Now that the dust is starting to settle after the return of Steve, we would like to take a moment and issue another friendly reminder to all of you who currently using an unlocked iPhone 3G or the 3GS – do not install the iPhone 3.1 update via iTunes. You will lose your unlock and it may be permanent as Dev Team’s MuscleNerd stated on Twitter earlier today:

3G+3GS unlockers..you must not update to official 3.1! unlock needs pre-hacked 3.1 with 04.26.08

So what does that mean, well like I mentioned earlier do not update via iTunes. You must first hack the 3.1 software to include modem firmware 04.26.08. If this confuses you, please do not attempt to unlock your phone until an easier way is released.

We here at TiPb are wondering, what about iTunes? Have any of you with unlocked iPhones updated to iTunes 9.0? Let us know how it went in the comments!

As always, be safe out there, as we are not responsible if you blow up your iPhone.

*If you have questions regarding unlocking please visit our iPhone Jailbreak and Unlock forum.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone OS 3.1 and Unlocking Don’t Mix Well: Yet…

It was just this past Thursday that the Dev Team updated their software unlock, ultrasn0w, to version .09. While this update seems to have eliminated most of the issues some users were experiencing, the Dev Team have been nice enough to post some pro tips for unlocking your iPhone 3G/3GS with ultrasn0w .09. The following are just a few:

• Unusual battery depletion is almost always caused by people choosing to “Restore from backup” instead of “Setup as new iPhone” when iTunes asks you. This isn’t caused by either the jailbreak or the unlock, but it’s a common 3.0 snafu. The fix is to just re-run the official 3.0 restore and choose “Setup as new” this time. Your music and apps and all that will still be synced, but you’ll get rid of any conflicting wifi, bluetooth, or carrier settings. Then just re-run redsn0w and install ultrasn0w.
• T-Mobile in the USA doesn’t use the 3G frequencies that the iPhones support, so turn off 3G in Settings->General->Network. (Some T-Mobile territories gracefully hand down to Edge mode, but most do not).

So there you have it folks, two very important tips for the unlockers of the world. We here at TiPb can not stress exactly how important that first tip really is to “Setup as new iPhone” within iTunes while restoring your device. Not doing so can and will create issues for you somewhere along the way.

For the full list of tips, swing by the Dev Teams blog.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Dev Team Pro Tips for iPhone Unlockers

In the past 24 hours we have seen major updates to not one but two software unlocks for the iPhone 3GS. Who says competition isn’t a good thing and who doesn’t love a good old fashion hacker fight? Let’s get it on:

In the red corner we have George Hotz along with his fresh version of purplesn0w RC2.

• 3G(the network speed) issues fixed
• Now only patches one file, CommCenter
• Leaves no traces on your baseband after it runs.
• Much more clean and reliable.

In the blue corner we have the iPhone Dev Team. And since Hotz released his source code, his competition used it to create their latest version of ultrasn0w .09.

• Works on both 3G and 3GS
• Doesn’t patch any mach-o binary whatsoever. (Doesn’t require a separate patch as each new firmware comes out).
• Has no race conditions, no popups about “Missing SIM”, no network issues
• Is almost 7000 times smaller than its nearest competition

So there you have it – two software unlocks for your iPhone 3GS and one update for your iPhone 3G unlock. You have to credit George Hotz for stepping his game up when the Dev Team has been dragging their feet. It really seems to have sparked up a good rivalry that we can all benefit from.

There is one major question though, how do you score the match?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Ultimate iPhone Hacker Championship: Purplesn0w vs Ultrasn0w

Three of the most popular tools on the scene have been updated to be fully compatible with the iPhone 3GS: The Dev Teams software unlock – ultrasn0w, their jailbreak software – redsn0w (via torrent for Windows, Mac, Linux), and saurik’s popular iPhone theming tool, Winterboard (via Cydia).

Two hours ago saurik twittered the following:

The newly released 0.9.2958 versions of MobileSubstrate and WinterBoard (upgraded to support ARM7/Thumb2) should now work on the iPhone 3GS

That was followed by a quick tweet from the Dev Team:

Released: redsn0w 0.8 (incl. 3GS, hactivate, linux) http://is.gd/1pRlV . Ultrasn0W 0.8 (incl. 3GS support) (see Cydia).

So it looks like purplera1n forced the Dev Team to respond by finally releasing their jailbreak software. Good news for all of you iPhone 3GS owners out there today, now you have two jailbreak solutions for your iPhone 3GS. Which will you choose?

For more jailbreak discussion be sure to check out TiPb’s Jailbreak Central.

Update: The Dev Team have updated their blog since the release of the new software, for more information on why they decided to release it and more check it out!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Ultrasn0w, Redsn0w, and Winterboard Get iPhone 3GS Compatible

The illustrious iPhone Dev-Team says that the 24Kpwn techniques, originally developers as part of the iPod touch 2G jailbreak efforts, look like they just might work on the iPhone 3GS as well!

This is great news, but how did it happen? Why didn’t Apple fix this in their normal cat&mouse fashion? Well it seems this bootrom was cut in about the August 2008 timeframe, so the unintended early reveal of 24Kpwn earlier this year didn’t affect the iPhone 3GS

They’re also confident that the recently released ultrasn0w unlock will work on the iPhone 3GS once they get the jailbreak up and running.

No word on a time table for all this yet, but would-be jailbreakers keep them fingers crossed…!

(And for those still itching to customize the iPhone 3G, Jeremy now has full redsn0w jailbreak and ultrasn0w unlock guides up for both Mac OS X and Windows PCs)

[Thanks to XM_JDM in the TiPb iPhone Forums for catching this!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Dev-Team – iPhone 3GS Jailbreak Possible via 24Kpwn, Unlock via ultrasn0w?

Engadget Mobile brings word that the iPhone Dev-Team has shown off a working Jailbreak and Unlock — now dubbed UltraSn0w — via Qik video.

The Jailbreak and Unlock should be available on Friday, though TiPb’s guess is it may not work on the new iPhone 3G S, since it took 6 months to unlock the iPhone 3G via yellowsn0w and longer for the 2nd generation iPod touch via redSn0w. We’ll likely know more when the Dev-Team gets some quality time with the new hardware and figures out what, if any, new cats Apple has brought for the mice to game…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone Dev-Team Shows Off iPhone 3.0 Jailbreak and “UltraSn0w” Unlock