iPhone Dev team had announced last week that they might be able to jailbreak and unlock Apple's new iPhone 3GS as they were able to verify that the 24Kpwn exploit that the hybrid team used on the iPod Touch 2G, is still applicable to the bootrom of iPhone 3GS.
However, they have now announced that they are delaying their iPhone 3GS jailbreak in the interest of those who are planning to purchase an iPhone 3GS in the near future as they expect Apple to release iPhone OS 3.0.1 in which they might try to fix the exploit.
Dev Team is worried that Apple might release iPhone OS 3.0.1 to fix the exploit that is being used to jailbreak iPhone 3GS:
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.
As always, please don't forget to drop us a line to tell us what you think about Dev team's decision to delay releasing the jailbreak.
[via Dev Team's blog]
this is kinda lame, i understand the dev team is looking out for the communities best interest. if we think about this for a min tho, if apple doesn't fix the exploit in 3.0.1 and they release the jailbreak, apple will fix it in 3.0.2. so waiting only delays the inevitable. sooner or later apple will fix the holes.
why don't they just find a DIFFERENT exploit instead of using an old one!????
Whenever they relaease the jailbreak, Apple with just examine the approach used and attempt to fix it.
Ok, i understand that the team want as many people as possible to have the ability to utilize the opportunity, but NOT everyone that buys an 'S' will wish to do so. I have many friends that refuse to JB their 3G for fears known only to themselves.
A lot of people i have seen and spoken to about JBing dont even know what it is.
The team have their reasons but it's their software to release as they wish.
Not sure if i'm just thinking in too simple terms, but why can't there be a way to duplicate on the sim-locked iPhones, what the Factory Unlocked Iphones have? I would love to be able to make my factory locked phone, a Factory Unlocked phone. Is that possible? How difficult would that be?
I agree with everyone here. I do not see the difference between releasing it now or after the supposed "3.0.1 update". Apple will fix the exploit in this one or the next. Also it does not make any sense on "waiting" for more people to by the 3G S. I mean come on! just release it so people can enjoy their 3G S to the fullest and if Apple release a new update then we will wait to update our phones with a new OS until it can be jailbroken. Please don't make us wait any longer!!!!
If I can wait 5 months for the 2g jailbreak, I can wait another couple weeks, it's all good.
what really doesn't make sense is this:
"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."
think about it… if you wanted to get a 3G S, you would have gotten one by now. with the dev team's logic, we could be waiting "forever" until the 3G S isn't sold anymore until the jailbreak is released.
apple can turn around following the dev team's decision and say "since the jailbreak won't be released until we fix the jailbreak, let's not fix the jailbreak and nobody will have it jailbroken anyways.."
come on, dev team…. think about it… whoever wanted a 3G S bad enough would have gotten one already…. and if you haven't then just hurry up and get one before they do fix it…. it's as simple as that…
Agree with comment #1.
What is 3.0.1 going to add that we just NEED to have??? It's going to be a patch and a minor one at that.
Why did they even release the jailbreak & unlock for the 3G on 3.0?? They held out for 3.0, why now is 3.0 not a good enough milestone.
I'm calling bullsh*t
It (jailbreaking) is a cat and mouse game. It's easy for the mouse to win if it never comes out from between the walls.
The 3GS has not been released in all countries yet, so no not everyone that wants a 3GS has one.
I wish people would think outside their own little world before commenting on things!
The exploit called 24kpwn is an exploit that is in the bootrom. Apple can't fix this with a firmware update. The 24kpwn exploit is useless by itself and needs an iboot exploit. Apple can fix and update iboot via firmware. The old iPod touch 2G isn't what they are worried about being patched. It's the iboot exploit.
Typo it's suppose to be old iPod touch 2G exploit towards the bottom.
It's not possible. The unlocks are specificly signed and made for a unique iPhone. Your friends unlock crap won't work on yours.
I agree with the delay.
I have my first iphone, the new 3GS, and i was eagar to jailbreak this as friends have the 3G and i was a little jealous, but if its going to be fixed immediately after releasing the jailbreak software, then apple will do this everytime.
Im happy to wait, but please answer me this. 3.0 has been out a few weeks, and the 3G is jailbroken, but apple havent fixed this yet, so are we sure they will fix this for the 3GS, or al i a bit nieve.
Thanks to all for the advice and im looking forward to seeing what else is in store for us all soon.
Thanks.
LOL, people need to stop complaining about the delay or the decision they made. It's their software and you probably have no idea on how to make it. Just deal with it and wait. Nothing you can do seriously
Dev team take your time i think everyone here is getting a little out of line and a little disrespectfull. Dev Team Never led us astray before the wont now when its rdy to come out it will be out it that simple….QUIT your bitching and crying….. THANK YOU DEV TEAM FOR ALL THE FREE WORK U DO FOR US IPHONE USERS
So basically i gotta buy iphone 3gs within the next few days before the next new batch is jailbreak free? because im not planning on buying the iphone if i gotta pay unlimited data plan ( since i can just use brosspref to remove the data plan )
Im thinking of getting it tom and not opening it so that if i cant hack it i will return it.
What do you guys think?
Do we know how long this will all take, or at least until we can unlock the 3GS? I brought one but cant even use it with my sim card until I can do so. Does anyone know a way in the mean time I can use the phone with any sim?
So, iPhoneHacks, please help me to understand this one as it is a very high-tech type of information that I don't get. I have one question:
Could it be that DevTeam are afraid of losing the chances to jailbreak & unlock iPhone 3GS forever once Apple will release an update to fix this even if we try to reserve the baseband??!! (As far as I can see, this time the baseband is not the problem but it is the iboot exploit) which means we will not be able to update the firmware what-so-ever without losing the jailbreak if released (assuming that iboot exploit cannot be reserved similarly or whatever). Please let me know about your opinion regarding this theory.
Cheers.
Not everyone who wants one has it already. I've been trying to get one but they are sold out across Canada. I get that people want it released badly but it's not our right to have it… We just have to patiently wait because it's not like we are paying for the jailbreak…
My perspective on why Dev team decided to postpone the release of 3GS Jailbreak software. Hopefully this provides some clarity. I posted this on the bigboss.org site as well.
First some history, all devices prior to 3GS have been jailbroken due to a hardware exploit that is called the 24Kpwn exploit and the fact that the iboot (think of this as the bios on your PC) does not care if the IPSW firmware (think of this is as the software on your PC, XP, Vista etc) installed is signed or not. The 24KPwn exploit is hardware dependent, therefore all hardware prior to 3GS can be jailbroken. Whether they can be unlocked is a different story. Software like Yellosn0w and Ultrasn0w exploit bugs in the baseband that enables the phone to become unlocked. However, in theory this problem can always be circumvented as new releases of software come out (3.1, 3.2 etc) one can always create a custom image with a firmware where the baseband is not updated but rest of the software is. So based on this all users prior to 3GS can always be jailbroken and stay unlocked.
Now let’s talk about 3GS.
1. The 24KPwn exploit still exists in the 3GS hardware and Apple cannot patch this without changing the hardware, so this is good news for all 3GS owners.
2. The additional change that Apple has done is any IPSW that is now installed (custom or otherwise) needs to get a signature from the Apple store based on the ECID that is unique to each device. As of now for people who have 3GS phone with the current 3.0 software this signature file can be captured and this will enable them to jailbreak their existing 3GS phone for ever.
Now let me get into rationale of why Dev team has pushed out the jailbreak for 3GS. If the jailbreak software is released now then you hand over to Apple the exploit and they will immediately fix it in 3.0.1 locking the majority of community to never be able to jailbreak the phone (likely scenario). However, if Apple cannot find this exploit themselves prior to 3.0.1 coming out many more users will have their hands on this device, with the exploit in place more users will have jailbreak on their iphone. If however, Apple finds the hole and fixes it prior to 3.0.1 which is entirely possible then only the lucky 3GS users with 3.0 software who have captured the signature file will be able to permanently jailbreak their iphone. Bottom line existing 3GS owners with 3.0 software are safe and must stay patient in the interest of the larger community that hasn’t bought the 3GS device.
You wil not be able to use the unlock till the jailbreak comes out or someone provides a sim unlock contraption. Jailbreak will unlikely be available till the 3.0.1 software comes out. Be sure to capture the signature file on your 3.0 software by following the instructions on this site:
http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2009/06/usbdump-huh-how.html
You will need this if you wanna jailbreak your 3GS phone in the future.
WOW. I must admire the great level of clear details that you have provided in your post. I guess I can understand now what is going on, so, thank you very much indeed, this was very helpful.
Additionally, I went ahead and got my own signature file for my iPhone 3GS just in case, and I would love sharing the information with rest of the readers who got iPhone 3GS (Please iPhoneHacks make a post regarding this topic, it is very important and could be a life saver for any future jailbreak/unlock chances):
Info are in the following URL:
hxxp://www(dot)ihackintosh(dot)com/2009/06/ibss-certificate-jailbreak-iphone-3gs/
Replace hxxp with http and (dot) with "."
Hurry up, this could be the only and last chance to jailbreak your new iPhones, get the iBSS certificate file before they take down the website and save it till when the jailbreak becomes ready.
I can't obligate a 2 year contract because I get stationed in Japan in January. The phones are always cheaper there as well. All you impatient people are talking like it's my fault I can't get one yet.
I am not one to ever question the DEV TEAM, because of the great work they do and I don't think any of us could ever show our appreciation to the fullest. But this scenario I must say I do not agree with. I think it is safe to say the users who currently have the IPHONE 3GS that also have the 3G are the early adopters, the innovators of products. Its these people that are always quick to buy the newest technology to test it out for them selves. These are the people that then pass along reviews and get the "rest" of the people to buy. I understand the concept of allowing more people to be able to jailbreak, but why worry about the people that are waiting for the early adopters to purchase it first. I would like to think that the DEV Team is a group of ADVANCED-VERY INTELLIGENT early adopters and would want to help out others that share the same feelings when it comes to the newest technology. If the DEV TEAM was getting paid per phone per jailbreak I would understand thier decision, but to make the IPHONE 3GS users wait after purchasing thier unit as soon as possible seems quite odd. Just my 2 cents, big ups to the DEV TEAM, we appreciate everything.
Hey. I appreciate what the dev team are doing and have been doing. Here's where my problem starts, I am just visiting USA and supposed to go back in the first week of august…i really need a iPhone 3GS (actually, i just really want one). So, will the unlock and jailbreak come in time? I have got around a month and 2 days left, will the unlock for 3.0 come in the time between? or will the dev team wait for the 3.1, since the baseband is changed, does this mean that the dev team will simply have to update their unlocking/jailbreaking softwares or will they have to find another exploit?
I would really be grateful for some helpful answers and advice on what should I be doing in this situation?
and there has been this iBSS certificate everyone is talking about…like the signature.
I'm no techie…so anyone care to explain what that is and what importance it carries?
sorry for so many questions and posts but also, there are websites like unlockingtheiphone.com and etc which say that their software (which is to purchase..DUH) can unlock AND jailbreak the new iPhone 3GS with the 3.0 software…now I have a feeling..not just feeling but I'm pretty damn sure that these are fake…someone care to confirm my FEELING?
I will shortly answer your three questions:
1- Most likely DevTeam are going to wait for FW 3.1 to be released first before they will make jailbreak/unlock tools available to the public. The problem is we don't know when Apple are going to release the final FW yet. It could take a while, also considering that 3GS is going to spread to rest of the world officially on end of August then we may need to wait till September. That is a long time already but this is what I expect may happen, specially since I have a feeling that Apple will ship all of their August iPhones with FW 3.1 to kill chances of jailbreaking, maybe forever.
2- The certificate file is essential for those people like us who managed (or will manage) to get new iPhone 3GS having 3.0 installed. This cartificate is like an open gate to have your iPhone jailbroken (and unlocked) once DevTeam will release their tools later. You must get the certificate file ASAP as we really don't know when Apple are going to do something to block it, but once you get your certificate file ready there will be no way from Apple to prevent you from jailbreaking your iPhone without upgrading your firmware, once the jailbreak tool is available.
3- These websites you are talking about are FAKE. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND AVOIDING THEM. So far only DevTeam are close to achieve this goal. If any other jailbreak method becomes available I am sure that iPhoneHacks will update us with any news.
3.1 is on beta.
I get the impression that all this talk of where the flaw in there software is, is giving them the idea what to do next.
I would recomend the team not descuss what there doing, but to just do it and release the jailbreak when there ready.
Apple will easily be watching this and i can assume they wont be working hard as they know what faults they left in for teams to exploit.
They are playing games with the dev team, and the anouncement of 3.1 coming very soon is exactly what we all knew they were going to do.
Keep development secret, and release when your ready.
thank you a lot for answering my queries.
So what if I don't get my certificate-signature ready? And doing so will do nothing to my iphone?
One thing I still don't understand…why fix the exploit? People do buy iphones and jailbreak/unlock them. It kind of helps boosts sales. People who don't want to AT & T still buy the phone and then unlock it. If there is not unlock, then people won't buy it…!
What about the rebel sim cards? how long will it take them to come up with a solution?
There is a high chance that Apple will block the signatures on FW 3.1 so you should prepare yourself and get your own signature now if possible. I believe that DevTeam will require this file to be added as part of the jailbreak process and unfortunately no other signature file will work except the one associated with your iPhone. If you ignore getting the sig file now it may not become possible to know this info later on 3.1, assuming that the code necessary to deal with the certificate could not work when Apple will update the firmware so you will have no way to know what iBSS your device is capable to negotiate with Apple's server.
The process is completely harmless and you can reboot your iPhone normally after you finish. I did this and it did not take more than three minutes from me.
but…but… :'( …you hurt my feelings. i'm gonna lock my self in my room and watch repeats of M*A*S*H* and eat "cherry garcia" until you apologize
Ok, last question =P
Should i be getting the ECID, the iBSS or the iBEC? im pretty confused to which one will help me in the future for the jailbreak and unlock.
Next thing, Geohot just tweeted about the jailbreak, apparently, he has released it. So if the jailbreak is out…can I unlock it now? or will I have to wait for an ultrasn0w update?
I found a way to jailbreak the iphone 3GS now. Go here http://www.nightgamer.net/forum/index.php?topic=56