iPhone Dev Team have finally released their much awaited software method to unlock iPhone 3G.
Its also the world's first software solution to unlock iPhone 3G and it supports all firmwares including baseband firmware 02.28.00 which they had earlier indicated might not be supported.
Update (Jan 2nd, 2009):
The dev team has released an updated version of their yellowsn0w application (v0.9.4) to unlock iPhone 3G.
Update (Jan 3rd, 2009):
The dev team has released an updated version of their yellowsn0w application (v0.9.5) which fixes quite a few problems including some STK (SIM Toolkit) issues.
The dev team had released PwnageTool 2.2.1, QuickPwn 2.2 for Mac & QuickPwn 2.2 for Windows which can jailbreak 1st gen iPhone and iPhone 3G and unlock 1st gen iPhone running iPhone firmware 2.2 which was released by Apple on Nov 21.
They have just released the world's first and their much awaited software method to unlock iPhone 3G code named yellowsn0w for free.
To unlock iPhone 3G, the dev team has provided the following information:
- The unlock about to be released is only for the iPhone 3G. The iPhone 2G is already unlockable via BootNeuter (as installed by PwnageTool and QuickPwn).
- This unlock works exclusively with baseband 02.28.00. This baseband is provided by the latest firmware update (2.2) from Apple. You’ll need to upgrade to this release using iTunes and then use QuickPwn to activate etc. There are plenty of tutorials about this on iclarified, bigboss, and other established tutorial sites. Because it works on 02.28.00, it is available to everyone on the planet. This means we don’t need to unnecessarily expose holes in earlier basebands, which is an important concern.
- The application is a small daemon that is launched on boot. It injects the payload at boot and also whenever there is a baseband reset. You won’t notice anything about it other than that your third-party sim now works. It’s a small program and unobtrusive. There is no GUI (this is by design).
- You can add the application using the sources outlined below (coming soon). There are Cydia and Installer sources available, so use whichever you are comfortable using.
- There is a known issue with SIM cards that have STK (SIM Toolkit) application menus. These menus are usually items such as “top up” “get credit” etc. These menu items confuse the application sometimes. Removing and reinserting the SIM once after reboot (give it about 10 secs after you see the slide to unlock widget) fixes this issue. We’re working on a better fix.
- For those of you using SIM cards without STK menus, the application has some optional arguments that will make the unlock much faster for you. So either experiment on your own (use “yellowsn0w -h” for usage) or wait for a customization writeup.
- After you install yellowsn0w via Cydia, you should return to the Cydia main menu then reboot your iPhone with the 3rd party SIM installed. Wait for the slide to unlock screen, then wait 10 or 15 secs more. If you don’t see your carrier name pop up, then remove your SIM, reinsert it, and wait 10 secs more. This is the step we’ll be working on eliminating next.
- The application is version 0.9. This is considered beta software, and you use it at your own risk (you know the score). We guarantee that it’s not perfect and will require tweaking. Welcome to the cutting edge. (It’s a good thing these are just temporary RAM patches!)
- The application is released on a non-commerical basis. Please do not accept pirates and scummy ripoffs of this software. We license this software for single use and in a non-commerical environment (meaning you can’t charge for it). The techniques and methods used are not to be used by third party companies.
Basics
yellowsn0w is completely removable through Cydia, the command line, and iTunes.
Details
Other details
Before you start hacking your iPhone, it's a good idea to backup your iPhone.
yellowsn0w is available via Cydia which gets installed when you unlock your iPhone using QuickPwn 2.2 for Mac or QuickPwn 2.2 for Windows. QuickPwn which is a GUI based tool and quite easy to use.
You can follow these instructions:
- Launch Cydia from your iPhone's home screen.
- Tap the Manage tab and then Sources.
- Tap Edit on the top right corner of the screen.
- Then tap Add to enter the resource URL http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com (for Cydia) which will install the yellowsn0w source.
- Tap on the installed yellowsn0w source, and tap Install on the top right corner, this will install the yellowsn0w application which should unlock your iPhone 3G.
As mentioned by the dev team above those users with SIMs that have apps and other menus on them will need to do that extra step. You will know if you fall in this "extra step" category if your carrier doesn’t show up within about 10 seconds of the slide to unlock screen.
iPhone users in this category will need to pull and reinsert the SIM once after rebooting their iPhone to engage the unlock. The dev team is working on resolving the issue to avoid the extra step.
Please do remember that hacking your iPhone could void its warranty so please proceed with caution.
I just tried the above steps (and even removing and reinserting the SIM) on my iPhone 3G but it didn't seem to have worked for me.
Update 1:
The dev team has just updated their blog that they will be yellowsn0w 0.9.1. Here is what they have to say:
It uses a much longer delay to let your SIM card initialize. If you have problems with 0.9.0, try this one and wait a full minute after you seem homescreen, then reinsert sim card. We need both success and failure reports to tune this across the world, so please be patient (but please also report result!)
If you are in the U.S. and are trying this with T-Mobile, you must turn off the 3G switch in Settings. Also if you are good with the command line, you can make it much easier by adding the line <string>-q</string> right after the /usr/bin/yellowsn0w line in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.iphone-dev.yellowsn0w.plist (that’s and advanced tip, hopefully someone will make a boosprefs type of tool for it)
Update 2:
The dev team has just released yellowsn0w 0.9.1 and I was able to successfully unlock my iPhone 3G which had failed when I tried the first time with yellowsn0w 0.9. If you have added yellowsn0w 0.9 then the update will be available in Cydia, simply upgrade to 0.9.1. If this is the first time then adding the resource will install yellowsn0w 0.9.1 resource. Please remember to follow the instructions mentioned below carefully:
- Removing and reinserting the SIM once after reboot (give it about 60 seconds (with v0.9.1) after you see the slide to unlock widget) fixes this issue. We’re working on a better fix.
- For those of you using SIM cards without STK menus, the application has some optional arguments that will make the unlock much faster for you. So either experiment on your own (use “yellowsn0w -h” for usage) or wait for a customization writeup.
- After you install yellowsn0w via Cydia, you should return to the Cydia main menu then reboot your iPhone with the 3rd party SIM installed. Wait for the slide to unlock screen, then wait 10 or 15 secs more. If you don’t see your carrier name pop up, then remove your SIM, reinsert it, and wait 60 secs more.
Here are some more updates from the dev team:
- If you are in the U.S. and are trying this with T-Mobile, you must turn off the 3G switch in Settings. Also if you are good with the command line, you can make it much easier by adding the line <string>-q</string> right after the /usr/bin/yellowsn0w line in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.iphone-dev.yellowsn0w.plist (that’s and advanced tip, hopefully someone will make a boosprefs type of tool for it)
- No PIN support yet. Remember how we said this was beta? Well we’re still working out the flow for SIMs with PINs enabled. Please disable any PIN you may have on that SIM before trying yellowsn0w, for now..
The dev team are just brilliant to quickly release a fix to resolve the issue some folks were facing. They are working to eliminate some of the extra steps. I would strongly recommend you to follow the Dev team's blog for more detailed instructions and in case you want to report any issue.
Update 43:
If you try to unlock iPhone 3G running anything other than baseband 02.28.00 then dev team's unlocking solution will not work, it detects the wrong version and quits, so check your modem firmware setting in Settings->General->About.
Update 4 (Jan 2nd, 2009):
Folks at Hackint0sh have published a guide with some useful tips to unlock iPhone 3G. It has helped readers Ricki and maikel to unlock their iPhone 3Gs successfully. Thanks Ricki for the tip.
Update 5:
The dev team has released an updated version of their yellowsn0w application (v0.9.4) to unlock iPhone 3G. Some folks were able to successfully unlock their iPhone 3G. If you have already unlocked your iPhone 3G, I would recommend you to avoid upgrading to the new version as it did not work as smoothly when I tried.
However, if you had tried unlocking your iPhone 3G with the older version and it did not work, you can try upgrading to the new version of yellowsn0w via Cydia.
Also checkout this guide over at Hackint0sh, it has some useful tips to unlock iPhone 3G. I was able to successfully unlock my iPhone 3G (again) with the latest version of yellowsn0w by following it.
Update 6 (Jan 3rd, 2009):
We has just published step-by-step guides to jailbreak iPhone 3G using QuickPwn.
Step-by-Step Guide to Jailbreak iPhone 3G using QuickPwn (Windows)
Step-by-Step Guide to Jailbreak iPhone 3G using QuickPwn (Mac)
Update 7:
The brilliant and selfless dev team have been busy fixing issues which users have reported after releasing world's first software method to unlock iPhone 3G. They have released v0.9.5 of their yellowsn0w application to unlock iPhone 3G. They have mentioned that the latest version fixes quite a few problems including some STK (SIM Toolkit) issues and have adviced everyone to upgrade to this version. You can upgrade to the latest version via Cydia.
If you are still facing issues, please report them here so the dev team can fix them. One of our reader, Kenneth who tipped us about the latest version has reported that he was able to successfully unlock his iPhone 3G with yellowsn0w v0.9.5. He was facing issues with the previous versions of the application. Thanks Kenneth for the tip.
Update 8:
I tried upgrading to yellowsn0w v0.9.5, however I ended up hitting an issue. I used the following steps and was able to successfully unlock my iPhone 3G (again).
Launch Moble terminal app (you can install it via Cydia)
Type yellowsn0w -c
Type yellowsn0w -r
Type yellowsn0w -l (I got an error message "illegal option --l, Unknown message" but I ignored it and continued with the remaining steps)
Airplane mode on (keep it in that mode for more than 10 seconds)
Airplane mode off
Update 9:
We have just published a step-by-step guide to unlock iPhone 3G, hope it helps.
Update 10 (Jan 7th, 2009):
Dev Team have updated their yellowsn0w app to unlock iPhone 3G. It fixes even more problems.
Please don't forget to drop us a line to tell us if you were able to successfully unlock your iPhone 3G.
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Mine worked perfectly!!! I resetted network settings and popped in my sim card and picked it up immediately!
Vodafone UK SIM in UK iphone (O2) – works great. Needs the SIM card ejecting and reinserting after a reboot, but everything works.
So far not working for me with Vibo 3g (only network) in Taiwan.
Hey all
Ive been trying to unlock a Fido iPhone 3G with both versions, still no luck.
Anybody have any success stories/tips?
Who needs 3g unlock when you have an Italian factory-unlocked iPhone?
I hate to sound unthankful but now the Dev Team are asking us to upgrade the baseband before trying to unlock the iPhone 3G?!!!
Excuse me but aren't they the ones who warned us not to upgrade our basebands and use the preserved ipsw files? Do you imagine the hard work and the waste of time (it took two days from my life) searching the web to find a trusted ipsw that is having the baseband preserved just because they didn't release their pwnage tool for Windows, backing up everything, upgrading and restoring all of my files after having ton of issues and iTunes errors .. and now I have to start all over again?!!
I am sorry but this unlock process was supposed to be easy and straight forward, I am supposed to just install and run yellowsn0w and BOOM! everything should work fine and iPhone becomes unlocked without doing any firmware:baseband/upgrade:downgrade/what-so-ever.
iPhoneHacks, are you listenning to me, I am not happy about this and I hope U can cheer me up with some advices.
Regards. And Happy New Year.
Great! I did it. It work perfectly. For a while I wasn't even getting any message but after 30 second I got the no signal message and them I turned the airplane mode on and off. after that the phone start searching and I got T-MObile. Thanks Iphone dev team.
Does not work in Austria. Well, still beta, so i won't geht impatient.
thx for infos!
^^^ quit complaining! They've just done this for everyone and imaginge how many days they have spent getting this done. Your 2 days are nothing in comparison so shut the fuck up!
YES!! Thank you Dev Team. Mine Vodafone UK is working on iPhone 3G (UK-O2)now. And there is no problem when connecting to iTune while iPhone inserted with Vodafone SIM.
actually i was even more impatient, because now it works fine.
sadly it does not work for me. i've got a sim card with PIN without any way of disabling it
Thanks so much Iphone Dev team! I believe I really owe you that's why I immediately send a comment…just to let everybody knows that everything's fine with my iphone 3G after following all your instructions,i dont need any turbo sim or V3 which i bought thru online (which actually gives me a network problem from time to time)…really a Happy New Year for me!!!!
Hi Everything work the only problem I had was that when I restart my iphone It does not get tha signal by itself. I have to turn the air plane mode on and off until I gae the message searching After that work fine. with T-mobile on New york
No luck for me neither…I'm tried both China mobile and China unicom also my Thailand 1 2 call prepaid card…Right now it seems to be working T-mobile only…I'm not sure got anyone that is not using T-mobile and it is working?….sadly…
I'm getting AT&T dropped calls like crazy after running the unlock. I don't have another sim card to test another provider, but I was wondering if anyone else was getting dropped calls like crazy?
I followed the iinstructions but my phone will let me recieve but will not let me make outgoing calls and sometimes my phone will freeze and in most cases i wont even have a single bar to make a call
Hi,
First, i would like to thanks the DEV TEAM for all your effort to release the solution.
My Iphone is from New Zealand and tried with my China telecom Sim. It's not working.
Waiting for some update to enjoy my cellphone without the boost card which is very slow
Cheers.
Alright .. the 'fuck up' has been shut! .. any clues of how to upgrade my preserved baseband to the latest version without restoring my iPhone? I'm already on firmware 2.2
I had make it to receive by first puit in my thailand sim card then restart through bosspreff after 2-3mins re insert my china mobile card…and now it is working fine…
GPS,EDGE, flight mode working well
but once i have restart my iphone and i will need to redo the earlier way i make it works if not it will not finding any networks….anyway thanks DEV
It hasn't worked for me.. I running the QuickPwn and it's putting the phone in recovery mode I hear a few beeps and NOTHING.. just hangs..I wait and wait and wait.. I've restored 3 times and can't get further than this… Any ideas. of yeah I was at ver 2.11 before I did this… thanks
Thanks so much! It worked fine for me with an O2 handset in the UK, now on Vodafone. I seem to have to eject/reinsert the SIM card following a reboot, otherwise I just get 'invalid SIM' messages, but it works!
havin some troubles with t-mobile here,i updated to 2.2 then quickpwned installed yellosn0w just like it said in the dev team blog but now i inserted my sim card i wasnt getting signal so i rebooted got signal for 2-3 secs then its gone any ideas?
sweden parlino works perfekt.thanks
now im getting "fixed number dialing active" this is frustrating
For those of you having trouble with t-mobile and only being able to receive calls, it is most likely that you have not disabled the 3g under your settings. The iphone 3g only supports frequencies of 850, 1900, and 2100, while tmobile uses the 1700 frequency to send and the 2100 frequency to receive. If you read the directions closely above it specifically tells t-mobile USA customers to turn of the 3g option.
ee,sorry but this sucks…i updated my phone to 2.2 without the baseband but its not working for me but for new updated baseband?i totally apreciate what devteam achieved but it will take alot of time to do to new baseband….anyways,thanks alot to devteaö since seems for many ppl its working.pls help us too
)
I highly recommend caution. DevTeam says beta, they mean beta. If you visit their website, you'll see lots and lots of people are having no success. I fall into that category. I'm guessing the success rate is above 60%, but it's in beta. Unless you absolutely NEED the 2.2 firmware update, I'd recommend waiting.
WORKED like a charm! Followed iclarified tutorial to upgrade to 2.2, then followed instructions on the unlock from the dev team. Did not show the carrier at first, but as stated wait for the unlock bar to show then slide and carrier shows. Thanks alot to the dev team, I saved some cash and put my thin sim away, hopefully forever. Mike from Italy.
I would like to add, don't know if it's upgrading to 2.2, or unlock, or combo of both, but apps are working much faster, very noticeable. Seems as though it is using it's full potential now that the thin sim (hardware method), has been removed.
Still no luck with VIBO (3g only Network) in Taiwan.
Not working. I am back to using a 2.2 TurboSIM.
I have TMobile and I get no signal after inserting the card. No PIN, nothing special about my SIM card.
@ tom, i am in the UK and am having trouble gettin my vodafone contract sim to work on the OS UK iphone, i have tried numerous techinques menton on the dev teams website, but as urs is the exact criteria to my unlockin, andy information would be appreciated, thnx
Neither Fido nor Rogers, no luck
Can Any one help me I followed every step but nothing I have Tmobile USA any tips or extra steps will be greatly appreciated.
update 1, 2, and 4? what happened to update 3?
Brazil OI, recognizes carrier but cannot complete any calls (phone app locks up). After a while the signal bars get low and carrier name disappears.
Hi,
I tried this morning again, i hate to give up especially when people succeed and not me!!!
Therefore, once you ve done all the process, reinsert your boost card! (mine was not finding out the signal anymore), then take it off and just reinsert the sim and it s working! call, sms ect…
After installing yellowsn0w half an hour manipulation of all kinds was not successful at all. But than at dev team blog I read instructions from one German guy and that did the trick!
Please try out this :
1. Download and install BossPrefs and Yellowsn0w via Cydia
2. Disable all Functions with BossPrefs (don´t worry if you can´t disable EDGE)
3. Reboot ypur Phone with BossPrefs (not in the normally way – important !)
4. Wait 1.30 min when you see the Lockscreen
5. Take out your Sim and insert it.
6. Wait a moment
7. Go on Settings and Turn on the fly mode
8. Turn off Fly Mode
9.R you happy?
I just going to add more!
10. After I did 9 steps it still was not working for me. SO what I did is took out my sim card and pop in sim card but from different provider. In my case (I am in estonia and using EMT but I popped in sim card NORWEGIAN provider Telenor) SO right after I popped in rouming sim card it start search and it worked!!! Both rouming and regular!
So my advice is – BE CREATIVE and DO NOT AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT!
MANY MANY MANY THANKS TO DEV TEAM! YOU GUYS ARE ROCK! THANKS FOR SUCH AN AMAZING NEW YEAR GIFT!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!
um yea hi dev team im having trouble myself with the tmobile sim. i installed the yellow snow for the cydia first i followed the instruction and it first had no bars as if it was receiving signal it stayed like that for about 2 hours then it said no service then i switch air plane mode on/off and it stayed it in invalid sim i even installed the yellow snow on the installer i rebooted it waited about 1 minute the it showed no bars for about 1 hour then it said no signals, I'm here in Florida under t-mobile please help thank you
ok now i got it to work (partially) i got full signal and im abel to send sms but i cant make phone calls because the signal drops inmediatly…
Works in the Philippines… Just keep switching the airplane toggle to reboot.
I'm from Mauritius ,,,getting problem every time,,,it's works,,,couldn't c the the network,,,need to play with the fly mode,,,,ok and off…reboot it,,,inject card ,,,re put it ,,,but it's working fine ,,,another things when I put it 0n 3g ,,,the signal drop ,,,y?????
I'm from Mauritius ,,,getting problem every time,,,it's works,,,couldn't c the the network,,,need to play with the fly mode,,,,ok and off…reboot it,,,inject card ,,,re put it ,,,but it's working fine ,,,another things when I put it 0n 3g ,,,the signal drop ,,,y?????
I'm from Mauritius ,,,getting problem every time,,,it's works,,,couldn't c the the network,,,need to play with the fly mode,,,,ok and off…reboot it,,,inject card ,,,re put it ,,,but it's working fine ,,,another things when I put it 0n 3g ,,,the signal drop ,,,y?????
Thank you Dev Team. My Iphone 3G is bought from London, works perfectly with HK CSL sim and is currently roaming in China But my China Mobile sim do not work, it will only works with turbo sim and needs to eject/reinsert the SIM card many times before i can get a stable signal.
…I am having a problem also.
I am trying to use the new software unlock on a UK iPhone. I have followed the steps (upgrading to 2.2 with new baseband, jailbroken and installed Yellowsn0w).
After rebooting with the T-Mobile UK sim installed it comes up with full signal showing T-Mobile UK and then I try and make a call to test it and then the signal drops off and it says call failed.
Help!
[Update]
Have tested the same iPhone with a Vodafone UK Sim which works perfectly. Full signal, edge connection, can make and receive calls properly without the signal dropping.
This just seems to be a T-Mobile thing. I have tried disabling 3G which it said in one of the previous posts (even though that was saying for US), but the same thing still happens.
Not working, but I might have a strange config.
A swisscom Iphone and a Dutch KPN sim
Swisscom sim still works, so no harm done.