NOTE: This is an update to our Firmware 2.2.1 Guide, which was an update to our Firmware 2.1 Guide, which was an update to our Firmware 2.0 Guide.
Update #1: For 3G iPhone users, you have to turn off 3G before enabling WiFi right before unlocking in last section. Instructions updated.
Update #2: For quick reference, T-Mobile user’s make sure to use the APN internet2.voicestream.com in order for data to work on your phones.
Introduction
As a follow-on to our really popular Firmware 2.2.1, Firmware 2.1 and Firmware 2.0 guides, here is our “How to install the iPhone 3.0 Firmware guide on iPhones then jailbreak them and get them to run on other networks” guide.
Apple recently released the newest 3.0 operating system for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This is a guide for installing, jail breaking and unlocking the baseband on the phone for the use on “unsupported carriers” like T-Mobile. So let’s get started…
WARNING: This process will effectively reinstall the OS on your iPhone or iPod Touch. If you have a lot of jailbroken customizations or apps on your phone, they will all be lost during this process. Any application or piece of data that iTunes doesn’t sync to your PC, won’t be restored after this process is complete, so please be aware of this before starting.
Getting Started
First download and install the newest version of Itunes (8.2)
Next plug in your iPhone and makes sure iTunes syncs the data on it. iTunes will then tell you that an iPhone update is available, go ahead and apply the update.
Update #3: The current official firmware from Apple is 3.1 and the instruction below using redsn0w only work on cracking Firmware 3.0, so you will need to manually download the 3.0 firmware linked below and Shift-Click on the Update button in iTunes and select the downloaded firmware instead of applying the official one.
NOTE: At this point, if you are on an unsupported carrier, iTunes will finish applying the new firmware and then notify you that your SIM is unsupported and can not be activated. This is OK, we just applied the official Apple firmware to the phone so we expected this to happen. Don’t worry, later down this guide we are going to crack this sucker open.
Preparing the Cracks
Next download Redsn0w (the “0″ in snow is a zero, not the letter “o”)
- Windows Torrent (11mb)
- Mac Torrent (15.8mb)
- Reference: http://redsn0w.com/
Download the 3.0 firmware for your iPhone or iPod Touch. Be sure to grab the correct firmware based on the revision of iPhone or iPod you are using. Here are some quick-links for you:
- 1st Generation, “2G” iPhone 3.0 Firmware (229mb)
- 2nd Generation, “3G” iPhone 3.0 Firmware (230mb)
- Handy Firmware Website: http://www.felixbruns.de/iPod/firmware/
If you have an 1st Generation “2G” iPhone, you will need in addition 2 bootloader files (3.9 and 4.6). You can get them here:
- Download v3.9 Bootloader (129kb)
- Download v4.6 Bootloader (129kb)
You can unzip redsn0w and drop all the files into the directory to get ready for the next steps, it will look something like this (your directory contents may vary):
Jail Breaking and Unlocking
Now let’s launch redsn0w.exe:
- click Browse and locate your .ipsw file, then click Open:
- redsn0w will verify the IPSW file for you and then hit Next:
- redsn0w will now modify the IPSW file for you by patching it with the necessary cracks in place and prepare the file for your device:
- Now on the next screen redsn0w will ask you which bits of bootstraping software you want to install (Cydia and Icy) and if you have a 1st Generation “2G” iPhone, redsn0w will also offer you an Unlock option. For 3G iPhone users, you unlock the phone a different way (at the end of this guide). I would recommend just selecting everything and hitting next:NOTE: JJ mentions down in the comments some issues with Cydia that may be caused by Icy. If you don’t need Icy, don’t include it.
- For 1st Generation “2G” iPhone Users ONLY: If you selected to Unlock the phone, redsn0w will now ask you for the location of the two bootloader files you downloaded before (.bin files, versions 3.9 and 4.6), go ahead and select them and hit Next:
WARNING: You will now be presented with a preparation screen for Jail Breaking your phone. Be sure to TURN YOUR PHONE OFF before starting this next step.
After you click Next, redsn0w will give you instructions on how to get your phone right into “DFU-mode” by hitting a sequence of buttons that look like this:
- Hold the power button for 3 seconds
- Without releasing the power button, also hold the home button for 10 seconds
- Without releasing the home button, release the power button BUT KEEP holding the home button for 30 seconds
- NOTE: On the last step, you won’t likely actually need to hold it for 30 secs, it’s more like 15 or 20 secs before the phone begins the cracking process. If you screw up the sequence, power-cycle the phone and try again.
When your phone enters the cracking process, the display will show you something like this while it’s being Jail Broken:
Once the cracking process is done, don’t forget to re-sync your phone with iTunes to restore all the data that was on it.
WARNING: Custom wallpapers, jail broken apps, SMSs and other unofficial data that iTunes doesn’t backup will be lost at this point. So if you had a slew of favorite jail broken apps, you’ll need to re-add those.
Possibly All Done… APN!
Ok you’re almost all done, don’t forget to setup your APN so data access works on your phone. For US T-Mobile customers, try 1 of the following for your APN:
- internet2.voicestream.com
- internet3.voicestream.com (User JJ below points out that he had problems with internet2, so he used internet3 and all was right with the world)
If you have a 1st Generation “2G” iPhone, you are all done. Your 3.0 iPhone is now jailbroken and unlocked to run on unofficial networks. If you have a 2nd Generation 3G iPhone, please continue reading…
Unlocking Instructions for 3G iPhone Users…
REMINDER: This portion is only for 2nd Generation 3G iPhone users. If you have a 1st Generation “2G” iPhone, you are already done and unlocked your phone using redsn0w earlier.
- Turn OFF 3G under phone settings:
- Turn ON WiFi and make sure you have an internet connection on the phone.
- Next open Cydia (it will probably want to update and resart, go ahead and do that)
- Select “Manage”, then “Sources”, then “edit” then click “add”
- Enter URL “http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com” (the “o” in snow is a zero, not the letter “o”)
- Now search for the software “ultrasn0w”, don’t forget the zero in the name for the “0″
- Install Ultrasn0w
- Restart the phone
- On restart Ultrasn0w will unlock the 3G iPhone for you
All Done, For Everyone!
Congrats, you now have a software unlocked iPhone 3G!
Author’s Note: My 2nd Generation 3G iPhone did not initially like the 3.0 Firmware upgrade that I applied and cracked. I was having a lot of stability issues with it. I had to restore the iPhone through iTunes and go back through the process a 2nd time before everything worked smoothly. If you run into the same issue, try restoring your iPhone and going through the guide a 2nd time.
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10. July 2009 at 9:47 am
Hey Riyad,
great guide, Thank you.. everything seems to work fine, just have a minor problem, when i try going into a website on my EDGE, it’s telling me it’s not connected, that i do not have a data pkg, if you can shine some light on the subject that would be great! Thanks in advance.. JJ
10. July 2009 at 11:29 am
Hi JJ, go to you network settings and add your APN. If you have tmobile, the APN is “internet2.voicestream.com”
10. July 2009 at 12:17 pm
Hey Chris,
Thanks for your help.. got it working??
also FYI if anyone else is having this problem the internet 2 changes to internet3.voicestream.com..
Anyone else downloading the firmware for redsn0w, ( I ran into this problem), it wouldn’t let me open it.. Instead i downloaded it from theiphoneproject.org
I hope I helped..
11. July 2009 at 12:36 am
Hey guys,
maybe someone here can help me out with something.. I ran into this problem earlier with my phone, i followed riyad’s instructions to the T, but here’s where things got a lil bit weird; 1st of all for whatever reason you tube is not connecting, i tried re-booting but nothing.. Also when i opened Cydia it gave me a warning page that says : “your copy of Cydia does not know what version it is, itself, running”.
so although cydia seems to be working the problem lays with “Icy” i’m thinking you might not need it, but that’s the answer I’m looking for.
I’m thinking of restoring the phone back to 2.2.1 but i would rather not, maybe there’s a shortcut to the problem?.. Basically, I need help, and any I can get would REALLY be appreciated!! Thanks for your help… ANYONE!!
12. July 2009 at 9:54 am
Try rejjailbreaking the phone, but make sure that Icy is not checked to be installed. It should fix the issues with Cydia, and will also leave Icy functioning. If that doesnt work restore, rejailbreak this time with out Icy.
15. July 2009 at 1:11 pm
To Anyone
How do you restore from having 3.0 back to 2.2.1
my phone is completely trippin over the new firmware, i just wanna go back to 2.2.1, thanks for your help..
16. July 2009 at 8:45 am
Hi all
I do have the 2G 16Gb iPhone running 3.0 and unloked. What I’m looking for is a way to run/install Cydia/Installer.
Any help will me welcome..
Thanks again
Paul
16. July 2009 at 10:16 am
Just run redsn0w, but don’t select the option to unlock.. Since you are already unlocked. You can’t have Cydia with out jailbreaking it.
17. July 2009 at 11:30 am
hi everyone. i downloaded firmware 3.0 for 2G. but cant find .ipsw file. only zip file and when i unzip it still cant find .ipsw. anyone tell a dummy like me where to find it? i alrdy upgraded to 3.0 and cant use it. need urgent response so i can go on with steps above. thanks!
17. July 2009 at 11:50 am
Try re downloading it from here:
http://www.felixbruns.de/iPod/firmware/
17. July 2009 at 1:48 pm
still a .zip file. i cant find .ipsw file.
17. July 2009 at 2:10 pm
i think ive got it. thanks a lot chris!
18. July 2009 at 8:59 am
anyone pls help me. my phone hanged. and itunes cant detect it for restore.
18. July 2009 at 12:42 pm
i have restored it but tried twice unlocking in redsnow again. but didnt work. pls give me advise what’s wrong? phone is still locked, even though i know ive done the procedure correctly. only emergency call is working.
18. July 2009 at 3:51 pm
Does this guide work if my 1st gen 2G iphone is currently in 2.2 firmware? thanks
19. July 2009 at 3:59 pm
Hey Riyad,
I have a question, my 2G is having issues with the new firmware.
Kinda what JJ said about you tube not working, problems with websites, I was wondering if I restore back to 2.2.1 will it affect anything else on my phone such as (pics, notes, mms, txts). Also how do i remove “icy”, would that be part of the restoration progress??
Thank you, dan..
20. July 2009 at 2:00 pm
Jay
How did you solve the .zip problem? I have the same problem and dont know what to do. Tried everithing but no efect.
20. July 2009 at 2:58 pm
Solved the problem. Just before saving the file change the extension.
22. July 2009 at 11:20 am
im having a problem editing the APN…the option completely disappeared after i cracked it
2. August 2009 at 7:06 pm
after i did the jailbreak and unlock i dont have any apn settings or a place to put them in settings\general\network. what do i do to get the apn settings page to appear?
16. August 2009 at 1:57 am
Wow! I tried it n it fixed my cydia red bagde problem(“your copy of cydia does not know what version it is,itself,running.”) What a relieve.. thanks alot!! 2 thumbs up to the team.. thanks again..
19. August 2009 at 2:35 pm
OK, i’ve got everything working but the applications! Non of the apps will launch…i hit it and it just goes back to the home screen. Can you help?
20. August 2009 at 6:06 am
Chunky, try and reinstall them and see if that does the trick. *EVERY* time I upgrade I have to reinstall my apps… it drives me nuts.
21. August 2009 at 8:49 am
i’ve tried reinstalling previous apps and new apps, but they all will not launch. I need HELP!
21. August 2009 at 9:35 am
NVM i just restored and reinstalled redsn0w and it works now!
4. September 2009 at 7:30 pm
I am stuck,
I have upgraded my 1st gen iphone to OS 3.0, started redsn0w but cant open the IPSW to proceed. I have extracted it from its zip form but when I find it in the browser there is nothing to open. Any help would be appreciated.
Groby
4. September 2009 at 8:04 pm
Will this guide work for 3.0.1?
4. September 2009 at 11:47 pm
I’ve heard from various sources that the iPhone gets bricked if you try to update to the newest firmware (3.0.1), thus unabling you to continue the process that is described in the article above. So I was just wondering… Is this true?
And does redsn0w restore the 3.0 firmware, even though you’ve had 3.0.1 on it, so that when it’s finished updating, you’ve got 3.0 on your iPhone, and not 3.0.1?
11. September 2009 at 8:39 pm
Guys we have not confirmed that the guide works yet on 3.0.1, we’ll dig into this and see what we can figure out.
11. September 2009 at 5:34 pm
It is stuck in “waiting for reboot” mode. Any ideas?
11. September 2009 at 8:43 pm
Hrmmm, manually try and powerdown/power up the phone?
11. September 2009 at 9:00 pm
Hold the power and home button to force reboot the phone. You will NOT be able to do this if you have updated you phone to 3.1, there is no crack as of right now for 3.1 and you cannot revert. Things to try that have helped me:
Reboot the computer, right click and run redsn0w “as administrator”, make sure the ipsw is from a trustworthy source (i prefer http://www.felixbruns.de/iPod/firmware/), make sure your antivirus is disabled….Your mileage will var, the iphone-dev blog is hard at work working on the new crack.
7. October 2009 at 3:06 pm
Hi I heard a rumor that doing the latest firmware update will not allow me to use a tmobile card to work my Iphone. Is there a way to go back so I can use my Iphone with tmobile its a 3g 8gb…
7. October 2009 at 7:48 pm
Correct, you should NOT upgrade to 3.1 at this time if you are with Tmobile. However, you CAN unlock using OS 3.0 with the guide above. Stay tuned for an updated guide for 3.1 and above.
16. October 2009 at 1:26 pm
I have an unlocked iPhone and live in Panama. The SIMS down here never worked and now I just gave up. I am using my iphone for everything except calling so at least I wanted to have the new updates like cut & paste and decided to risk my unlocked status but therefore get the new software on my phone.
Well that was stupid because the system asks me now to insert the SIM (the original, working one from the States – ATT) which I don’t have anymore. My phone is basically useless now – Any ideas how I can rescue it and at least use it for everything except making calls?
THANKS for any hints
16. October 2009 at 8:15 pm
I used the directions to try to jail break my phone , but this animated photo of a man keeps showing up saying “?PEBE?” then it shuts off. What’s wrong with it?
21. October 2009 at 9:44 am
Can I use this tutorial for a 3gs??
22. October 2009 at 6:33 am
Gonzo,
You can, but don’t upgrade to 3.1 — there isn’t a known unlock/crack for it yet. So if you are on a 3GS, which I believe already runs 3.0, just stay put.
22. October 2009 at 7:01 pm
works perfect!!! yay! thanks i am with tmobile now…i was a little confused at first and gone through several times installing redsnow thing…then i realized what i made mistake and now its working…thanks again for this wondeful site whoever shared the info with us
23. October 2009 at 8:49 am
rezwan, we’re glad it helped!
30. October 2009 at 9:20 am
Hi
Just followed the guide and tried to go from 2.2 to 3.0. I get to the hold the power button bit and everything goes fine then something must go wrong as i do not get the picture as on the guide on the screen i get a hard disc pic with downloading jailbreak data on the screen. It then turns it self off and restarts as it should but still in emergency use only and sim cannot be used on itunes..anyhelp appreciated,,,urgently pls
30. October 2009 at 10:06 pm
God33, if the phone is effectively bricked for you and you cannot get the 3.0 guide working, you can fall back to the 2.2.1 guide and get that installed on there so at least your phone is working for you. I don’t know why you are seeing the behavior you are with the 3.0 guide though. Are you sure you aren’t trying to install the latest firmware (3.1)? That cannot be cracked yet, which would explain the behavior you are seeing.
14. November 2009 at 12:02 am
Help!!! I have the original 8GB 2G 1.1 or 1.2 firmware?? ( i upgraded the firmware once from the time i bought it) jailbroken and unlocked using a T-mobile sim. Today, I attempted to install the iphone 3.0 firmware per instructions above. I installed the latest itunes software which was 9.0, however, I did not update my iphone with my MAC per these intructions, “Next plug in your iPhone and makes sure iTunes syncs the data on it. iTunes will then tell you that an iPhone update is available, go ahead and apply the update.” The reason being was that the latest available update from Apple is now 3.1 and from what I was reading, the Redsn0w will not work for this yet…and I didn’t know how to download the old 3.0 to my phone. Anyway, aside from this I followed all the directions using Redsn0w .72 and I keep getting the itunes and USB icon on the iphone now. I tried this several times and even tried the Redsn0w .8 software. I only selected the CYDIA and UNLOCK options. What can I do?? Help please!!
14. November 2009 at 12:11 pm
I unlocked my Iphone 2G and upgraded to 2.2.0 firmware using winpwn. I was wondering if i can upgrade to 3.0.0 now? Because my sim is not the original that was with the phone in the start. And i am living in Norway, does this affect something?
Please answer! Thanks..
15. November 2009 at 9:23 am
the iphone gets stuck on downloading jailbreak data…
30. November 2009 at 12:59 am
JJ: You don’t need to restore and re-unlock/jailbreak the phone. That is a huge hassle just to add the following lines to the top of the file: /var/lib/dpkg/status
Package: cydia
Status: install ok installed
Priority: required
Section: Packaging
Installed-Size: 1448
Maintainer: Jay Freeman (saurik)
Architecture: iphoneos-arm
Version: 1.0.3044-65
Replaces: com.sosiphone.addcydia
Depends: apr-lib, apt7-key, apt7-lib, darwintools, pcre, shell-cmds, system-cmds, essential
Pre-Depends: dpkg (>= 1.14.25-8)
Conflicts: com.sosiphone.addcydia
Description: graphical iPhone front-end for APT
Name: Cydia Installer
Author: Jay Freeman (saurik)
Depiction: cydia.saurik.com/info/cydia/
When installing Icye and Cydia at the same time, this status entry gets left out and Cydia uses it to determine what version of itself was installed. Once you add this entry to the ’status’ file you should be fine. As always, it is a good idea to backup the file before you modify it. As for how to modify the file, that is up to you. If you have Open ssh installed on your phone, secure shell in to the phone and and use your favorite text editor that you have installed on the phone to edit the file. If you’re one of those sftp/scp people, copy the file to your local machine, add the entry, copy it back to the phone. If you need more details than that, you can google those instructions. I realize this reply is a bit late for you but other people might google this problem and hopefully my post will save them the trouble.
Best of luck,
panZ
23. January 2010 at 2:49 pm
Phone keeps getting stuck on reboot. Just keeps showing the Apply logo for a long time. Its almost like it is trying to start up, but can’t. Not really tech savy when it comes to this kind of stuff either. Any ideas? I had an unlocked Tmobile Iphone and then accidently locked it back up again by updated Itunes on it. Need Help!!!Any ideas?
28. January 2010 at 12:08 am
Hello
I followed the procedure using the latest version of Itunes 9, but I’m not able to restore my data since Itunes is saying it found an -iphone in recovery mode and it needs to be restored.
It does not allowed me to restore my data from the backup, how can I do??
Thanks,
31. January 2010 at 6:20 pm
um… hi wondering if n e one can help me… i have a iphone3g, i jailbroke it using redsnow.. added ultra snow via cydia to unlock it, however i dont seem to be getting any network coverage… it says ’searching’ for about 5 mins after which it says ‘no network’… is there something wrong with my phone? what can i do to try fix this!
n e suggestions would b helpful!
thanks
sai.
31. January 2010 at 6:21 pm
p.s i tried a voda and an orange sim… had the same problem with both!