Jaibreak and Unlock iPhone 3GS Status Report

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 has given the following explanation for delaying the jailbreak for iPhone 3GS:

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.

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.

So new iPhone 3GS users who were eagerly waiting to jailbreak their iPhone and then use UltraSn0w to unlock it, will have to wait a bit longer. We will keep you posted as soon as we get an update so stay tuned here at iPhone Hacks.

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]

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