Jailbreak FAQ
INTRODUCTION
You have an iPhone or iPod Touch. You’d like to hack it or unleash its full potential, but you’re not sure where to start. You’re not sure what’ll work with your computer, your device, and what won’t. Is Apple OK with this? Is it illegal? Will apple release a third party program system? After this FAQ list, you’ll be able to make a final decision on how to hack your unit or whether or not you’ll hack it at all.
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WHAT? AND WHY?
Why would I want to hack my iPod Touch or iPhone?
When Apple first released the iPhone and then the iPod Touch, the company also released a method for third-parties to create applications for the devices. The apps wouldn’t run on the units themselves, but rather one would use Safari on the mobile device to access web sites that would perform basic functions such as simple games, dictionaries, etc. In the end, it wasn’t really software but rather simple web sites, or web apps, designed to work with the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Users worldwide were not OK with this. They wanted to run other programs on the devices other than those supplied by Apple. They also wanted the convenience of not needing a wifi connection to access these ‘softwares’. As a result, they figured out a way to install their own programs, allowing users to run programs like Instant Messaging clients, complex games, interactive fiction, and customization apps used to change the look and feel of the Springboard.
What is the SpringBoard?
The SpringBoard typically refers to the homescreen of your iPod Touch or iPhone. More accurately, the SpringBoard is the program that allows you to launch applications from the homescreen.
Why would I not want to hack my iPod Touch or iPhone?
The main reason users choose not to hack their units is because they’re satisfied with their devices as they are. If you see no reason in hacking your unit, why go through the effort? Besides, Apple’s going to release an official third-party app delivery system (SDK) in June (but you may not be happy with the idea of paying for the various applications released through this system or even the restrictions Apple will place in the applications that are allowed to be released).
Is it illegal to hack the iPod Touch or iPhone?
Hacking the iPod Touch is not illegal. While Apple would like to make you think it is illegal, it is not, and it is impossible to get in any legal trouble for hacking it. You and Apple made an exchange. You gave Apple $400 and they gave you an iPod. It is officially yours and you can do whatever you want with it.
It is illegal to post copyrighted code, such as the operating system of the iPod Touch and the iPhone, on the Internet. But you won’t be doing that if you choose to hack your device.
Will this void the iPod Touch / iPhone warranty?
Technically speaking, the warranty is void if you perform any modifications to your device, however, since a full restore through iTunes would erase all tracks of your modifications, Apple would not know whether you have performed any of these jailbreaking methods. In this sense, jailbreaking or modifying your device would not void your warrenty as long as you perform a full restore before sending your device back to an Apple store, etc.
You speak about the iPod Touch and iPhone as if they were the same device or at least very, very similar. What’s the deal with that?
The iPod Touch and the iPhone are very, very similar. They use the same operating system and very similar software. As a result, the main differences between the two are the hardware differences. The iPod Touch is essentially a phone-less, Bluetooh-less, iPhone.
Do the same hacks work with both the iPod Touch and the iPhone?
Yes, but not really. Some hacks have to be tweaked to work with on both devices. Since the iPhone came out a few months before the iPod Touch, hacks existed for versions of earlier firmwares for the iPhone. The latest and greatest iPhone and iPod Touch hacks are all designed or have been upgraded to at least 1.1.1 firmware. As a result, should you choose to hack your unit, you should hold off on updating your device if Apple releases an update to another firmware. Once the firmware is tested with hacking community and it has been deemed safe to upgrade, then you can upgrade with a specific method provided.
So upgrades can mess up the hacks on my iPod Touch or iPhone?
Yes, they can. Although, if you stick to software hacks, anything you do to your unit is repairable through the iTunes firmware restore feature. iTunes, at any moment, can restore your iPod Touch or iPhone to its factory state (however, losing all data saved on the device). As stated above, if Apple releases an update for your device, hold off on updating until the latest firmware has been tested and approved by the hacking community.
Keep in mind, that when the term “hacks” is used, It is referring to unlocking services for the iPhone or iPod touch. That is a separate issue that will be addressed somewhere down the list.
How can I restore my iPod Touch or iPhone should something go wrong?
Connect your device to your computer via the included USB cable. Open iTunes, click on the iPod or iPhone icon on the left, and click the big restore button somewhere towards the middle of the application. After a short period of time, your device will return to its factory settings.
Unlocking services is a different thing altogether which can potentially cause changes in your iPhone that a restore cannot reverse. As a result, when firmware updates disable the phone functions of an iPhone, the hacking community can generally figure out a way to restore your iPhone to its true factory state.
Note: Sometimes a firmware upgrade may prohibit you from restore to a previous firmware, in this case, you may need to turn your iPod Touch into recovery mode in which you can restore to any firmware (useful when downgrading) [see below].
What if the restore button within iTunes does not work or gives me some sort of error?
In some rare circumstances, the restore feature within iTunes may not be able to restore your iPod Touch in which case you will need to turn your iPod touch into recovery mode.
Recovery Mode:
- Connect your iPod touch into iTunes through the USB cable.
- Press and hold both the Hold and Home physical buttons simaltaneously until the screen turns off (black). (Your iPod touch also disappears from iTunes)
- Release the Hold button whilst still holding the Home button until your iPod touch pops back in iTunes.
iTunes will then detect your iPod touch in recovery mode and ask you to restore it (restore it as usual)
Does Apple purposely disable software hacks and unlocks with firmware updates?
That’s a good question, and a lot of us would like to know the answer to that. Apple has made statements saying they won’t purposefully disable hacks and unlocks with firmware updates, and the company has also warned users that hacks and unlocks will probably get disabled with future updates.
This is a very gray area as Apple has a partnership with AT&T and various carriers around the world to keep locked handsets in the wild. AT&T and others pay Apple for every iPhone that is activated with their service, so it would make sense for Apple to try to stop unlockers from disrupting its revenue.
Apple has released an official software development kit for the iPhone/Touch platform for third-party developers. Many are suspicious that Apple will force third-party developers into a closed system, requiring all third-party developers to get their apps approved by Apple. If Apple chooses to sell those apps through iTunes, it could see the free third-party apps out today as a threat to app sale revenue through iTunes. As a result, it would make sense for Apple to try to stop hacks in future updates.
So Apple is going to ditch the web app concept for true third-party apps?
It isn’t clear if Apple is going to ditch the use of web apps entirely.
Apple plans to distribute 3rd party apps through iTunes, and will retain a portion of the sale price. They have indicated that there will be an option for programmers to use iTunes to distribute their Apple-approved software for free, if they choose.
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JAILBREAKING
What exactly is jailbreaking?
Jailbreaking refers to breaking the iPod Touch and iPhone free from the clutches of Apple. In other words, gaining read/write access to the devices in order to install your own programs.
What exactly is unlocking?
If you unlock your iPhone, you can use the services of various GSM based carriers around the world.
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WHAT TO DO?
After having all my questions answered, I’d like to hack and/or unlock my unit. What do I have to do?
If you have a Mac or PC, the automated jailbreak methods for both the iPhone and iPod Touch can easily be found on the net (just search) or you could scroll down this FAQ for a jailbreaking summary for each firmware.
Note: Scroll Down for a summary of all the jailbreaks available.
How do I unlock my iPhone?
To unlock your iPhone, you currently have two options depending on your current firmware.
The paid version can be found easily by searching the terms “iPhoneSIMFree”. Since the code is not publicly published as it’s a private effort, Apple cannot easily examine the way it unlocks the iPhone. Thus, it is less likely that your iPhone will become temporarily unusable if a future update disables it. Even if you find your iPhone disabled with a future update, the iPhoneSIMFree people are pretty quick to update the unlock software at no cost to you.
The free alternative unlock software, anySIM, is more likely to malfunction after a future firmware update. This software isn’t as stable as iPhoneSIMFree but it is free. You can learn more about it and download by searching the term “anySIM”.
Typically, software unlocks require you to jailbreak your iPhone first and some unlocks only support a specific firmware.
OK, I jailbreaked my device. Now what?
Now you can run unlock software on your iPhone, and you can install and run third party apps.
If you went through with one of the automatic jailbreak methods above, you should see a program called “Installer” on your SpringBoard, AKA homescreen. Through Installer, you can choose to download and install various free programs, utilities, and games. Simply click on a program in Installer, and it’ll install it on your device. The next time you visit your homescreen, you should see an icon for the app you installed. Installer can also uninstall apps, update apps, and notify you when an update is available for an app you installed.
Note: Some system software has to be installed first such as BSD subsystem in order for most applications to run and/or work.
In order to see more apps, make sure you install “Community Resources”. Resources provide Installer.app with information of databases of third-party apps. Currently, Community Resources is the only resource that I know about that isn’t installed automatically when you jailbreak your device.
Furthermore, some apps require certain components in order to work. Apollo IM, arguably the best instant messaging client for the two devices, requires BSD Subsystem to be installed (as stated above).
Installer.app was just updated to version 3.0 final. It now features a better user interface and various other upgrades (such as the ability to build queues). Although most apps in Installer will work on both devices, some are targeted at specific firmwares, and some won’t work at all on the iPod Touch due to hardware limitations such as a phone antenna.
How can I connect to my jailbroken iPod touch / iPhone and access its files (e.g. disk mode)?
Since the iPod touch and iPhone flash memory is formated to a different filesystem format, Apple has essentially prevented users to access these device’s files. Nevertheless, there are still two methods by which you can access your device’s filesystem and make changes.
WINDOWS AND MAC COMPATIBLE
If you have installed SSH on your iPod Touch / iPhone, then you can use a SSH client such as WinSCP to access its filesystem or input commands through a terminal. However, this requires you to connect to your device through WiFi which means you need to have a local WiFi connection that is connected to your computer.
WINDOWS ONLY
If you do not have a WiFi connection available, you can still edit/access the filesystem through the USB cable provided by Apple, (however, you will not be able to input commands). Currently these two softwares do the job pretty well.
~ Total Commander with t-pot plugin. (requires iTunes 7.4 or higher installed and only has a one month free trial after which you have to pay for a full license.) Currently is the fastest client to transfer through USB (up to 4GB transfer at a time).
~ iPhonebrowser. (Free software, requires NET framework 2.0 installed) Significantly slower transfer speeds compared to t-pot.
~ iPhoneList. (Free software, requires NET framework 2.0 installed)
Significantly slower transfer speeds compared to t-pot.
IPOD TOUCH / IPHONE TERMINOLOGY
- Chmod: refers to changing the permission of a file (e.g. to 755).
- SSH: SSH stands for Secure Shell. It allows you to connect to your iPod Touch over a WiFi connection using a SSH client such as Putty. Through SSH, you can access your iPod Touch’s file system or input commands through a terminal.
- Tethered Jailbreak FAQ
- At least once a day a poster on this board asks what a tethered jailbreak is. This thread aims to provide a central location to which such posters can be directed, with clear and concise answers to these questions.
So, what’s a tethered jailbreak?
- A tethered jailbreak is a jailbreak which leaves the jailbroken phone unable to boot without the help of a computer. Any time such a phone is completely powered off, restarted (for instance after installing certain jailbreak apps) or its battery dies, it must be plugged into a computer and the jailbreaking application must be re-run to get it past the Apple logo boot screen. Such a phone does not lose its jailbreak, and all customizations will be preserved, but the phone will not be able to boot past the Apple logo screen on its own.
Why do some phones only support a tethered jailbreak?
That requires a little more explanation. Every iPhone has a chip in it which contains a tiny program called iBoot. iBoot is the phone’s bootloader, the program that tells the phone how to load the operating system. During this process, iBoot checks the OS to make sure that it is the official version provided by Apple. If it is not the correct version (for example, because it has been modified by a jailbreak), it will normally refuse to boot your phone.
Clever hackers discovered a weakness in iBoot (which they called the 24kpwn hack) that allowed them to inject their own code into iBoot to bypass this security check and boot a jailbroken version of the OS that iBoot normally would not boot. Basically, by crashing iBoot at a certain point in the boot process, they could inject 24kb of their own code and iBoot would think it was perfectly normal. This code disabled the security check, and it was the only known way of getting a jailbroken iPhone to boot itself.
As of sometime in October, Apple started shipping iPhones with a new version of iBoot. This new version patched the 24kpwn hack, meaning we lost our only known way of modifying iBoot so that it can boot a modified version of the OS. It is still possible to use a computer to bypass iBoot, but one can’t convince iBoot to bypass itself. This is why the new iPhones can have only a tethered jailbreak.
Does my phone have the new version of iBoot?
There are ways to check. If your iBoot version is 359.3, then you can have an untethered jailbreak (whether on 3.1.2 or any other version of the OS); if it is 359.3.2 or 359.3-2 you cannot, at least not now.
If you are considering buying a new or used 3GS and cannot find out the iBoot version, you should at least check the 4th and 5th digits of the serial number, which represent the week of manufacture. For our purposes, the lower this number is, the better. Because different plants began using the new version of iBoot at different times, there is no firm rule for which phones will be safe; in general, however, a phone manufactured in week 36 or earlier will have an untethered jailbreak, 37-40 is iffy, and 41 and higher will almost certainly be tethered. These rules do not apply to re-manufactured phones, which are given new serial numbers but which have older components and may have the older version of iBoot.
Can I still jailbreak my phone?
Yes, all iPhones are jailbreakable. The tethered jailbreak is more a problem of inconvenience, since you might occasionally be stuck without a phone until you can reach a computer. The good news is that the iPhone is designed to run without rebooting or completely powering off under normal use; some people go weeks without the need to restart their phone. Only you can decide whether the advantages of a jailbreak outweigh the inconvenience of being tethered, however.
Will there ever be an untethered jailbreak again?
Ever is a very long time and iPhone hackers are brilliant, so it is always possible that a solution will be found. Right now, though, there is no prospect for a new iBoot hack, and it is therefore impossible to predict when or even if one will be found. For now you should assume that any phone with the new iBoot is not untetherable.
Why Should I Jailbreak my device?
Jailbreaking an Apple device allows a user to modify and edit certain parts of the device that are normally not customizable. With Jailbreaking you can customize your device beyond what Apple permits with stock hardware.
Why do people Jailbreak their devices? Doesn’t that ruin the whole Apple experience?
People who wish to Jailbreak their device want to go beyond the functionality that Apple dictates. Some may argue that the device is pretty limited and that they deserve more customization and features without having to go buy a new phone. Users may also argue that you can enhance your experience with the device by Jailbreaking, as it allows more features to be added and altered.
What’s in it for me?
Jailbreaking gives you the customizability of everything on the phone. It allows you to change icons, install custom apps that are not allowed on the Apple App Store, add tethering, install custom lock screens, and many more options.
Does Jailbreaking require any prior knowledge of hacking devices?
No it does not. The Jailbreaking process it pretty easy and there is plenty of documentation on how to do it if you get stuck, including plenty on this site.
Does Jailbreaking cost any money to do?
No, the software and tools are made available for free. Sites that offer paid solutions for Jailbreaking are most likely a scam.
Is Jailbreaking easy to do?
Yes, Jailbreaking can be done using a few applications of your choice. The process is pretty straight forward and not very complex for the average user to perform.
Where can I get the proper documentation and software to Jailbreak my device?
You can get the proper documentation here
. The tutorial has the proper instructions you will need in order to get your iOS device Jailbroken. The tutorials should be easy to follow but if for any reason you have a question or concern feel free to post in the help thread.
Is Jailbreaking legal?
Yes, current US laws allow such modifications to your device. Although legal, Apple still has the right to void your warranty due to these user made modifications. Make sure the laws in your country permit such changes to your device.
What law protects me from getting in trouble if I were to Jailbreak my device?
In the United States DMCA, Referencing “Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies” Docket No. RM 20088. It states in Section 201.40 – 2 Exemption to prohibition against circumvention, “Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.” Please be sure to check your country’s laws.
In non-legalese terms:
You’re allowed to modify your device as long as it is done in a lawful manner in which the software obtained and used to Jailbreak your device is not pirated.
To learn more about this and your rights check out the amendment here,
Can my carrier void my service for having a Jailbroken device?
No, your carrier cannot see if your device is Jailbroken over the network. But if you take it into your wireless providers store to get it serviced you may be denied due to the unauthorized modifications to the device firmware.
Is my warranty void if my Carrier or Apple sees that my phone is Jailbroken?
Yes, at that point Apple or your wireless carrier has the right to terminate your warranty due to changes made by the user that are deemed “Unauthorized”. Since Apple is the one that services your device they have the right to choose which changes a user can make, Jailbreaking is not one of them.
Can I get warranty service back after Jailbreaking?
Yes, by doing a factory restore of your device Apple will be unable to tell if you have made modifications to the software. Although some may consider it unethical, if it is restored properly then there is no way of telling it ever happened, so make your choice.
