Jailbreak iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Several users report that Apple started allowing iPod touch owners to upgrade to iPhone OS 3 for no charge.

The information initially comes from PocketGamer’s Tracy Erickson:

Syncing a second generation iPod touch today with an older version of the software prompted me to accept the free upgrade. How exciting.

Just as when asked to download and install the latest firmware on an iPhone, iTunes simply asks for confirmation – no signing in to pay for the software.

Sounds like free a good price for iPod touch 3.1.3 upgrade.

PS: Jailbreakers: think before updating – you might lose the ability to jailbreak your device if you upgrade the firmware.

Update: Several users confirmed the free update. However a number of users report that they are still asked to pay for the update.

It looks like Apple has started banning iPhone hackers from the iTunes App Store.

A few day ago Sherif Hashim, the iPhone developer and hacker, tweeted that he had found an exploit in the latest iPhone OS 3.1.3, which could enable the unlock on 05.12.01 baseband for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G. Yesterday he has been banned by Apple for the so called “security reasons”. It seems that Apple is quite angry! Here is what Sherif gets when he tries to access App Store from his iPhone:

Sherif Hashim’s Tweets:

“Your Apple ID was banned for security reasons”, that’s what i get when i try to go to the app store, they must be really angry ))))

and guess what my apple ID was, “sherif_hashim@yahoo.com”, what a fool was me not to notice )), can’t help laughing, they are babies ))

Another iPhone hacker named iH8sn0w, the developer of Sn0wbreeze (PwnageTool alternative for Windows), tweeted saying he was also banned by Apple right after he released an exploit known as XEMN:

@sherif_hashim lol, they did that to my ih8sn0wyday[@t]googmail.com too. (right after I posted XEMN)…

For now Apple isn’t banning Jailbreakers – they’re banning people who actively work to find exploits in the iPhone software to create Jailbreaks for the rest of us.

GeoHot recently posted a small message on twitter. He actually responds to many users who continue to ask him about the ability to run firmware 3.1.3 jailbreak using Blackra1n.

GeoHot has always been a bit reluctant to release new versions for various minor firmware updates. His advice is in fact once again to keep firmware 3.1.2, because the latest one does not have anything interesting.

GeoHot will be certainly back on the scene with the next release of firmware 3.2 in March / April or firmware 4.0 that is expected in July.

Sherif Hashim has discovered an exploit which may allow unlock of the latest iPhone OS 3.1.3 baseband 05.12.01. Such unlock utilities for previous baseband versions were called blacksn0w, ultrasn0w и and yellowsn0w. MuscleNerd, the member of DevTeam, has already confirmed it is working. So the timing of the unlcok release is totally up to them right now.

Here is an official update from DevTeam:

“We’ve started to look at his crash but it’s a long road between any given crash and a fully working unlock, and we couldn’t put an ETA on it even if we wanted to. It’s not even guaranteed that an working unlock will come from this particular crash — it’s just too early to tell.”

iPhone hacker Geohot, who created popular utilities blackra1n (jailbreak) and blacksn0w (unlock), posted a message on twitter about the new firmware 3.1.3 released by Apple:

Hopefully some vulnerability in the new firmware will be found.

Apple has just released new firmware 3.1.3 (7E18) for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, iPhone 2G, iPod touch, iPod touch 2G and iPod touch 3G.

The update includes:

• Improves accuracy of reported battery level on iPhone 3GS
• Resolves issue where third-party apps would not launch in some instances
• Fixes bug that may cause an app to crash when using the Japanese Kana keyboard
• Other security updates (more info)

So this is a minor update, which fixing only the accuracy of the 3GS battery meter and the stability of some third-party app launches. This update is avaliable via iTunes.

New firmware 3.1.3 also introduces a new version of the baseband, the 05.12.01. So if you need unlock do not update! DevTeam also warns us:

If you care about your jailbreak and unlock, don’t update your device – 3G and 3G(S) owners should pay particular attention to this warning.
PwnageTool and redsn0w are not yet compatible with 3.1.3

Experimenters show that the latest version of redsn0w 0.9.2 is able to jailbreak iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G and iPod touch 1G. Just point it at the 3.1.2 IPSW (download here) after doing update or restore to firmware 3.1.3. Sounds like DevTeam will release an updated version of redsn0w that will handle firmware 3.1.3 officially. They say iPod touch 2G with firmware 3.1.3 is also jailbreakable.

Users report that unlock software, blacksn0w and ultrasn0w, doesn;t work with the new baseband.

Redsn0w is a cross-platform jailbreaking tool for iPhone and iPod Touch. New version redsn0w 0.9.2 supports the latest firmware 3.1.2.

redsn0w 0.9.2 supports:

• All iPhones and iPod touches
• Windows and Mac OSX (x86)
• Apple firmwares 3.0 and 3.1.2

We expect to see Linux version quite soon.

If you need a carrier unlock, redsn0w will handle iPhone 2G by itself (by installing the BootNeuter utility). For the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS use Cydia after you’re jailbroken to install ultrasn0w (baseband 04.26) or blacksn0w (baseband 05.11).

If you have a late-model iPhone 3GS, or if you have an iPod touch 2G whose serial number begins with “MC” (newer than week 40 of last year), or any iPod touch 3G, you can use redsn0w to jailbreak but you are currently restricted to “tethered” rebooting. That means you need to connect your device to a computer each time you boot it – so just try no to reboot.

You can download the latest version of redsn0w here.

Redsn0w is a cross-platform jailbreaking, unlocking, and customizing tool for iPhone and iPod Touch. New version redsn0w 0.9b3 supports the latest firmware 3.1.2. The most recent release before this one was redsn0w 0.8, which targeted Apple firmware 3.0/3.0.1.

redsn0w 0.9 beta3 supports:

• All iPhones and iPod touches except the iPod touch 3G
• Windows and Mac OSX (x86)
• Apple firmwares 3.0-3.1.2

When it’s out of beta, it will support the iPod touch 3G, PPC OSX, and Linux.

If you need a carrier unlock, redsn0w will handle iPhone 2G by itself (by installing the BootNeuter utility). For the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS use Cydia after you’re jailbroken to install ultrasn0w (baseband 04.26) or blacksn0w (baseband 05.11).

If you have a late-model iPhone 3GS, or if you have an iPod touch 2G whose serial number begins with “MC” (newer than week 40 of last year), you can use redsn0w to jailbreak but you are currently restricted to “tethered” rebooting. That means you need to connect your device to a computer each time you boot it – so just try no to reboot.

You can download redsn0w 0.9b3 here.

MuscleNerd, the member of DevTeam, started working on a new version of redsn0w. The update will add support of the latest firmware 3.1.2:

Redsn0w is an easy to use, multi-platform, multi-device jailbreaking tool for the iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS (old iBoot) and iPod touch (first and second generation). It is available for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. You can download redsn0w utility here.

Geohot has released his BlackSn0w utility. BlackSn0w is an unlock for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. It supports the latest firmware 3.1 and 3.1.2 with baseband 05.11.07 and enables official tethering. Available for both Windows and Mac.

Here is a quick tutorial:
If you havn’t done the jailbreak: go to blackra1n.com, download blackra1n, run it, follow the instructions (it is really simple) to perform the jailbreak. Run balckra1n app on iPhone and install BlackSnow.
If your device is already jailbroken – run Cydia, add repository blackra1n.com and install blacksn0w. That’s it!

The latest version of blackra1n is RC3. It now has hacktivation support, 15 second speed improvement, Tiger+PPC support.

PS: If you just bought a new iPhone 3GS or have one that was made recently (approximately after 40th week after iPhone 3GS release): your device has a new BootROM. Unfortunately it is impossible to run regular jailbreak with this new BootROM. There is a sloution – tethered jailbreak. Everything including unlock will work fine. However every time you restart your iPhone, you need to plug it to a computer with blackra1n installed.