iPhone 3GS Finally Hacked

Well, the inevitable hacking of Apple's latest flavor of iPhone has happened. Named "purplera1n," the tool will only allow installation of unauthorized applications instead of a full unlock. "The purplera1n jailbreak will free your iPhone from the limitations imposed on it by AT&T and Apple. After jailbreaking, a user will be able to customize the iPhone with home-screen wallpapers and third-party ringtones. But the biggest advantage of jailbreaking is the support of unapproved apps such as iBlackList (blacklists and whitelists for contacts) and many others."

Don't need to jailbreak for wallpaper/ring tones

[sarahbau]

You can set the wallpaper and use third party ring tones without jailbreaking an iPhone. Apple doesn't restrict them THAT much.

Re:Don't need to jailbreak for wallpaper/ring tone

[Darkness404]

How? Yes, you can set your wallpaper for the "Slide to unlock" screen, but for the screen where your apps are? No, I know of no way to change that short of jailbreaking.

iTunes The Real Problem

[rshol]

I love my iPhone, I wouldn't trade it. But my biggest problem is not the software the phone runs (or doesn't run), its being locked in to using iTunes. I hate it, I want to use something else, but Apple has locked me out. Don't want me to run stuff on the phone because the network (ATT) does not want to support it? I almost understand that. Don't want me to run software you haven't checked to make sure the user experience it up to par? Really? Don't want me to use software of my choice to allow two pieces of hardware I own to interact with each other (PC to iPhone)? That's pretty evil.

Does this unlock it though?

[Anonymous Coward]

Unlocking the damn thing would be the single most useful feature (for use with providers other than ATT).

The 3GS Unlock is available

[Weedhopper]

The 3GS unlock & jailbreak has been available since midnight last night.

http://blog.iphone-dev.org/ [iphone-dev.org]

The usual culprits (the iPhone DevTeam) were waiting until the 3.1 release but it looks like their hand was forced by an independent hacker releasing his jailbreak on Friday.

There was a LOT of stuff you after jailbreaking (background apps, tether, etc) on the 1.x and 2.x OS releases but as Apple adds more features with each consecutive release, I'm finding the need to jailbreak a little less compelling. I still will, b/c I find a terminal + SSH alone to be compelling but once tethering is official, I may just go back to an un-jailbroken state. I still need the unlock, of course.

Mine's hacked and unlocked

[johntdavies]

I've been watching this carefully. I bought the original iPhone in the US before they made you sign up for AT&T in the store, I'm English but these didn't sell them out of the US at the time but as the dollar was so low they were extremely cheap (for us). For several months I used it a rather nice iPod until a rather complex jailbreak and unlock came out later that year. From then on my new Nokia E90 was put in a draw and I became a proud iPhone owner. For many more months it remained unavailable outside the US and it became a show piece in meetings. I didn't get the 3G, mainly because it remained un-hackable for some time but last month I was in line outside the London Apple store at 7:30am waiting to get my hands on a new 3GS. For the last few weeks I've been walking around with two iPhones, one old one with my Vodafone card in it and one new one with a pay-as-you-go (£10/month) O2 card in it. Tonight I downloaded the Purplera1n (mac version), connected my 3GS to my Mac, backed it up and clicked on the "Make it Ra1n" button. A couple or re-boots later, some 5 minutes and I was the proud owner of a jailbroken iPhone 3GS. I downloaded Ultrasn0w on Cydia, installed it, rebooted and inserted my UK Vodafone SIM and it's now all working perfectly. I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you really need to, I could have switched to O2 but I think they rip people off with their data prices (as do AT&T), I can get a full 7.2 meg HSDPA and UPA where I live on Vodafone compared to O2's rather slow 3G service. Although most people I know are using a hack to tether their 3GS on O2 I've been doing this on Vodafone for some ten years now starting with my trusty Psion and an RS232 link to my old Nokia phones, sadly that was still faster than today's data service on AT&T though in most of the US. If you're adventurous or want to have a bit more flexibility over your provider then go for the jailbreak and unlock, I can verify that it works on the iPhone 3GS. -John- @jtdavies

Re:The 3GS Unlock is available

[jonwil]

If you need the unlock, you will need the jailbreak.

Re:err, why?

[E IS mC(Square)]

"The G1 is controlled by T-mobile, and t-mobile can change features as it wishes."

If you keep repeating it, it may become true.

Not that G1 is greatest phone ever made (and you have to be a fanboi to make such a claim, which seems to be iphone-only case), but if you are talking about being able to install apps I want to, I can do it today, without worrying about it being locked out/bricked when next updates come along. Also, I do not have to pay for features when they are released - Android update to 1.5 was free. ("free" - look it up in dictionary).

Re:Don't need to jailbreak for wallpaper/ring tone

[SUB7IME]

Assuming you're using windows: Open iTunes. Edit ---> Preferences General Tab Change your Import Settings to AAC Encoder. Right click on the song that will become your future ringtone and go to Options. Make it start and end at the desired times (around 30 seconds between start and end). Now right click on the song (it will appear in iTunes) and show the file in Explorer. Rename it from .m4a to .m4r. Drag it into iTunes. If you didn't have any ringtones before, a new Ringtones folder will be created (icon looks like a bell). A hassle, yes, but certainly possible.

Re:err, why?

[Totenglocke]

I have an iPhone 3GS and you CAN get Project Gutenberg on it -- it's just not called that. Download Stanza, then when you open it go to "online catalog", then scroll down and select Project Gutenberg (there are many other free places to get books from with Stanza). It's simple and doesn't require jailbreaking.

Re:Don't need to jailbreak for wallpaper/ring tone

[Moridineas]

AFAIK, that no longer works. You have to use Apple lossless now. My understanding is that they disabled the AAC method because they don't want people making their own ringtones.

Yes, it is a pain, it's unofficial and undocumented, and for all i know will break again in a future patch?

Re:err, why?

[kzieli]

That was a random example. Used bacause one of the apps famously rejected by the Apple App store was for accessing project Gutenberg.

So that their is a way to do this after all is somewhat beside the point.

Note that here in Australia we probably have it better with I Phones as

1. No exclusive deals where allowed so that we have four competing carriers who have the iPhone. You can even move between carriers without changing your phone number. Ironically the same cannot be said fro blackberry, which is only available from Telstra.
2. Tethering is permitted, though one of the four carriers charges an extra $10AU per month if you enable this. THe other three carriers do not.

Re:jailbreak justification

[Anonymous Coward]

A HTC Windows Mobile phone has most of these

My AT&T Tilt has:

A) a (captive) touchscreen
No. Its resistive. Still its a touch.

B) A decent mobile browser good enough for light-medium browsing
Yes. Download Opera Mini or SkyFire (both free)

C) Thousands of free apps
Maybe not thousands but I can write my own (I have) or download them.
Nobody (not even MS) tries to intervene.

D) A decent enough camera
Its OK (3MP). Other newer HTC phones have better. Like most camera phones it really needs a camera flash.

E) is GSM
Yes

F) Has wi-fi
Yes (And bluetooth etc)

G) Has a large selection of decent games
Haven't looked

H) costs under $300 under contract
I think it was $199 after rebates

I) Is avalible now in the USA
Its actually been superceded by newer, better models.

J) has a provider with decent enough 3G coverage
AT&T

Also has GPS.... Added a 8GB MicroSD card for $20

Borderline insanity

[microbox]

Don't want me to use software of my choice to allow two pieces of hardware I own to interact with each other (PC to iPhone)? That's pretty evil.

That's not particularly evil - the itunes-iphone connection does more than just sync files. What is borderline insanity is:

• No bluetooth keyboard - why?
• Cannot mount my iphone as a usb drive and do away with my usb stick - why?

Re:iTunes The Real Problem

[floodo1]

yeah and it's also evil when the person that installed a "third--party app" goes to the apple store and expects support. THIS is the biggest thing people misunderstand about apple, the degree to which their customers expect support. THIS is the reason why they try to keep such a tight control over customer experience.

Re:err, why?

[cawpin]

UNLESS you pay full retail price, you do NOT own the device. Even then.. you only own the hardware, not the OS, which is only LICENSED to you. Nor do you, at that point, still have any right to use whatever SIM card you want to in it. NOR do you have any warranty.

First, wrong. I DO own the device if I purchase it. If I am specifically LEASING it, I don't. If I stop paying my bill they can turn off my service and send me to collections for the service, NOT the device.

Second, I DO have the right to use any SIM card I want. Wireless providers are required to unlock your phone. They can charge for it, but that wasn't the statement.

Re:Mine's hacked and unlocked

[Linker3000]

Wow, ...and I just got an HTC Touch Pro and..erm..installed pretty much anything I wanted to run 'just like that'

Re:err, why?

[Hurricane78]

Let me guess: You never had a Nokia phone with Symbian.

Re:err, why?

[Opportunist]

Not necessarily.

From a security point of view, it can be very sensible to have a locked down device. Take computers. A lot of users out there would want a computer that can do nothing but browse the web and write emails, along with the ability to view pictures and movies and maybe do a little office work. That's it. Essentially, they don't need or want a full blown machine.

Sure, they could make a restricted account and use that. But they neither know how to do that nor do they want to learn. So what happens? They surf around with administrator privileges (because "it works") and likely become a spambot.

For them, outsourcing that problem to someone else would certainly be something they would not mind. And, frankly, I'd welcome it as a step towards more security.

I wouldn't want such a computer, and I would not buy it. Just as much as I did not and will not buy an iPhone. But just because it would be the wrong device for me doesn't mean it can't be the right device for anyone else.

Re:Don't need to jailbreak for wallpaper/ring tone

[icebraining]

Nokias can use MP3, I usually use the phone Wifi to download them directly to the memory card, without passing through the PC.

Re:iTunes The Real Problem

[makomk]

This argument makes no sense. Apple hasn't locked you out of anything. Apple made the software which syncs to their hardware, just like Microsoft makes the software (ActiveSync) that syncs to their windows mobile OS, and Palm makes the software that syncs to their hardware (Palm Desktop).

No, Apple deliberately designed the syncing protocol to lock out third-party software on the iPhone and iPod Touch, and have put in the effort to keep it that way. There was reverse-engineered code for the 1.3 firmware, but Apple modified their cryptographic authentication to lock it out again (and we're talking strong cryptography here). Palm, on the other hand, were fairly open with their sync protocol and you can get all sorts of third-party sync software.

Re:Only in apple world...

[TheRaven64]

No, in Apple's world I use iSync to automatically synchronise my phone with the address book and calendar on my laptop. This works over Bluetooth, so I don't need to plug anything in, I just put the phone in the same room as the laptop. I can copy music and photos across too, using the Bluetooth file browser that comes with OS X to drag and drop files between the Finder and the phone. For individual files it's sometimes quicker to just use Bluetooth Object Exchange from the phone by selecting the picture and saying 'send to...'.

But then, I bought a cheap Nokia phone, not an iPhone.

RTFA - you decide, not them

[SuperKendall]

Why would anyone buy a device where someone *else* decides what apps you can run and what you cannot run?

I wouldn't.

The reality is that:

(a) Jailbroken, I can run things Apple or AT&T don't want me to.

(b) As a developer, I can write and deploy ANYTHING I want to the phone (and if you don't care to make it dead simple for $99/year, you can always use the open toolchain to do the compiling).

You don't even always have to jailbreak to do something, for instance there's a simple file you download on the phone itself to enable tethering on AT&T in the U.S....

I don't understand why people ignore the reality of a situation to complain about the way something ships from the factory. The truth is the iPhone is jailbroken, and always will be - Apple doesn't really care so I don't see why anyone else should. As technical people we should be focused on what is possible, not how something arrives to us initially.

Re:Don't need to jailbreak for wallpaper/ring tone

[Moridineas]

Sorry, I'm not understanding from where your confusion stems.

The first thing I tried to do after getting the iphone 3gs was to make a ringtone. I tried with AAC as numerous forums/blogs/etc mentioned--it did not work. I tried with apple lossless as other posts suggested if the first method didn't work. That worked. Does that make sense?

I just tried again with several different files...oddity upon oddity, aac method worked fine on all except for the first file I had tried which simply does not import into itunes after converted to aac and changed to m4r. So it appears I was more or less wrong--AAC _does_ still work (at least most of the time). The file that fails as a aac ringtone is an ogg file before conversion...I wonder if that could be an issue.

And also, FWIW, have no idea if this is trustworthy or not... http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10115290-233.html [cnet.com]