iPhone

Stay up-to-date on the latest iPhone news and learn new tips and tricks with our comprehensive tutorials. From software updates to new features, we’ve got you covered.

BlackSn0w is the New iPhone Unlock

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated February 5, 2016

There is good news for those of you who accidentally updated their iPhone to firmware 3.1.2 in iTunes and updated the baseband to 05.11.07. After being offered a bounty of $10,000, GeoHot started working on BlackSn0w, an unlock for the iPhone 3.1.2 baseband 05.11.07, and it seems he's getting closer to finding a solution.

In a blog post titled "A Heap of Trouble", GeoHot posted the following image:

If you zoom in the image, you can read this:

hello there, this is geohot this is the most complicated injection i have ever done, and it uses a public command … prepare for blacksn0w, although i gotta still figure out this zamboni

GeoHot said on Twitter that BlackSn0w is still ways away so don't expect it to be released tonight.

When I see how shaky BlackRa1n is, I will probably stay away from BlackSn0w and I will patiently wait for the Dev Team to release an update to UltraSn0w. That's just me though.

Are you eager to get your hands on BlackSn0w? Will you use BlackSn0w, or like me, will you wait for the Dev Team to release their own iPhone unlock?

Tutorial: Jailbreak Your iPhone With BlackRa1n RC2

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

GeoHot came up yesterday with an updated version of BlackRa1n called BlackRa1n RC2. This new release supposedly fixes a bunch of issues that some of you may have encountered, especially while trying to jailbreak an iPhone 3G.

This step-by-step guide and tutorial will show you how to use BlackRa1n RC2 to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod Touch, either on a Mac or a PC. This works for all iDevices, except for the iPod Touch 3G. This tutorial was made using an iPhone 3GS but again, it should work on all devices except the iPT3G.

I already wrote a BlackRa1n tutorial and the steps are identical but a few people emailed me or tweeted me asking to write a tutorial for BlackRa1n RC2.

Before we start, you have to understand that BlackRa1n is a jailbreak and jailbreak only. BlackRa1n will not unlock your iPhone. As a matter of fact, if you want to unlock your iPhone, do not use BlackRa1n as it will update the baseband and make it impossible to unlock for the time being.

If you want to unlock your iPhone, I suggest you use PwnageTool. PwnageTool will help you create a custom IPSW that won't update your baseband, thus allow you to unlock using UltraSn0w.

How to jailbreak your iPhone with BlackRa1n RC2:

Jailbreak iPhone 3.1.2

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 3, 2009

Since the release of OS 3.1.2 last week, there has been a friendly competition to release a jailbreak for the iPhone 3.1.2. GeoHot was the first to release the iPhone 3.1.2 jailbreak called BlackRa1n, followed by the Dev Team and their PwnageTool.

If I can make a suggestion, do not use BlackRa1n. It is buggy and unstable. PwnageTool is much more stable and "clean".

This article is a summary of the options you have to jailbreak your iPhone 3.1.2 depending on your model.

Unlock iPhone 3.1.2

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 3, 2009

With every new firmware comes a new unlock. Once again, it only took the Dev Team a few days to release an update to their PwnageTool and UltraSn0w to bring a safe and reliable iPhone 3.1.2 unlock.

This article is a summary of the different options you have to unlock your iPhone, iPhone 3G, or iPhone 3GS running 3.1.2.

BlackRa1n is the New iPhone and iPod Touch Jailbreak

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

We already knew that GeoHot was up to something but we now have confirmation that he is this close to release a new jailbreaking tool called BlackRa1n.

First, he wrote a short blog post titled "I'm just going to leave this here". The post has no text besides the title and shows what could be mistaken for an iPhone running a bunch of codes that most of us wouldn't understand. Well, it's not an iPhone. It's an iPod Touch 3G. You can tell by simply looking at the location of the image, which reveals its name: ipt3_jailbroken.JPG. You can also tell by zooming in the image.

What does this mean? Well, this is a teaser to tell us that he has successfully jailbroken the iPod Touch 3G, which could be considered as the hardest device to jailbreak these days. And from what I understand, he's using the same exploit on both the iTouch 3G and the iPhone 3GS. According to this tweet, he's pretty much done with these 2 devices and will now get to work on the 4 others, which shouldn't take too long.

GeoHot also gave us 2 interesting clues about the name of his new jailbreak. First, he said his new website was up, asking who could find it. Then he gave it all away by saying that "black is the new purple". Have you connected the dots yet? His last jailbreak was called PurpleRa1n. If black is the new purple, then his new jailbreak is BlackRa1n (see BlackRa1n.com).

We still don't know exactly when to expect BlackRa1n to be available but according to GeoHot's own ETA, it should be sometimes today. One thing is sure though, I will be refreshing GeoHot's Twitter page like a maniac for the next 12 hours.

This BlackRa1n jailbreak will be a huge release for many of us jailbreakers, especially those stuck at 3.1. Are you one of them?

UPDATE: BlackRain has been released. Refer to the following tutorials:

BlackRa1n RC1 tutorial BlackRa1n RC2 tutorial BlackRa1n RC3 tutorial BlackSn0w unlock tutorial

iPhone 3GS 3.1 Jailbreak Coming Soon

Sébastien Page ∙ October 1, 2009

It seems that the Dev Team finally managed to jailbreak OS 3.1 for the iPhone 3GS! Dev Team member cpich3g tweeted the following info earlier today:

3gs 3.0 pwned->3.1 pwned. Props to Musclenerd, Wizdaz and thanks Bumble-Bee & ToddJG for testing. tinyurl.com/y8sr4p3 tinyurl.com/y8z277l

The 2 links take you to screenshots (see image above) showing firmware 3.1 running along with baseband 04.26.08. In other words, it means that they managed to jailbreak 3.1 without updating the baseband, which means that the iPhone 3GS can also be unlocked using UltraSn0w.

So what's next? I guess the Dev Team will write an official post on their blog soon to announce the iPhone 3GS jailbreak for OS 3.1. Then they will most likely release an update of PwnageTool and UltraSn0w.

Of course, I will post more info as it becomes available.

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.

What’s With These iPhone Voicemail Delays?

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated September 24, 2009

It all started last week when I got a phone call from my dentist's secretary. The first thing she asked was if I had listened to the voicemail she had left me the day before. I hadn't seen any voicemail and I really thought she actually never left a voicemail in the first place. I didn't think about it anymore until the next day, when I received her voicemail as well as a few others that were from the last 5 days.

Apparently my iPhone is not delivering voicemails on time anymore, which is not a big deal to me as I am not much of a phone person, but it can be extremely important to businesses, and it can even be vital for people. I looked around on Twitter and it seems that a few people are experiencing the problem too.

It's not really clear where the problem is from as it appears on jailbroken and non jailbroken iPhones as well. Apparently it started after 3.0. I haven't installed 3.1 yet so I don't know if this has been fixed or not. I'm not even sure it's a firmware problem. I'd rather think that the problem is from AT&T but I'm not positive about that.

--- UPDATE ---

There is a fix for this. Please read my article called how to fix iPhone's visual voicemail delays.

As usual in these cases, one of the first things to do is to reset all settings and maybe even restore. I'm not going to go as far as restoring my iPhone but you may want to consider this option if you find the voicemail delays annoying.

Have you guys experienced such problem? If so, do you know where it might come from?

Everything You Need to Know About iPhone OS 3.1

Sébastien Page ∙ September 9, 2009

As I predicted, Apple unveiled today iPhone OS 3.1, and you know what? There is not much to it! It seems to me all this event was actually kinda disappointing but that's what happens when you expect too much...

If you're a jailbreaker, do not update your iPhone to 3.1 as it will wipe out everything and worst of all, you may not be able to jailbreak or unlock in the future.

Apple also announced the release of iTunes 9 and it is nice to notice that it is safe to update iTunes to 9.0. It won't affect jailbreakers or unlockers in any way.

Now if you used the tethering hack to tether your iPhone for free, you may not want to update your iPhone to 3.1 as we've seen mixed results. Some people report that the tethering hack is working fine after updating to 3.1. Some other report that it breaks the hack. Let's wait and see.

Here is the list of features that come with iPhone OS 3.1:

Improved syncing for music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and photos iTunes U content organization Redeem iTunes Gift Cards, codes, and certificates in the App Store Display available iTunes account credits in the App Store and iTunes Store Save video from Mail and MMS into Camera Roll Option to Save as new clip when trimming a video on iPhone 3GS Better iPhone 3G Wi-Fi performance when Bluetooth is turned on Remotely lock iPhone with passcode via MobileMe Use Voice COntrol on iPhone 3GS with Bluetooth headsets Paste phone numbers into the keypad Option to use Home button to turn on accessibility features on iPhone 3GS Warn when visiting fraudulent websites in Safari (anti-phishing) Improved Exchange calendar syncing and invitation handling Fixes issue that cause some app icons to display incorrectly

As you can see, there is no word about battery improvement. I guess Apple didn't deem consider this as an issue.

All the 3.1 firmwares as well as iTunes 9 are available from our downloads page.

Needless to say that there is no jailbreak yet for iPhone 3.1. I will keep you updated and write tutorials on how to jailbreak iPhone 3.1 as it becomes available.

If you have noticed anything new in 3.1, please feel free to report it by leaving a comment below.

My iPhone is Crippling Me

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

I use my iPhone all day. From the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep, I probably have my iPhone in my hand for at least 3-4 hours. That includes reading the news several times throughout the day, replying to urgent emails, Twittering, etc... I guess it's worth noting that I rarely use my iPhone as a phone. I am not much of a phone guy.

For the last few months, I've noticed a slight pain in my right hand (the hand I use to hold my iPhone). It's getting to the point where I had to buy a wrist brace, which helps a lot but doesn't solve the problem.

This will sound a little intense to the casual iPhone user but I'm sure (I hope) some of you will have the same problem. If so, what are you doing about it?

TomTom for iPhone Now Available in the App Store

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

After making its debuts in New Zealand, Australia, and Europe, the TomTom iPhone app is finally available for download in the App Store.

TomTom for iPhone doesn't come for cheap though... Priced at $99, this fully featured turn-by-turn GPS system is more expensive than some dedicated GPS units. At least TomTom doesn't require you to get a $10/month subscription fee like AT&T NAvigator.

There is still no word about the TomTom Car Adapter Kit but I suppose it will be available soon.

I haven't tried the TomTom app myself yet and I'm still wondering if it's really worth it compared to the $35 competitor CoPilot Live. I guess I will wait for a while and read more reviews to figure out what seems to be the best GPS out there.

Download Links:

TomTom US & Canada - $99.99 TomTom Western Europe - $139.99 TomTom Australia - $79.99 TomTom New Zealand - $94.99

If you've already tried the TomTom for iPhone application, please leave a comment below and tell us what you think.