. A green check mark should appear when you click on it. Click the blue arrow to continue.

5. You will now be able to "Browse for IPSW". Click on it and look for the 3.1 firmware you downloaded in step 2. Select the IPSW file and click the blue arrow to continue.

6. You should now be taken to the general menu where you have 7 different options. Choose "General".

7. In the "General settings", make sure that "activate the phone" and "enable baseband update" are checked. This is important. Again, make sure these 2 options are checked. Change the root partition size to about 600 MB and click the blue arrow to continue.

8. In the "Bootneuter settings", check "Neuter bootloader", "Unlock baseband", and "Auto-delete bootneuter.app", then click the blue arrow to continue.

9. You should now be in the "Cydia settings". This allows you to install packages so you don't have to do it later via Cydia. I like to install my packages manually but feel free to select a few if you want to. I will skip this step. Click the blue arrow to continue.

10. In "Custom packages settings", I recommend only checking Cydia. Icy is quite unstable so I don't recommend installing it. Do as you want but make sure at least Cydia is checked. Click the blue arrow to continue.

11. You are now taken to the "Custom logos settings". You can choose pre-selected logos or upload your own. I don't recommend installing any. I suggest unchecking the 2 custom logos that are pre-selected, then click the blue arrow to continue.

12. You should now be back to the general menu. It is time to start building your custom firmware. Click "Build", then click the blue arrow to continue.

13. If you haven't pwned your iPhone before, you will have to upload the bootlader files you downloaded in step 2. Follow the instructions on the screen to upload BL 3.9 and BL 4.6.

14. PwnageTool will then ask you if "you have an iPhone contract that would activate normally with iTunes". If you're using an official phone carrier (ie AT&T in the US, 02 in UK, etc...), and don't want to unlock your iPhone, click YES. Your iPhone will just be jailbroken. Click NO if you want to unlock your iPhone to use with other carriers.

15. You will now have to save your custom IPSW. Save it to your "jailbreak" folder on your desktop. PwnageTool will now create your custom IPSW which may take up to 15 minutes.

16. If asked for it, enter you admin username and password.

17. PwnageTool will ask you if your iPhone has been pwned before. Just say No.

18. This is a very important step. PwnageTool will ask you to turn off your device, the put it into DFU mode. After turning off your iPhone, follow the on-screen instructions to put your iPhone into DFU mode. Hold the power and home buttons for 10 seconds. Let go of the power button but keep holding the home button until you enter DFU mode. If you fail, PwnageTool will give you an error message and you will have the opportunity to start over this process until completed successfully.

19. Once your in DFU mode, launch iTunes if it hasn't already launched automatically. It will tell you that iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. Click OK.

20. We will now restore your iPhone using the custom firmware you created. In iTunes, hold the Alt/Option key while clicking "Restore". This is extremely important that you hold the Alt/Option key while clicking. A window will pop up and will let you browse for the custom firmware you created (which should now be saved in your "jailbreak" folder). Select it.

21. The restore will start, which may take up to 15-20 minutes. Once done, your iPhone will reboot.

Congratulations! You just jailbroke and unlocked your iPhone. If you have any question or comment, please leave a comment below.

Tutorial: Jailbreak iPhone 3G on 3.1 Using PwnageTool

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 3, 2009

This guide and tutorial will show you how to jailbreak your iPhone 3G running firmware 3.1, using PwnageTool for Mac OS X. So far, only PwnageTool is available for jailbreaking the 3.1 iPhone 3G and it is only for Mac. I believe a RedSn0w method for both Mac and PC will be available soon.

1. Make sure you have installed the latest version of iTunes (iTunes 9).

2. On your desktop, create a folder called "jailbreak" or whatever name you want to give it. It doesn't really matter. Download PwnageTool 3.1 and the 3.1 IPSW (iPhone1,2_3.1_7C144_Restore.ipsw) from here and save them into the "jailbreak" folder. Note that you should download the firmware using FireFox as Safari often brings up issues. Also note that the PwnageTool download link is a torrent and you will need a torrent downloader (ie. uTorrent) to download it.

3. Launch PwnageTool. It will give you some sort of warning. Just click OK. On the next screen, choose the "Expert Mode".

4. Select your iPhone model and click the blue arrow to continue.

5. Browse for the IPSW you downloaded in step 2. You should then get a green check mark.

6. You will now be offered several options. Choose "General". Make sure the "Activate the phone" box is left UNCHECKED if you use an official carrier (such as AT&T in the US, Roger in Canada, etc...). This is very important. If you are not using an official carrier, then CHECK "Activate the iPhone".

7. Increase the root partition size to 700 MB. This is not necessary but it is safer. Then click the blue arrow to continue. Click the blue arrow one more time to skip the bootneuter settings, which aren't available for the iPhone 3G.

8. You will now have the possibility to pre-install a few packages from Cydia so you don't have to do it manually later. I will skip this part. Click the blue arrow to go to the next step.

9. You will now be in the "Custom packages settings". Make sure Cydia is selected and you may want to select Icy as well. For what it's worth, I do not use Icy. I only use Cydia but you're free to select both if you want. Whatever you do, make sure at least Cydia is selected. Click the blue arrow to continue.

10. You can now set your own "Custom logos settings". I don't use any but again, you can choose the one pre-selected or you can even upload your own. If you choose to upload your own, remember the logo mustn't be bigger than 320 x 480. Click the blue arrow when done to continue.

11. It is now time to start the pwnage process. You should be on the main options screen offering you 6 different options. Choose "Build" and click the blue arrow to continue.

12. You will now have to save your custom IPSW file. Save it in the "jailbreak" folder we created in step 2.

13. Your custom IPSW firmware will now be built, which may take up to 15 minutes, so be patient.

14. You will most likely be asked for your administrator password. Fill in the blanks and click OK.

15. You will then be asked if your iPhone has been pwned before. Just answer "No".

16. Now is the most important step. You will first be asked to turn off your iPhone. Follow the instructions on your computer screen to put your iPhone into DFU mode. Basically, you have to hold the home and power buttons together for 10 seconds, then release the power button but still hold the home button. If done correctly, PwnageTool will tell you you successfully entered the DFU mode.

17. If iTunes hasn't launched automatically, open it. iTunes should tell you it has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. Click OK.

18. In iTunes, hold the "Alt/Option" key and click Restore at the same time. DO NOT click "restore" without holding the "Alt/Option" key! A window will pop up and you'll be able to choose the custom IPSW file you created in step12 that you saved in your "jailbreak" folder.

19. iTunes will now work on restoring your iPhone using the custom firmware.

20. Done! You will now be offered the option to set up your iPhone as a new phone or restore from a previous backup. I personally like to start fresh and I always choose to set it up as a new phone, but it's your choice.

21. You should now see the Cydia icon on the second page of applications on your iPhone. Congratulations, you just jailbreaked your iPhone 3G 3.1 with PwnageTool.

If you have any question or concern, please leave a comment.

How to Downgrade iPhone 3GS From Firmware 3.1 to 3.0

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated February 10, 2010

Saurik, the creator of Cydia, has come up with a way to downgrade the iPhone 3GS from firmware 3.1 to firmware 3.0. The method is not for the faint of heart but it can be a life saver if you accidentally upgraded your iPhone 3GS to 3.1. Saurik did a great job at explaining how and why this downgrade works and I invite you to read his article for detailed information. On my part, I will only give you a step by step on how to downgrade from 3.1 to 3.0.

1. First and foremost, you must have saved your ECID file through Cydia. If this was done, you should see the following message at the top of Cydia's homepage: This iPhone 3G[S] has an ECID SHSH on file.

2. Now we're going to duplicate the functionality exposed by Apple's signature server and trick iTunes into thinking it is connected to Apple's servers. Make sure you have iTunes 9 installed on your computer.

On a Mac, go to /etc/hosts. On a PC, go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. Open the file in a text editor and add the following entry at the bottom of the file: 74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com

Save the file and close it.

3. Now we have to put your iPhone into DFU mode. To do this, open iTunes, plug your iPhone and hold down the power and home buttons for 10 seconds, then let go of the power button but continue to hold the home button until iTunes recognizes the device with the message: "iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes." Your iPhone screen should be completely black. If you see an image on your screen, you most likely didn't perform the previous step correctly. Try again.

4. You can now do a "normal" restore to the 3.0 software. To do this, hold down the Option key (on Mac OS X) or the SHIFT key (Windows) while clicking the Restore button in iTunes. Select the firmware 3.0 (which can be downloaded here).

Theoretically, you should be done with the downgrade. That's just for the theory though... You're most likely going to get several errors.

If you get the "unknown error (3002)", it's because you probably don't have your ECID SHSH's for 3.0 on file with Cydia and it is unfortunately impossible to register your device with Cydia anymore. There is no solution, your iPhone can't be downgraded from 3.1 to 3.0 and you're gonna have to wait for a new jailbreak.

If you get the "The iPhone "iPhone" could not be restored. An unknown error occured (1015)" error, then re-do the process all over again. You will get the same error again and it is normal. Ignore the error and jailbreak your iPhone using RedSn0w.

I agree that this is definitely not the easiest way to downgrade your iPhone from firmware 3.1 to firmware 3.0, but you don't have much choice at this point. If you don't feel like taking on this project, I suggest you just wait for a proper 3.1 jailbreak, which may take days, weeks, or months. I am very confident that the jailbreak community is getting closer to a 3.1 jailbreak though.

If you have any tips and tricks to make this whole process smoother, or if you have any question, please leave a comment.

UPDATE: If you have an iPhone 3G, you can now downgrade from baseband 05.12.01 to o4.26.08.

Fixed: iPhone Stuck On Apple Logo

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 9, 2020

Sometimes when jailbreaking an iPhone or after installing a jailbreak app, your iPhone will get stuck on reboot, or will hang on the Apple logo. This problem happened to me before and it was kind of a nightmare. In order to get your iPhone back on track, you will have to put it in DFU mode (Device Firmware Update mode). This will help you restore your iPhone without loading the OS first.