Info on the iPhone 3GS Jailbreak via the Dev-Team

devteam If you haven’t already heard, the Dev-Team has released some info about the iPhone 3GS jailbreak. It seems that it is “possible” but not likely to happen any time soon. Below is what the Dev-Team has to say:

Summary:

We can jailbreak the 3GS right now. But making our jailbreak public at this point in time would benefit relatively few people. It would in fact be detrimental to many more people than it would help. So we feel it’s best to keep our version of the jailbreak out of Apple’s sights for the time being.

Details:

If you already have a 3GS phone and have already done a full USB dump or captured your img3’s signed with your ECID, then you’re in great shape. You will always be able to jailbreak. But many people who plan on getting a 3GS do not yet have one. For instance, many people are waiting for their existing contracts to mature to the point where they get a price break on the 3GS. Many people are trying to sell their 3G before they can buy the 3GS. There are parts of the globe where you can’t even buy a 3GS yet! The reasons are varied, but they are many.

The nature of the 3GS hardware allows Apple to stop IPSWs from being usable unless you’ve already gotten the signed chunks they send to you based on your ECID (a unique chip ID). You cannot get these signed chunks without knowing your ECID, and you don’t know your ECID until you’ve bought your 3GS.

The jailbreak requires at least one signed iBoot-family img3 for your device. And that iBoot needs to have an exploitable bug. It’s an all-or-nothing deal…you either have your signed exploitable iBoot ready to use, for now and forever — always jailbreakable — or you have nothing.

Here’s the critical point, the reason why we’re delaying our version of the jailbreak: Once the jailbreak is out, Apple will fix the iBoot-family bug we use to accomplish it. They will simply stop signing the old iBoots and only sign the fixed ones. If you bought your phone after Apple has done this, there’s nothing you can do…the jailbreak isn’t going to work for you.

It is possible that Apple will find the bug we use without our handing it to them on a silver platter (via a public jailbreak). In that case, we will have delayed our jailbreak for “nothing”. But we’d rather be safe than sorry!

Apple is surely coming out with a 3.0.1 firmware release shortly. They need to fix ultrasn0w. They need to fix some UI issues. 3.0 is buggy and 3.0.1 is coming. We’re going to wait and see what 3.0.1 brings before figuring out the release date for our version of the jailbreak.

In the meantime, we have some remaining 3.0 jailbreak issues to investigate, including push notification. Thanks for being patient with us while we took a 3GS “timeout”!

Check out the Dev-Team’s website HERE.

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Comments

  1. After using and jailbreaking iPhones for two years, I no longer sit anticipating the JB for 3Gs. In the end, the whole JB process and culture has as many restrictions tied to it as the Apple restrictions we rail against. The only things I miss are the 5 icon dock, open SSH and themes. Apart from that, I’m living quite well with an unjailbroken 3Gs, which is a superior device to what came before. If it were never jailbroken, I would be fine with that. I don’t require unlocking. Reading the Dev-Team’s most recent post was confusing and a bit infuriating. I’m not a techie. I don’t know what this means, “If you already have a 3GS phone and have already done a full USB dump or captured your img3’s signed with your ECID, then you’re in great shape.” What the heck does that mean? I’m at the I no longer care stage with all of this.

    • Ditto for me!

    • I don’t have a 3GS and probably won’t be getting one for awhile. I have the first iPhone and also the 3G. I wish there were a way to unlock without the jailbreak. I like some of the extras that jailbreaking gave, but with the new 3.0 then those extras become less and less important. I will probably not get a new iPhone until the NEXT one is released, whenever that might be.

    • Here is the link to obtain the ECID info from your 3GS, hope it helps….http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=4351

    • More and more the whole jailbreak thing becomes a waiting game loaded with restrictions, caveats and no-no’s. If I get bored with my 3Gs default theme, I can go to Accessibility, and select White on Black. That gives me a whole new look for icons and menus. I’m tired of playing this game with the Dev-Team. Good luck to them. If and when a JB appears for the S, I’ll jailbreak, but not out of necessity – only for something to do, and to play with.

    • Agreed, the benefits of JB don’t outweigh the effort anymore.

  2. Shaggsta says

    I bought my 3Gs on launch day and I must admit, there are fewer reasons now to jailbreak with 3.0 giving us some of the features the jailbreak did in the past such as mms messaging and some rudementary copy/paste. However, I miss winterboard, there is nothing more vanilla and lame then having ur phone look identical to everyone elses. It’s like everyone driving a white neon.. Personalization is what makes any laptop, phone, gizmo or gadget fun. I hate staring at that black background with that ugly dock. Anyhow i had many other reasons for the jail break but this lack of customization is killin me..

  3. This is totally off topic and im not sure why it hasnt been discussed yet as it is HUGE news. ..

    1. The 2nd Gen iPhone is capable of MMS on fw 3.0 thru a Cydia hack called “ActivateMMS2G”.

    2. It is sending and recieving MMS thru the stock Messanger app. on the springboard without the use of “Swirly” or other 3rd party apps.

    3. Im on T-mobile alive and kicking and simply put, I cannot believe that MMS is working after apple has said time and time again that “it is a hardware issue that prevents MMS on the 2nd Gen”. B.S!! Its working!!!

    4. If you would like more info on how to set it up, I can post some detailed instructions. Its really easy.

  4. I’m really glad people here agree with me. There was a time when I felt that an unjailbroken iPhone was incomplete. I don’t feel that way now. It’s an extra perk, but not a necessity.

  5. Derrickfromoklahoma says

    Why can’t Apple just let us use our device freely without restrictions on what we download and put on it! It’s like selling 1 million iPhone 3GS’s and billions of iPhones total isn’t enough money to shut them up and let us be free. Ugh!

  6. Derrickfromoklahoma says

    I’ve also recently been reading up on a guy by the name of George Hotz, alias GeoHot. He was supposedly one of the first to publish an unlock method for the 1st gen iPhone and originally a member of the dev team before being kicked. He has recently leaked information reported by iClarified stating that he has also found a JB for the 3GS by bypassing the signature code in iBoot. He has dubbed his project purplera1n and started a website called purplera1n.com that is only currently hosting an image. Doug and Brooke: have you heard anything about this?

  7. toNYc311 says

    My main likes about jailbreaking. Themes, Lockdown, File Access. Those are my main concerns. I have the 3GS and can live without the jailbreak I guess. But I loved the extra security of Lockdown. If I let a friend use my phone I like being able to lockdown certain apps. I know there is a built in Restrictions in the Settings app but it’s definitely not enough. Apple should give more security in that department in my opinion. Theming is a great perk but not necassary. And file access for me was great and now that I have 32GB of storage would be nice to be able to access it again.

    For me that’s really it. I mean sounds, ringtones, and the other add ons I can live without. However Categories and SBSettings are something Apple should have developed. I mean it makes the UI easier to use. Without those it’s more cumbersome closing whatever app the opening Setting to do small tasks like brightness or airplane mode or location.

    And I’m not whining. I just wonder why Apple can’t make their own device more convenient. Aside from those gripes I love the 3GS. It works leaps and bounds better than my old 3G and I’m happy with it even without the jailbreak for now.

  8. I don’t know about you guys but I’m dying to get the jailbreak for 1) to get my themes back.. how stupid is Apple that you can’t even change the stock black background.. seriously? It’s a black background……………….

    and 2) have you seen ZODTTD’s new emulator builds? GBA AND PSX BOTH run perfect and flawlessly!!!!! Final Fantasy running with no frameskip and perfect sound on the iPhone!? AMAZING.

    So I can wait it out, but I honestly find the phone boring without Cydia and all my freen themes and apps =[

    Love my jailbreak =]

    • Totally agree with you….untill apple will come up of a customization option for the iPhone’s and allow it to be unlocked just like the other countries who already enjoy this features, JailBreaking still is the way of life for owning an iPhone device…

  9. I don’t think your posts are being deleted. I had the same thing happen. I emailed Doug and he explained that they had an issue with certain posts going to the wrong place. I’m sure he will illuminate.

  10. I still have my jb/unlocked 2g, 3g and I have my shiny new 3gs.. I don’t plan on getting rid of my 2g or 3g. I may in the future but I like having all of them.. I’m greedy.

  11. Y tell us u can Jb,then say were not gonna release it, I want my Iphone 3gs jailbroken if u have da code e-mail me it,I’ll keep on the DL! I hate not having a jb iphone,it sucks! Do I have2do a USB dump& how?Plz reply!

  12. the only reasons i see to jailbreak are themes, emulators, SBSettings, and some “update” tweaks that will allow 2G and 3G to have 3Gs features (like MMS for the 2G, which is available). I think, most of those will be taken care of by Apple soon enough (excusing 2g MMS and emulators). For someone getting a 3Gs in a week or two, how likely is it that the jailbreak would be available? And when? This just shows that Apple is closing the door and most methods, and the 4th Gen likely won’t be JB-Capable, so this may be it. The Jailbreaking community has done more good for the iPhone than anything else. It created the App Store in essense, it put a lot of pressure on Apple to add other features, it led to the iPhone being spread through 80+ countries (I believe Jobs once said in a keynote, “We need to bring the iPhone to other countries, because we know they are in use in these other countries,” or something along those lines). So, Apple and every iPhone user owes the JB-Community and the Dev Team, BUT stopping them looks to be the reward sooner than later.

  13. It is moan that the jailbreak for the Iphone 3 GS have been postponed. I have now bought an Iphone with simlock on O2, since the impression had been awoken that the jailbreak for the Iphone 3GS would shortly be released. That is, however, moans