3.0

iPhone to Me: Update Me, Goddam It!

It seems that having an iPhone still running on OS 3.0 is getting more and more complicated. I've managed to avoid updating to the latest firmware for several reasons but it's now catching up with me.

There are several applications I wanted to install from the App Store but it didn't allow me to because it required at least firmware 3.1.

I haven't updated since 3.0 because I didn't want to lose my jailbreak/unlock. I realize that I could just use a custom cooked 3.1.2 firmware or even use BlackRa1n but I won't for 3 reasons.

I don't want to use BlackRa1n. It reportedly sucks. Many were successful with it, but it seems even more people were having issues. I don't want to use a cooked firmware right now because I am currently traveling around the world with a small netbook and I really don't have the time for that. I believe iPhone OS 3.1.3 will be available in a month or so and I might just wait for the Dev Team to come up with a jailbreak/unlock for it and update at this time.

I tried installing FWchanger again to fake my firmware version but it doesn't work very well, and it even messed up a few things on my iPhone. I guess I'll have to live without these apps I wanted to install...

What firmware are you on?

How to Enable MMS on iPhone OS 3.0 or 3.0.1

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 Downgrade iPhone 3GS From Firmware 3.1 to 3.0

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.

Undocumented Feature Spotted in iPhone OS 3.0

One thing that makes me like an airport right away is free wifi. Although 3G speed is great on the iPhone, I still think it doesn't compare to wifi.

As my fiancée and I were flying out of San Diego yesterday, I used my iPhone to go online to tweet, read the news and do some last minute emailing.

I know that San Diego's airport has free wifi but I kinda forgot about it. I took my iPhone and launched the mail.app, which immediately returned the following screen asking me to agree to the TOS.

It's a little detail but I don't think it ever was documented. On 2.x, whenever you were connecting your iPhone to a free Internet access requiring you to agree to some TOS, you first had to open Safari and agree to the TOS from there.

Now you can do that directly from inside the app that needs Internet access.

As I said above, it's a detail but it just makes life a little easier.

Tutorial: Jailbreak iPhone 3GS Using RedSn0w

This guide and tutorial will show you how to jailbreak your iPhone 3GS using RedSn0w. After jailbreaking your iPhone 3GS, you will be able to unlock it using UltraSn0w should you want to.

Note that this tutorial is for the iPhone 3GS but the steps are the same for the iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G. Read this for more information about the jailbreak that best fits your needs. This was done on a PC but I assume the steps are the same for Mac and Linux.

Jailbreak iPhone 3GS Guide:

1. First, make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed on your computer. If you have to update iTunes, make sure you restart your computer after installing the latest iTunes.

2. On your desktop, create a folder called "jailbreak iPhone 3GS" or whatever you want to call it. In this folder, download firmware 3.0 for your iPhone 3GS and RedSn0w 0.8 from here. Unzip the RedSn0w folder.

3. Launch RedSn0w and browse for the 3.0 firmware you downloaded in the previous step. RedSn0w should be processing the chosen firmware and tell you that the IPSW was "successfully identified". Click Next.

4. RedSn0w will start working for a few seconds and then will ask you what you would like to install. You can install Cydia and Icy. I highly suggest you only install Cydia. Choose Cydia and click Next.

5. We'll now have to connect the iPhone 3GS in recovery mode. To do so, unplug it from your computer, turn it off and wait a few seconds. Then hold the home button while plugin your iPhone to the USB cable. Keep holding the home button until the "Connect to iTunes" image appears.

6. Your iPhone will then go into recovery mode and that's when the magic happens... RedSn0w will install the jailbreak, which may take a few minutes.

7. Your iPhone will restart and install a bunch of stuff. . Even though RedSn0w says "Done!", wait until the very end to click "Finish".

8. After a few minutes, your iPhone will restart. Then click "Finish".

9. Go to your iPhone springboard and you should see the Cydia icon. Note that the icon may be on the second or third page on your springboard.

10. Done!

It took me about 10 minutes to jailbreak my iPhone 3GS, including time to take screenshots and write this tutorial. It was from far the quickest and most painless jailbreak.

RedSn0w Jailbreak For iPhone 3GS Is Out

The Dev Team quietly updated RedSn0w to version 0.8, which allows you to jailbreak the iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and the iPod Touch 2G.

The main features of RedSn0w 0.8 are:

a stable jailbreak (unlike PurpleRa1n) Cydia and Icy are now fully compatible UltraSn0w compatible Mobile Substrate and WinterBoard working well

That's interesting that the Dev Team decided to finally release their iPhone 3GS jailbreak when they said just about a week ago that they wanted to wait for Apple to release 3.1 before making RedSn0w public. I guess they were emulated by the release of PurpleRa1n and needed to prove the iPhone world that they are the original iPhone hackers.

You can get RedSn0w 0.8 from our downloads page and read the RedSn0w iPhone 3GS jailbreak tutorial I wrote.

Unlock Your iPhone 3GS With PurpleRa1n And UltraSn0w

Since the release of PurpleRa1n, the first iPhone 3GS jailbreak, you are now able to unlock your iPhone 3GS.

To do so, you first have to jailbreak your iPhone with PurpleRa1n (see PurpleRa1n tutorial), and then, simply install UltraSn0w from Cydia.

It's that simple! Note that even though PurpleRa1n got an update, it's still a little buggy.

Dev Team Demos iPhone 3GS UltraSn0w Jailbreak

Shortly after GeoHot released his PurpleRa1n jailbreak, the Dev Team posted a video showing a jailbroken iPhone 3GS running the UltraSn0w unlock.

Our ultrasn0w program uses the at+xlog crash as an injection vector of our unlocking payload — and it does so on the 3GS in exactly the same way as on the 3G! But this injection vector will be lost if you update to 3.1 using the official Apple IPSW, which updates the baseband. So stay away from official 3.1 IPSWs until we release the tools that let you update the firmware without updating the baseband.

The Dev Team is still waiting on the OS 3.1 update to release its jailbreak.

iPhone 3GS Jailbreak With PurpleRa1n

Not even a week after showing solid proofs of a successful iPhone 3GS jailbreak, GeoHot officially released PurpleRa1n, a tool to jailbreak the iPhone 3GS. The Dev Team planned to release their 3GS jailbreak after the OS 3.1 update but GeoHot just couldn't wait.

Normally I don't make tools for the general public, and rather wait for the dev team to do it. But guys, whats up with waiting until 3.1? That isn't how the game is played. We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn't worth waiting because you might have the "last" hole in the iPhone. What last hole...this isn't golf. I'll find a new one next week. Also your purplera1nyday files ensure that you can always get back to a jailbroken state, so if you have it it's just a matter of tools.

Before going through a short PurpleRa1n tutorial, there are a few things you need to know:

This is a beta release with some major hiccups. It is not stable at all. PurpleRa1n only works with 32 Bit Windows XP SP2 works fine on Windows and Mac You must have the latest version of iTunes installed The jailbreak is incomplete and many apps won't work (ie WinterBoard)

Jump the break to read the full tutorial.

Prepare Your iPhone 3GS For Jailbreak

The Dev Team posted a message yesterday suggesting that iPhone 3GS owners should prepare their device for jailbreak.

Remember we warned you to stay away from any updates to 3.1 if you want to be able to jailbreak or unlock your 3GS.

Well this is an additional message to all you 3GS owners that would like to jailbreak your device sometime soon, but this advice comes with a warning! A warning that if you accidentally upgrade to 3.1, you will not be able to use Ultransn0w, so please re-read and double check this warning at the bottom of this post before proceeding.

During the restore process iTunes nicely keeps these oh-so-top-secret-files in a lovely accessible place for us to copy out and backup, that place?  /tmp on Mac OS X or %TEMP% on Windows.  Thanks Apple — handy!

The downside to this approach is that you actually need to go through the restore process to get these signed files, which has risks if you are anywhere near 3.1 or 3.1 beta :-)

Jump the break for instructions on how to get the iBEC and iBSS of your iPhone 3GS.

How to Enable MMS on the iPhone 2G

There is a new simple hack that allows owners of a first gen iPhone to enable MMS on their iPhone 2G. Your iPhone has to be jailbroken to enable MMS. If you don't know how to jailbreak your iPhone, please read this.

Now go to Cydia and look for the application called ActivateMMS2G from the iSpazio source. Install and reboot your iPhone and bingo!

Very important: this hack only works on OS 3.0 and 3.0.1. Do not install on 2.X or 3.1. Thanks @Stilgar702 for the tip!

Dev Team Delays the Release of the iPhone 3GS Jailbreak

As I predicted in a post I wrote earlier today about the future iPhone 3GS jailbreak, the Dev Team officially announced that it will hold on on the release of the iPhone 3GS jailbreak.

The reason is simple. Apple is most likely coming up with 3.0.1 firmware very soon. Releasing the jailbreak would basically allow Apple to figure out what exploit the Dev Team used to jailbreak the 3GS and fix it.

Once the jailbreak is out, Apple will fix the iBoot-family bug we use to accomplish it.  They will simply stop signing the old iBoots and only sign the fixed ones.  If you bought your phone after Apple has done this, there’s nothing you can do…the jailbreak isn’t going to work for you.

It is possible that Apple will find the bug we use without our handing it to them on a silver platter (via a public jailbreak).  In that case, we will have delayed our jailbreak for “nothing”.  But we’d rather be safe than sorry!

Apple is surely coming out with a 3.0.1 firmware release shortly. They need to fix ultrasn0w.  They need to fix some UI issues.  3.0 is buggy and 3.0.1 is coming.  We’re going to wait and see what 3.0.1 brings before figuring out the release date for our version of the jailbreak.

Hopefully, Apple will release 3.0.1 soon and won't find the bug used to jailbreak the iPhone 3GS. Cross your fingers!