Jailbreak

Check out the most comprehensive jailbreaking coverage on the internet, including the latest news, apps, tweaks, and detailed tutorials about everything jailbreak.

China’s iPhone Carrier is Offering In-Store Jailbreaking

This is definitely going to make uncle Steve angry. TUAW reports that China Unicom is offering to jailbreak their customers iPhones directly from the very store they sell the devices from.

Apparently the staff will gladly hack the apparent iPhone 3GS devices (the iPhone 4 hasn't been released yet), or cut the SIM card down to fit the micro size on those who have opted to buy an iPhone 4 through alternative outlets. Some stores are even going as far as saying that they will show users how to download 3rd party applications. Wow. 

Try These Sites If You’re Having Issues With JailbreakMe

I usually leave it up to Sebastien to provide our loyal readers with the jailbreak information but I'll take the reigns this time. PMP Today has posted a couple of alternative sites for those wishing to jailbreak their iPhone after individuals claimed they were having difficulties performing the hack with JailbreakMe.

If you're among those experiencing troubles with the self titled URL, it is recommended that you try using jailbreakme.com/index.html or accessing the Canadian site of jailbreakme.ca to perform the process. If none of those work for you, you can always try what iDB reader Joe suggested by visiting jailbreakme.com/blob.html from your iPhone.

iPhone Fans: Play by the Rules and You Wont Get Wiped [Rant]

Thank Buddha it's Friday! With the weekend approaching it's also that special day of the week where yours truly vents about a recent story that rubbed me the wrong way. This weeks session is dedicated to a story we reported on regarding Apple's new patent that would enable them to remotely wipe your iPhone. You may be rolling your eyes but hear me out because I think a lot of you will be even more irritated by the spin I apply here...

Dev Team Confirms There Will Not Be a Jailbreak for iOS 4.0.2

The Dev Team confirmed earlier today in a blog post that they will not be releasing a jailbreak for iOS 4.0.2. The last jailbreak released was JailbreakMe, which allowed a quick and easy jailbreak directly from the Safari browser, taking advantage of a security hole in the way PDF documents were handled. The patch has now been fixed by Apple with the recent release of iOS 4.0.2.

Apple’s New Patent Filing Raises Concerns

Last week iDB reported that Apple had filed for a patent that would grant them the ability to remotely wipe and disable your iPhone. According to Mac Rumors the concerns surrounding this ability continue to grow.

The vagueness of the term "unauthorized user" combined with leery methods of detection have some users questioning the control this would give Cupertino. Facial recognition, heartbeat detection and fingerprint analysis are among the ways listed of identifying whomever is in control of the handheld in question...

Facebook Update Fixes Login Bug on Jailbroken iPhones

There is another update out for Facebook's iPhone application that apparently fixes a bug related to logging in from a jailbroken iPhone. Version 3.2.2 is out and ready to go in the update section in your App Store access zone.

Mashable adds that the update is said to include an announcement regarding the location based feature Places we reported about, which states that they are currently working on making the feature available to more countries (outside the US) soon.

Apparently when you click on the the icon from outside the US it announces that the feature will be coming to your region soon. The featured ability was said to be available for other countries but when released users could only see the check-ins of their friends.

I found it interesting that Facebook publicly catered to individuals who have jailbroken their devices. If you were amongst those experiencing the login difficulties please let us know if this update resolved your issue in the comment box below.

Why Would Apple Want to Remotely Access Your iPhone?

As usual Apple has been patent happy. Just as usual is the breakdown of what sometimes may be considered by outsiders as minimal or trivial. This isn't one of those times.

If you're the paranoid type, you just might want to check your peep-hole twice tonight. Mac Life has the entry and it reads:

Can I Buy A No Commitment iPhone 4? Apple Says No

This is odd. Like nearly every phone available, when the iPhone 4 was released you had the option of purchasing the device without any commitment to upgrade your AT&T contract. 9 to 5 Mac shows us a section from Apple's FAQ's that has them saying  you the device requires a 2-year wireless contract. Take a look at what it says.

Originally the contract free iPhone 4's were sold for $599-$699 without the AT&T subsidy. Apparently AT&T is saying that nothing on their end has changed, which has left some (including myself) wondering if this is because of the recent jailbreaking allowance granted by the U.S. Senate.

Have any of you recently bought a contract free iPhone 4? Or is this Apple's passive aggressive nature coming out in hopes to kill off buyers who jailbreak/unlock an iPhone and resell it for higher profits?

Justin “I’m a Mac” Long Has a Jailbroken iPhone

In what might be the biggest exposure Cydia has ever gotten, Justin Long showed off his jailbroken iPhone on Jimmy Kimmel Live Wednesday night. Long appeared before in a series of Apple commercials where he played "Mac" in the Mac vs. PC ads running from 2006 to 2009. The jailbroken app featured was TVOutTuner (available in the Cydia Store) which allows a user to display the content on their iPhone screen to their TV.

While no mention of Cydia (however at the end you can see the icon clearly) exists in the clip, the ability to display your phone's screen is not permitted by any of Apple's approved applications.

The once Apple spokesman showcased a series of text messages that were sent by an obvious teenager who had the wrong number. Justin played along with the youngster (apparently for months) by replying with assorted responses where he imitated the mangling of language. The clip goes on for 7 minutes but is a hilarious watch. Aside from good material, viewing the video will make a non-jailbreaker think twice about their stock device. Trust me.

Like many of your probably know, The U.S. Liberty of Congress declared you can legally jailbreak your iDevices. However the hacking and downloading of applications not approved by Apple could result in voiding your warranty. At least that's what Apple says.

Unofficial PwnageTool Jailbreak for iPhone 3GS iOS 4.0.2

PwnageTool, the famous jailbreak that helps cook custom firmwares, hasn't been updated by the Dev Team in a few weeks. Some hackers decided it was time to revive PwnageTool and released an unofficial version of it.

Since this is unofficial, I do not endorse or even recommend it. I'm just sharing the news with you. Now if you want to use it, do so at your own risks.

The steps to jailbreak your iPhone using PwnageTool remain the same but keep in mind this will only work for the iPhone 3GS (old bootrom only).

If my words haven't killed your motivation to use this unofficial version of PwnageTool, you can download it here. Please let us know what your impressions are by leaving a comment should you decide to give it a try.

[RP]

Dev Team Fixes What Apple Didn’t

The Dev Team wrote a blog post this morning telling they are working on a fix for iPhone 2G and iPod Touch 1G who were left out of yesterday's iOS update. Apple released iOS 4.0.2 to fix a PDF security hole that was used by JailbreakMe to jailbreak the iPhone. This security glitch could have also been exploited by malicious softwares, which explains why Apple was so quick to release a fix for it.

The problem is Apple completely denied support for older models like the original iPhone and iPod Touch. Even though Apple acknowledges the severity of the holes, they didn't deem it necessary patching them on these older iDevices.

This is where the Dev Team steps in. The jailbreak community had already developed a quick fix (PDF Loading Warner) but it was more of a safety net than anything else. According to the Dev Team, "Saurik has been burning the midnight oil coding a Cydia package that will fix the holes for all devices and all firmware versions (even going back to version 2.x!)."

UPDATE: PDF Patch is available in Cydia for free.

The fix will go through a short testing period and will then be available for download in Cydia. As I said earlier, JailbreakMe highlights the irony of jailbreaking. Apple has always claimed jailbreaking could expose your iPhone to safety risks. Today it proves that jailbreaking your iPhone is the best way to keep your iPhone safer, as Apple won't do it if you're still using an older iPhone or iTouch.

What do you think?

Jailbreak & Unlock iOS 4.0.2 on iPhone 3G

Those of you who own an iPhone 3G or an iPod Touch 2G (non-MC model) can jailbreak/unlock iOS 4.0.2. To jailbreak your iPhone 3G 4.0.2, you will have to use RedSn0w 0.9.5b5-5.

How to Jailbreak iPhone 3G iOS 4.0.2

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

Step 2: Download iOS 4 (not iOS 4.0.2) for iPhone 3G to your desktop from our iPhone downloads section.

Step 3: Update your iPhone to iOS 4.0.2 via iTunes.

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

Step 5: Point RedSn0w to the iOS 4 (not 4.0.2) 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.

How to Unlock iPhone 3G iOS 4.0.2

Since iOS 4.0.2 didn't update the iPhone baseband, you can still use UltraSn0w to unlock your iPhone.

Step 1: Jailbreak your iPhone using the method described above.

Step 2: Go to Cydia and search for UltraSn0w. If it’s not there, you might have to add the following repo: repo666.ultrasn0w.com

Step 3: Install UltraSn0w.

Step 4: Reboot your iPhone.

Tell us how it goes for you by leaving a comment below.

[Thanks Bruce for the tip]