Note: This tutorial is for iPhone 3G and MAC users only. Windows users subscribe to my blog or follow me on Twitter, so that I can give you a heads up when the windows jailbreak tool(Redsn0w) for 3.1 is out!
1. Create a folder named Pwnage on your desktop. In that folder download the following files
i) Pwnage 3.1: Download it from here - http://foskarulla.com/PwnageTool_3.1.dmg or http://iphone.h4ck.org.il/PwnageTool_3.1.dmg
ii)iPhone 3G 3.1 firmware: Download it from here – Link.
(Please use firefox instead of safari if not it will be downloaded as a zip file)
2) Mount PwnageTool 3.1 by double clicking PwnageTool_3.1.dmg and drag the PwnageTool icon that opens up, into the Pwnage folder.Then from the Pwnage folder double-click PwnageTool application.
3) Select “Expert Mode” from the top menu bar.
4) Select your iPhone (In this case iPhone 3G) and click the blue button to continue.
5) Now browse for the IPSW file. Remember you downloaded it in Pwnage folder. (In some cases it may automatically be found).
Click on the IPSW file, if you do it right, a green check mark will appear next to it. Now click the blue button to continue.
6) On the following screen you will see 7 different options.
Inside General settings DO NOT CHECK ‘Activate the phone’ option. Repeat: If you are using an iPhone 3G, irrespective of whether you are on official carrier or not, you always need to make sure that the option is UNCHECKED.
Increase the size of the root partition slightly. To about 695 MB. Then click blue button.
Skip the Bootneuter settings by just clicking the blue button.
You will then be taken to Cydia settings where you can create custom packages so you don’t have to manually install them later.
Select the Download packages tab. Then click the Refresh button to display all the available packages. Double click the package that you want to download in order to make it available in the Select Packages list.
In the Select Packages tab, check the packages you want and click the blue arrow button.
On the following Custom Packages Settings screen. Leave all the settings as it is and click the blue arrow button.
You will then reach the boot logo settings. Just skip this step and click the blue button.
7) On the following screen click the “build” button to start the pwnage process (i.e build your own IPSW file).
8 ) Save the custom firmware(IPSW file) in Pwnage folder on the desktop (which you created in step 1) and wait for about 15 mins for it to be built.
9) Enter your administrator password.
10) Whether or not your iPhone has been pwned before just select NO on the next screen.
11) Keep your iPhone connected to your mac and switch it off, when indicated.
12) Now the part where you have to pay rapt attention and follow directions to enter DFU mode.
i) Hold the home and power buttons for 10 seconds.
ii)Release the power button and hold the home button for 10 seconds.
On doing this you will get a notification that reads successfully entered DFU (recovery) mode.
13) In iTunes, hold the Alt/Option key and click restore simultaneously. A new window will open where you can select the CUSTOM firmware that you built in step 7.
14) Browse to the Pwnage folder on your desktop.Select iPhone1,2_3.1_7C144_Custom_Restore.ipsw file and click the choose button. (REMEMBER: you have to choose CUSTOM IPSW in this step)
15) iTunes will then restore your iPhone 3G using the custom firmware in about 15 minutes.
16) You will then get the option of setting up your iPhone either as a new phone or restoring from backup.
17) Now just restart your iPhone and you will find cydia on your springboard. Hurray you are done :)
NOTE: Once you are done jailbreaking, you can unlock your iPhone 3.1 using ultrasn0w to use any carrier! Here is the tutorial – Link
{ 158 comments… read them below or add one }
i live in brazil, and after doing the pwnage i got no carrier signal, i’ve a iphone 3g and the carrier is vivo
any idea of what i need to do to get signal?
@jonh If I am not wrong vivo is the official carrier for iPhone in Brazil. If that’s true, did u by any chance in step 6 , Check(Tick) on activate iPhone.
If you did Check on activate then please re-run the pwnage again and make sure that this time around you DONT check the ACTIVATE iPhone option (as it is supposed to be selected only if you are NOT on an official carrier).
Hi Rohit good to see that you are helping the iPhone community again. In step 16 should I set my iPhone as a new phone or restore from backup
@carol Cheers! It’s always better to set up your iPhone as new after jailbreaking it. So that you can install cydia apps one by one and see if there is any particular app causing crashes after the new jailbreak. To be frank I recommend this because I am more of a neat freak :). But YES restoring from backup wont cause any harm.
Thanks for the tutorial mate. It worked flawlessly.
@stevemania am glad that it worked for you :)
Just a quick compliment to you for producing the clearest, most easy to understand instructions for iphone users out that I’ve ever seen…. and trust me I’ve been searching a lot over the past few months! Bravo!
Now for my “stupid” question (iPhone 3G 3.0, AT&T, MAC): I want to ditch AT&T and switch to T-mobile since they offer much cheaper rate plans. What all do I need to do/install? I’m not sure which tools – pwnage, redsn0w, yellowsn0w I need or why. Could you explain or give me and others I suspect an overview of what each of these tools are supposed to do for iPhone users? A link is fine too…
Thanks again!
@Troy Thanks for the compliment mate. Really appreciate it! If you want to ditch AT&T and switch to T-mobile
You will first need to jailbreak your iPhone using Pwnage tool if you are a mac user. (There is another tool called redsn0w which works for both windows and mac users). As of now only the Pwnagetool for 3.1 is out. Windows users need to wait for the latest redsn0w.
Assuming that you already have jailbroken your iPhone using the above pwnage tutorial, all you need to do now is go to cydia and install ultrasn0w. ultrasn0w is the unlock tool i.e it unlocks your iPhone so that you can use a different carrier like t-mobile instead of AT&T.
(Dont worry about Yellowsn0w it’s a thing of the past)
Once you are done jailbreaking you can follow this tutorial
http://www.digitalmarketingtalk.com/iphone/how-to-unlock-iphone-3g-30-using-ultrasn0w/ to unlock your iPhone and use T-mobile.
And even fast replies….. amazing! Ok, I think I got it but just one more thing. Should I upgrade to 3.1 before jailbreaking or stay with 3.0?
No! Do not upgrade to 3.1 directly from iTunes.
If you really want to upgrade then follow the instructions in this post wherein a custom ipsw(firmware) is created and used to restore/update your iPhone.
If you do it directly from iTunes you will never ever be able to unlock i.e you wont be able to use T-mobile or any other carrier.
If you are not particularly interested in 3.1 firmware and just want to be able to use t-mobile. Then your safest and best bet would be to Stay on 3.0 firmware and use redsn0w to jailbreak
Here’s the tutorial to jailbreak on 3.0 http://www.digitalmarketingtalk.com/iphone/how-to-jailbreak-30-using-redsnow-for-windows/
Once you are done jailbreaking 3.0, unlock your iPhone using this guide
http://www.digitalmarketingtalk.com/iphone/how-to-unlock-iphone-3g-30-using-ultrasn0w/
After unlocking you can straight away use T-mobile sim.
Please help! Winterboard and intelliscreen keeps crashing ever since jailbreak 3.1.
Yea many are having this problem after jailbreaking to 3.1 firmware. I installed winterboard and my iPhone starting running fine. I can make do without winterboard since I am happy about 3.1 mms.
sorry I meant I uninstalled winterboard and everything started working fine.
@cartwheel @snowflake am sure there will be a winterboard update and the problem will be fixed
Hey quick question, when unlocking do i put my T-mob sim in the phone and turn off 3g prior to running cydia
@Ankit This thread should solve all your t-mobile unlock problems :)
http://modmyi.com/forums/unlocking-activation/644421-t-mobile-unlocked-using-ultrasn0w-cant-make-receive-calls-send-texts.html
Hey sorry let me be a little more clear. I have an iphone 3g with version 3.1 (7C144) and Modem Firmware: 05.11.07. Ok so, i jail broke using your method above, seemed fine after it restarted. inserted my t-mobile sim and turned off 3g. connected to wifi, opened cydia and followed DevTeam’s procedure for ultrasn0w and restarted like instructed but now the phone just keeps searching for a network. Can someone please help me? First time unlocking iphone.
@Ankit Before following the tutorial, had you upgraded to 3.1 firmware using itunes directly?
That’s the reason why your modem firmware is 5.11.07.
Phone OS 3.1 update consists of two parts: update for iPhone OS and an update for modem firmware (from 04.26.08 in iPhone OS 3.0 to 05.11.07).
PwnageTool(Used in this tutorial) allows users to update only the iPhone OS to 3.1 so that they can enjoy all the new features without updating the modem firmware. This way they can use UltraSn0w to unlock their iPhone.
Am sorry mate but seems like you have dug your own grave by updating directly from iTunes first and then following the tutorial. You should have instead stayed on iPhone 3.0 and followed all the steps as described in this post and restored your iPhone using custom firmware. I am afraid you won’t be able to unlock your iPhone from now on.
@Rohit Damn!!! Yeah i upgraded through itunes last thursday not knowing anything and now im stuck i suppose. Is there anyway i can downgrade the modem firmware? You think they’ll update ultrasnow or something alike to unlock the new baseband? any ETA?
Oh and thanks for your help mate.
@Ankit As of now you are in a fix Ankit. Hopefully in the coming weeks dev team comes up with a downgrade tool to bail out all those ppl who have directly updated to 3.1 via iTunes. I will definitely give you a shout the moment there is any such solution available.
A quick question. I’ve restored my iPhone 3G with OS 3.0.1 (official). It still hasn’t been jailbroken/unlocked. Will I get the carrier unlock if I follow this guide?
@srinath
Hi there!
Follow the tutorial above and jailbreak your iPhone.(make sure you restore your iPhone using the custom IPSW as mentioned in the post and DO NOT update to iPhone 3.1 directly via iTunes). Once you are done, you will need wifi on your iPhone to download ultrasn0w from cydia. After installing ultrasn0w you can use any carrier of your choice.
Guide to unlock your iPhone
http://www.digitalmarketingtalk.com/iphone/how-to-unlock-iphone-3g-30-using-ultrasn0w/
Hi,
I could use some assistance, using the expert mode I am trying to add Cydia packages.
Added http://cydia.hackulo.us in efforts of adding AppSync 3.1 to the custom IPSW but I get nothing when I add and refresh the url. Ditto http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com for ultrasn0w.
I am hoping to get these added to my custom IPSW, your help is appreciated.
Thanks,
ccMon
i don’t know if i understand it correctly, but i’ve upgraded my iphone to 3.1 through itunes, before restoring it to do the jb. i’ve never used ultrasn0w and i don’t need to use it, so in step 6 i need to uncheck the option of activating iphone?
PLEASE HELP!!!!!!
I have followed the guide step by step, and in the end, when i finished and i sopposed to get this screen: “16) You will then get the option of setting up your iPhone either as a new phone or restoring from backup.” i just get a message that says my SIM card is not supported. i dont have a sim-free iphone and i cant do nothing because my iphone shows “connect to itunes” screen. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
@Rohit
Just a quick message to say AWESOME work with the tutorial! It was very easy to follow. Really well done!
One thing I thought I would mention (just in case anyone has this issue). When I was preparing to restore the new Custom Firmware, itunes came back with an error message (I think it was error message no. 2006) a couple of times and my iphone 3G went back into DFU mode. After a couple more goes (holding down the Option key/iTunes Restore button then selecting the new Custom Firware)it worked like a charm and all is good now. The important thing is if it does happen not to panic – the iphone doesn’t go into lock down or anything like that – just a little patience and a retry maybe required. Thought I’d let you know.
I have to say the ability to choose your own packages when setting up the Pwnage tool Custom Firmware was superb! There will be some Cydia apps that may not be 3.1 ready but it wont be long before they are.
Once again great work with that tutorial.It was excellent!
Kind Regards,
Simon
@jonh Yes you are absolutely right. If you are running on an official carrier i.e USA-AT&T, UK-02, Brazil -Vivo you should uncheck the option of activating iPhone (Infact irrespective of what carrier you are using, just uncheck the activate your iPhone option).
Once you follow the entire tutorial again (without unchecking the activate your iPhone option) you will definitely get your carrier signal (vivo) and will find Cydia on your newly installed iPhone 3.1 firmware.
@tal Are you running an iPhone 2G, 3G or 3Gs? Please note that the above tutorial works only for “iPhone 3G”.
Did you by any chance upgrade your iPhone directly via itunes even that can be a problem.
This thread may help:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=783400
@Simon Cheers mate! Thanks for the compliment and you are absolutely right, people often mess up the entire jailbreak process due to a silly error just because they press the panic button. Patience and confidence helps get the jailbreak process right :)
One stupid question….my 3g phone is jailbroken with the 3.0.1 firmware i believe. Anyways If i follow the instructions you have on here (which are very good) will the broken apps i have now still be on my phone with the upgrade to 3.1? Or will i lose them all?
Hey guys, I have a pretty n00b question for you but I’ll ask it anyways. Right now my iPhone 3G is NOT jailbroken and perfectly kosher. I want to jailbreak (not unlock) but jailbreaks I have done in the past have made me have to start over with everything (redo homescreen layout, redo my favorites, wifi passwords, etc.) My question is if I jailbreak and then restore from the backup of my phone from just before it was jailbroken, will that screw things up?
Also does anyone know if they new App Organizer function on iTunes will work with a jailbroken iPhone?
hey guys! for those of you facing problem with winterboard, try this :
download SBSettings from cydia and then install winterboard.
crashing issue should be solved :)
@Jesse Although i don’t like doing a backup-restore, it should do a good job of restoring all the settings
and yeah, App organiser works!
@MrFabulous If you want to restore your jailbroken(cydia) apps you can use ‘Aptbackup’.
Aptbackup helps you backup and restore your apps from Cydia. The way this works is it makes a list of your installed apps and puts that list in a location that is under iTunes backup. When you sync with iTunes, that list is stored. After you restore your iPhone in iTunes, you install aptbackup from Cydia, run it, and hit restore, and it will automatically reinstall all your apps in your list. You can also set up one iPhone and use this as a template for setting up others with one click.
What this will not do:
1) Actually backup your apps or their settings
2) Backup your springboard file placement
3) You cannot restore a backup “whenever”. It is only for restoring a backup after a fresh iTunes installation.
HOWEVER I PERSONALLY AM A NEAT FREAK SO I DONT USE APTBACKUP. I usually take screenshots of of apps on my iPhone before restoring so that I know the cydia apps that I had before. Then I individually install the apps from cydia again. There are 2 advantages to this
1) You can better organize apps on your iPhone.
2) When you individually install the apps after a new jailbreak, you will know which app is causing any crashes/problems etc. This way you will know the source and can delete it immediately.
@Jesse Yeah like Pete said, the app organizer function does work and yup the ‘restore from backup’ will definitely do it’s job.
@Vuze Thanks for that info mate.
@Pete Thanks for helping Jesse out.
hi rohit i updated 3.1 fr apple web site .. can i unlock it .. i mean its ok if sim card does nt work fr now but can i make my iphone work with ur tool
pls help
@yasir Sorry dude but now you have lost the ability to unlock your iPhone. You shouldn’t have updated to 3.1 directly via iTunes or Apple’s website. By doing this you have upgraded your firmware to 3.1 using original IPSW instead of custom IPSW.This means that your modem firmware is now 05.11.07.
Had you followed my tutorial you would have been on 3.1 firmware but your modem firmware would have stayed on 04.26.08.
If you are confused by what all this means, all you need to know is that when you update to 5.11.07 modem firmware, you lose your jailbreak ability forever. Dev Team and even I(On this blog) have warned the users several times that they should NOT update to 3.1 firmware DIRECTLY via iTunes.
However, just in case the dev team comes up with a new tool which solves your problem, I will definitely give you a heads up.
@ Rohit
Hey, thanks for the tutorial, but I’ve encountered a problem that many may have, but I’m still stuck. I have an Iphone 3g 8gb and I have recently updated both the firmware and modem firmaware to 3.1 and 05.11.07. My purpose was to update both, but to be able to jailbreak the phone and use Cydia. I was able to do all that I mentioned before, but my phone doesn’t receive signal. My doubt is, why? if I’m a legit ATT user with their data plan, do I not receive signal when unlocking my phone is not necessary?
My doubt is, why? if I’m a legit ATT user with their data plan, do I not receive signal when unlocking my phone IF ITS NOT necessary?
‘@rohit
thanks guuy, i was really getting annoyed because i couldn’t find the mistake
it worked correctly :}
All my issues have been solved… I have finally jailbroken on 3.1 with my 05.11.07 baseband!!!! I simply just checked not to activate the phone in Pwn 3.1 tool for mac. I think this did the trick, but who knows?
Hey guys, thanks for for all the postings from everyone and help from Rohit. I had a question along the lines of Carojon. I didn’t really have any intention of unlocking to begin with but I accidently hit the upgrade button like a real tool without thinking about waht would happen after. I was wondering if jailbreaking abilities are gone for good, or just unlocking?
Thanks,
Es
Doing the expert mode and following this guide seems to have worked a lot better than the previous tries I had hitting simple mode. The syncing took forever though, but it finally made it through. Thanks again.
omg :(
im so sad!!!!
i just followed these instructions for my iphone 3g 16gb and rebooted.. now itunes says i need a valid sim card.
i dont know what to do…. i tried it 3 times now.
FYI i never updated striahgt from itunes :(
@hacka are u on an official carrier AT&T(US), o2 (UK) etc?
If you aren’t on an official carrier (eg: t-mobile), you will first need to unlock your iPhone using ultrasn0w.
Here is the tutorial:
http://www.digitalmarketingtalk.com/iphone/how-to-unlock-iphone-3g-3-1-using-ultrasn0w/
Once you are done unlocking you should be able to get the signal, instead of invalid sim card error.
ALSO I would like to remind you once again, that in step 6 of this tutorial, you are suppose to keep the ACTIVE YOUR PHONE option UNCHECKED. Please make sure you hadn’t ticked the option as many users have got the invalid sim error after they have accidently checked(ticked) the ACTIVE YOUR PHONE option.
Hope this solves your problem.
@CAROJON Good work! Am so glad you figured out the problem and finally have your iPhone jailbroken:)
@Eshorn Yea the syncing thing gets really annoying. I hate that part!. By the way, it’s good to know that you appreciate everyone’s efforts here :). And yes, the expert mode any day makes life simpler :)
@jonh That’s great! Am happy that it finally worked for you :)
@ccMon Instead of making them a part of custom IPSW your best bet would be to install ultrasn0w and appsync 3.1 after jailbreaking.
I unfortunately updated to 3.1 and locked myself out of my phone.
I then Jailbroke with Pwnage tool 3.1, so now I can at least get into the phone.
I was expecting my Tmobile not to work but I then inserted an ATT SIM still wont work.
What am I doing wrong? Do I need to unlock with UltrasnOw?
I’m on baseban 5.11, is this the problem? i thought that only locked out non-ATT sims…:(