Update #4: There is now a guide for installing, jailbreak and unlocking the iPhone 3.0 Firmware.
Update #3: We have completed an updated Guide to installing the iPhone 2.2.1 Firmware on a Jailbroken/Unlocked iPhone.
Update #2: This is an update to our previous article covering how to install the iPhone 2.0 Firmware on your T-Mobile-enabled iPhone. Now that 2.1.0 is out, the process is even easier and we cover it here for anyone interested on keeping their non-AT&T iPhone up to date with the latest release.
Update #1: Chris Hunkele sent in updated links for the newest version of PwnageTool (Mac OS X) and QuickPwn (Windows) for folks wanting to install the new 2.2 firmware:
- PwnageTool 2.2.1 for Mac OSX, SHA1 Sum – 3a91f2bf4f342baaa700ae7d35959d7ade186134
- QuickPwn 2.2 for Mac OSX, SHA1 Sum – 254b8af0e19870a4660b7b11e3b6f6ae1d6bc66f
- QuickPwn 2.2 for Windows, SHA1 Sum – ffdbc561224c61ffc2713cb6a6e696b6d429c4ca
First off I want to thank Chris Hunkele for sending along a link to the iClarified iPhone 2.1 tutorial that got us started down this upgrade path.
Introduction
First things first, here is the Changelog to see if you want to spend the time upgrading your phone to the 2.1 Firmware:
- Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
- Significantly better battery life for most users
- Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
- Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
- Faster installation of 3rd party applications
- Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
- Improved performance in text messaging
- Faster loading and searching of contacts
- Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
- Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
- Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
- Genius playlist creation
I have had a problem with #1 since I started using my iPhone, so the mere fact that fixing the issue of dropped calls was anywhere on this changelog made it a “must install” for me.
Getting Started
Before we get started installing firmwares and clicking through wizards, you will need the following files:
- Update iTunes to iTunes 8 if you haven’t already.
- QuickPwn 2.1
- Bootloader v3.9 (Mirror)
- Bootloader v4.6 (Mirror)
- Depending on the iPhone you are upgrading, you will need one of the following firmwares:
We are upgrading a 1st Generation (non-3G) iPhone that is on the T-Mobile network, so we used the first firmware and after all the files were downloaded, we created a directory called Update iPhone:
Step 1
Unzip QuickPwn 2.1 directly into the Update iPhone directory. This will place a QuickPwn.exe and README.txt file directly into the Update iPhone directory.
Step 2
Plug your iPhone into your computer. If this does not automatically launch iTunes, go ahead and launch it now.
IMPORTANT: Make sure your iPhone is synced with your computer at this point, either by it happening automatically or you forcing the sync. After you install the new Firmware, it reformats your phone, and the only way to get your info back is to Restore from iTunes. So don’t skip the sync step here.
Now select your iPhone in the left hand tree under Devices and then with the Summary tab displaying, hold down the Shift key and Left Click the Restore button:
This will take you into a firmware selection mode, where you can select the downloaded firmware you grabbed to restore your iPhone with (effectively installing the 2.1 firmware for you):
iTunes will now begin by extracting the firmware, preparing the iPhone for the restoration process, then restoring the phone (installing the updated firmware), verifying the installed software and then for some odd reason after all that, you’ll see “Restoring iPhone firmware” again for a while. It will look like a series of dialogs like so:
This process will take about 10mins.
So what we have now is a legitimately upgraded iPhone with the latest 2.1 firmware, unfortunately this isn’t going to work on the T-Mobile network because the phone is now locked back down. This is where QuickPwn comes in to save the day.
Getting Ready to Pwn
After your iPhone restarts and iTunes re-detects it, you’ll see this horrifying message in iTunes:
Don’t sweat it, we aren’t done yet, now we need to crack out QuickPwn and unlock this iPhone.
Step 3
Go back to your Update iPhone directory (or whatever you named it) and run the QuickPwn.exe program. QuickPwn will first ask you to make sure that your iPhone is connected to your computer via USB:
Click the blue arrow button to continue.
Now QuickPwn will want you to select the Firmware that you just installed on your iPhone (so it can pwn it). This is just the same IPSW file you selected in iTunes about 10mins ago that got installed on your phone:
QuickPwn is pretty smart and not only gives you textual prompts of the exact firmware file you should probably select, but will also verify it when you select it.
Click the blue arrow button to continue.
After selecting the firmware, QuickPwn will ask you to select which installers you would like to add (Cydia & Installer) as well as replacing the boot screens and unlocking the phone. We recommend adding Cydia and if you are on a non-AT&T network, like T-Mobile, you probably need to Unlock the phone as well:
Click the blue arrow button to continue.
QuickPwn now wants you to select the Bootloader v3.9 and v4.6 files that you downloaded, so go ahead and select those files wherever you downloaded them to:
Click the blue arrow button to continue.
Now QuickPwn is ready to rock and roll, applying all these changes to your iPhone:
First make one last check that your iPhone is attached to your computer and click the blue arrow button to continue.
IMPORTANT: On the next screen, QuickPwn will show you a series of prompts that look like the following:
You have to be ready to physically follow the prompts, namely the 2nd one for holding the Home button (that means the big round button on the bottom/center if your iPhone) and the 3rd one that requires you to keep holding the Home button and also now hold the Power button (thing button on top right corner of phone) together for 10 seconds and then lastly the 4th one where you have to let go of the Power button (the thin one on the top right) but still keep holding down the Home button as you have been doing this whole time.
While QuickPwn will put your phone into recovery mode (the 1st step on this screen) the rest of the convoluted button presses you are doing puts your phone into DFU mode which allows all the rest of the Pwning magic to happen.
NOTE: You may notice that while the prompts say things like “Hold for 10 secs” you’ll notice that QuickPwn might jump to the next step way before 10 secs is up or hear the USB disconnect/connect sound from your PC, this is normal. The button holds are actually shorter than 5 and 10 secs, but holding them longer is still OK. You can release them early if you see your phone go to the next step successfully.
After you have gotten the iPhone into DFU mode (followed all the prompts) QuickPwn will take over and pwn the phone for you:
After that process is done, QuickPwn will let you know everything was a success:
And your iPhone will proceed to reboot itself and run through a handful of cracking applications, starting first with a pretty QuickPwn/Pineapple splash screen then moving on to boot neutering and then onto baseband cracking… or something like that, the whole process takes about 8mins and you just sit and wait.
After it’s all done, you can close QuickPwn.
Done… Now What?
At this point you have a fully upgraded iPhone with a hacked 2.1 firmware on it so you can use it on a non-AT&T network, yay!
But wait… you might have noticed that none of your information is on your phone, it’s brand-new/wiped clean.
No worries though, that is why we made sure to sync our iPhone with iTunes back in Step #2, you can simply restore your iPhone from iTunes and all is right with the world again.
You do have a choice however, more specifically:
- Restore everything from iTunes, this can also include a ton of hidden junk that may be brought back over to your phone especially if you have had it for a while.
- Setup as a brand new phone, you will loose Text Messages and POP Email as well as Email settings, but if you were using IMAP mail, you can just set that back up again and resync everything else (Contacts, Music, Movies, etc.)
Given that I have had this iPhone since 1.1.1 and upgraded many times, and a friend that recently did the “clean” jump to 2.1 said that it was “much snappier”, I decided to set this phone up as New.
IMPORTANT: Just to reiterate this, if you don’t want to mess with the phone anymore and are prefectly happy with it, ‘Restore’ the iPhone using your existing profile from iTunes. If you want to try and start with a fresh/clean install to improve performance, set the phone up as New.
IMPORTANT: If you decide to set the phone back up as new, you will need to re-register the APN for the EDGE data network for the network you are on, until then, you will get errors that you aren’t connected to a cell data network. Here’s a good reference.
Step 4
To start with the setup process, fire iTunes back up (QuickPwn likely closed it when it ran) and select how you want to set the phone up (either New or Restored):
Then click the Continue button when ready.
NOTE: From this point forward I will walk through the New iPhone setup, if you decided to Restore, you can stop following this guide.
You then get prompted with the sync profile you want to setup for iTunes as well as syncing rules:
Hit Done when ready and iTunes will start syncing your iPhone with the new profile you just created. Remember, you’ll have to go back in and resync any movies, TV shows, music and playlists that you had and re-setup your email accounts on your iPhone, but really not that much effort to go throuh to get a totally clean 2.1 iPhone Firmware install.
TIP: You will need to re-register the APN for T-Mobile (for the EDGE cell network), incase you need it is wap.voicestream.com (no username or password). Here is a good resource for all other networks.
Conclusion
That’s it, you now successfully have a fully upgraded iPhone with the 2.1 Firmware on it cracked and ready to use on any network you want. in our case, T-Mobile.
We hope you found this guide handy and easy to follow, if you run into any snags, let us know in the comments and we’ll try and help.
Tom,
Yes this works on the 3G iPhone, just be sure you grab the correct firmware listed at the beginning of the article.
just to be clear, did you do this as well? did it work for another company? if so, what did you do AFTER the jailbreaking and unlocking installation?
JP,
This guide… line-by-line, is exactly what I did. I have a 1st gen iPhone with a T-Mo sim in it that I left in during the entire process.
I’m a t-mo customer so it’s a full sim, not prepaid… I have no idea if that makes a diff.
I just learned that i might have to disable iTunes when doing the process. i’ll post an update when i finish flashing.
whoa. i. do. not. beleive. this. for some reason, i just inserted my SIM and it found my T-mobile service.
wow. i’m disapointed. i was about to flash my iPhone, too.
however, i can’t use the internet…
what’s up with that? and how can i set up the wap.voice…. thing? i cant continue without setting up an account and i don’t know which of the three VPN things to choose…
UPDATE: turns out the shape of my sim card mattered. i had to jiggle it around before it recognized it. wierd. also, my wifi and bluetooth problem might also be hardware problems… guess it’s time to bust out my trusty guitar pick to pop open the sucker…
JP, just glad that you are making headway with the issue. Keep us posted.
IT’S ALIVE!!!
AHAHA!!!
I’d just like to take a moment to thank everybody especially Riyad Kalla for helping me get though this dilly of a pickle!
turns out that if the iPhone is overheated/does not have sufficient power (i assume 80% battery life), the daughterboard gets cut off to prevent damage.
at least, that’s my theory. for those who are just stumbling across this post from Google or something, take my advice and cool the device. ha. it rhymes.
i yanked out my SIM cuz my dad told me “my minutes will run down since the iPhone requires activation.” poor guy doesn’t understand.
well, thanks again, Riyad!
JP,
Not a problem, glad it works man.
well, just testing out the wifi. By the way, I can’t log onto my myspace on this thing… Does anybody have the same problem?
Does the Quickpwn2.1 software that you have here on the tutorial for Windows or Mac? Ive a unlocked & jailbroken 1.1.3 that I will be updating to 2.1 following the listed steps. I just want to make sure I install the correct quickpwn for my machine (Windows)
this is the correct quickpwn for 2.1. it’s a great and easy program. note that all your apps will be gone, so start syncing!
ok. yesterday i was installing an app when my iPhone just shut off. it said it had 100% batt., but i don’t know why it died….
i guess i need a new battery…
anybody had this problem, but fixed?
Guys, quick heads up, the newest version of QuickPwn and PwnageTool are available if you want to install the newest 2.2 firmware that just came out:
Ok, I followed the step by step instructions (very clear and well written) and everything functioned as stated. When I put my T-Mobile SIM card in, I received the error of “wrong SIM card detected, connect to iTunes”. I read the blog and tried the suggestions that were given. Trying with my T-mo SIM card in, turning off iTunes helper, etc. I still get the same error. I am useing the downloads from the links on this page for the 2.1 firmware/restore, the BL-39/BL-46 and Quickpwn 2.1. I have the 1st Gen non-3G 16 gig iPhone and my iTunes version is 8.0.2. Any help would be greatly appriciated
Rich,
Try the entire process again from the start (I know, that sucks) but leave the SIM in the whole time. I never removed my SIM, just took the phone out of my pocket, plugged it in, and started this guide.
Rich: is your T-mobile card a bit loose in the SIM tray?
Yea, the SIM card was/is good and snug…I tried it two more times with no luck still…if you have anymore insight it would be greatly apprciated as I am at a loss right now.
Rich,
Sorry man I really don’t have any more ideas, I wish I did.
i found out that my sim card reader was faulty and one of the pins was literally torn out when i tried to put in my sim card in again (it died when i was installing an app).
maybe yours is faulty as well?
hello 1G iphone on a mac – when i run Pwnage it says it can’t find the Bootloader 3.9 file – when i browse manually to it it says its not the proper file . . . I downloaded the BL-39.bin file but am I supposed to expand it? I tried expanding it but it won’t expand using Stuff It – pls help
Sweet, got it to work and this is what I did…I restored the firmware from iTunes with the at@t sim card installed. Set up the iphone as a new phone and started the Quickpwn process. At the step where you shift click for the quickpwn restore is when I put in my Tmobile sime card. I held the shift, left clicked, selected the firmware, removed the at@t simcard, installed the Tmobile card, then pushed opened and continued with the quickpwn and now my phone is up and running.
Rich, great find and thanks for posting that so other folks stuck can follow your steps!
These instructions worked great for me
Mine was one of the earliest 4g iPhones that was still running 1.0.2 (1C28). Everything worked as expected.
Thanks this worked great! Took only 40 minutes and Quickpwn basically did everything. For those of you using Tmobile’s data plan try putting the APN as epc.tmobile.com, then shut the phone off (hold home + power button) and turn it on again. It works for me even though its noticeably slower than before.
NJ,
Is that the T-Zone APN as opposed to the EDGE/$20-month data plan network?
That’s the APN for tmobile’s tzone plan ($5.99). Before I mentioned the speed was a bit slow but it seems back to normal now.
oh, man. i wish i knew THAT apn…
i had t-zones, but i couldnt get it to work….
dammit. my iPhone fried anyhow. anybody up for a damaged iphone: hit me up if you like.
jingproductions@Yahoo.com
will this work in the UK??? (UK tmobile)
Hey guys thanks for this hack, i was a little nervous about leaving 1.1.4 but you made nice and easy to follow and do! and it works great so HAPPY to have the APP store now!!! Thanks again you ROCK!!!
I unlocked my first gen iphone version 2.2 firware with quickpwn. After it was unlocked, I took out the sim tray and inserted the t mobile sim card into the iphone. Immediately, the phone screen shows different sim detect. I don’t know what is going on and I tried to unlock it many times after. But the phone still does not recognize the t mobile sim card. I unlocked two iphones in a row and non of them work with t mobile
Please help me!!!!!
MAKE SURE YOU CHECK “UNLOCK” WHEN JAILBREAKING! Also, it helps to leave the sim in the iPhone when unlocking and jailbreaking.
I had that problem at first, But What I did differently, however, was that I used iTunes to flash the ORIGINAL FIRMWARE before jailbreaking. If that doesn’t work, and only do this if you are desperate, put the phone in DFU mode, flash a clean ORIGINAL FIRMWARE, then jailbreak and unlock, respectively. Your sim should be working at this point.
i got the same problem like anna ….it says connet to itunes but on the corner it says t-mobile n m even able to call in emergency mode …any help wil be appreciated…thanx
do what I posted before you.
I have 16g 3g phone without turbo sim. I have t-mobile sim. Pls help me how this work.
well, ms, you need to wait until new year’s eve to unlock your iPhone software-wise. if you live in southern california, i might be able to help. the software is still in beta mode until wednesday.
4g iPhone
1.0.2 (1C28) – tmobile sim
* Spent 6 hours studying the whole matter as I purchased this phone from a friend and found out it was a very early jailbroken unlocked tmobile phone with no updates. Very much afraid to brick my phone I kept studying and read countless posts and was going to go with the 2.0 guide til I realized there was a 2.1, then I realized the 2.2 files were available so used them in conjunction with guide.
Worked exactly as written in guide ~ followed the guide to the T. Step by step ~ it was easier to just read the guide over and over, then just follow the steps listed after I grew the balls to do it.
I actually spent maybe 3 minutes doing anything and the rest of the time tinkering with my PS3.
Thank you so very much for this guide. Incredibly well thought out and I really really admire how commenters followup to other users as well as original author replying as well.
Your a gem in the community and provide a resource and forum that allows others to help as well.
* notes
1. I followed guide to the . ( exactly )
2. I left my tmobile simcard in the whole time
3. I did everything that the prompts asked for and besides that did not touch the sucker at all.
4. I didn’t need or wasn’t prompted by itunes later to decide NEW or whatnot.. but perhaps it was because the phone basically had been wiped by old user.
Thanks a bunch!!! Will have to visit this page from time to time to keep track with any new updates and info.
Frank that’s awesome news! I’m really glad we could help out.
Thanks JP. I tried turbo sim (black color) with 2.1. After hour there is no service. I have to put sim in old phone then use tzone then it works with iphone 3g.You have any solution to without removing sim. Thanks again.
noooooooo!!!! Turno sim is never the solution for unlocking! Maybe gevey but not turnosim. You should have waited until tomorrow for the 3g yellowsn0w unlock…. Once your phone is jailbroken, you can download the software in cydia and install it within seconds… I could have saved you that money. Oh, well.
I will try to post up the method of 3g software unlocking tomorrow if I can. Stay tuned.
JP,
Definitely looking forward to your findings, thanks for keeping us posted.
Here’s the new info on Yellowsn0w.
http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/67797811/dont-eat-yellowsn0w
This is straight from the dev team’s blog. Please note that this is still a beta and there might be problems when using Yellowsn0w.
However, this is the EASIEST and CHEAPEST way of unlocking now, so give it a try. It seems that Yellowsn0w can be used on the 2.28 baseband.
In order to install the Yellowsn0w unlock software for the 3G, install one of these repos first:
* Cydia source: http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com/
* Installer repo: http://i.yellowsn0w.com/
Then search for “yellowsn0w” and install it. Please note the following:
# 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 -q 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..
To quote the dev team:
”
“The iPhone 3G is used all over the world with all sorts of SIM cards, and we almost certainly will see untested and unexpected situations. If the soft unlock doesn’t work for you on day 1 (literally day 1, of 2009!) then please don’t panic or be impatient. This is new territory for everyone, so enjoy the ride as much as you can
Hi guys, I need help with my iPhone 3G, which I got from an uncle who bought it online from China. I put an ATT sim from my regular phone into the iphone and it makes and receive call fine, but it will not connect with itune. My computer recognized it only as a removable drive, also there is no WiFi connection, when I checked network there is no option for WiFi. Another thing there are no itune or Safari icon on the phone screen. What should I do.
lol are you SURE it’s a legit iPhone? send links to some pics of your iphone. if it doesnt have the safari browser, either it’s fake, or its already hacked, but the people deleted the app.
Fantastic post. I tried almost every other site and method coming up with numerous errors, until I tried yours. This was amazing, clear and simple, followed post exactly and came up with a great 2.1 iPhone upgrading from 1.4. Thanks soooo much!
Christine, that’s great news, glad we could help!
Hi all
Does this tutorial work with an AT&T hacked iphone? i am using an eplus sim card in Germany
Hello,
Could you please tell me whether this would work on an original hacked 2G iPhone, that is running on a network in Australia (Optus). The phone was originally bought in Hong Kong but has been working on an Aussie network for over a year now.
i really want the new version as I’m sick of it freezing up and the call drop outs.
Cheers
Mark
Update: We just completed an updated Guide on how to install the iPhone 2.2.1 firmware on a Jailbroken/Unlocked iPhone.
I think i screwed up the jail break process of the my iphone to upgrade the firmware. I updated the firmware with itunes, now with the file that was given here. what do i need to do to fix this? is there a way? please help me. email me at marysiad@gmail.com
Very well explained i installed it like a expert without any problem
thanks once again for your super tutorial and the time you have taken
god bless you
The updates worked.
But I had to restore all my contacts/texts from iTunes
Now, i can’t get service. Its no longer reading my T-mobile SIM card
Help Please
Valerie, what kind of iPhone do you have?
Hi , I REALLY NEED HEKP FRO YOUR GUYS.., i am using 2.2.1 & 2.30.3 as well.Are u guy saying that i had to use QuickPWN 2.2.5-2 for Windows to unlock my iphone with a simcard NOT insert in the phone, i try to do that With a simcard inserted, but funny that the unlock icon did not show up in the QuickPWN manual, does anyone which step i miss, and is my 3Gphone with (2.2.1 & 2.30.3) can be UNLOCK with sofeware NOW, is that possible, a million thx.
Riyad
I’ve got my fingers crossed and hopping for the best, but I do have one question before I click abyware…. I do have iTunes 8 and a 1st gen 4Gb iPhone 1.1.4 that as been jailbronken and unlocked.. therefore I do not see the “Restore” buttom cause the phone/sim is not recognised by iTunes. Any help would be appretiated. Keep up the good work..
Paul
…sorry.. it should show 8Gb.iPhone
Paul, when you doc the phone to your computer iTunes doesn’t popup, display a new “iPhone” node with the information about your phone?
You definitely need iTunes able to see your phone for this to work.
hi im having a problem with the quickpwn. im using a mac and when i download quick pwn it doesnt save as a zip file but if i open the folder quickpwn.exe opens up as a text file saying that this program cannot run in a DOS mode. i restored my phone and stuck on that right now. could you please help me? thanks.
Brad,
You can’t run QuickPwn on a Mac, it’s a Windows application. You’ll want to use PwnageTool — the good news is that it’s really easy to use.
ive connected the iphone to the computer and it even says on itunes that its connected, but when i use pwntool it says the phone is not connected… what should i do?
i dont see the “unlock” option when i tried to load quickpwn to my phone…any idea?..thanks everyone
How long does it take for the booloader take to load? It has been on this step for 25 min.
Thank You
Scott
Scott,
I think it was about 10mins for me each time I’ve done it — loading the new firmware shouldn’t take 25 mins, because it’s basically a fresh OS install — but restoring the phone via iTunes can possibly take that long depending on how much legacy data you are restoring for that profile.
I have used the process to ugrade my 2g Iphone form 2.0 to 2.2, but in any case can’t get the WiFi to work. The iphone is keep searching for networks even though I’m putting it on my WiFi router. I have reset the network connections, turned off and on the WiFi, reset the device, re-install – but nothing.
Is there a possibility that Installer and Cydia installed together may cause a problem ?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Hello,
I have just one question! I followed the Unlocked & Jailbreaking Process to the tee. After which everything is fine, but I cannot connect to the internet. I have T-Mobile service and everything else is working texting, downloading apps., itunes, and etc. So is there a solution to this problem or am I stuck with out surfing the web?
Thank you kindly!
Please note that 2.1 is faulty and will result in that at times as well as other problems that have been resolved in version 2.2.1. Please refer to the new 2.2.1 jailbreaking method that is most likely on this site by using the search feature in this site, or use the clichéd Google. The jailbreaking process is usually the same, followed by a newer version of QuickPwn and the newer version of firmware.
msoccer,
Here is a link to the 2.2.1 guide on the site, also when you go through the 2.2.1 guide, make sure you set the APN correctly so you can get EDGE data over T-Mo with your iPhone.
how can i get the quick pwn with the “unlock phone” because the one i got doesnt haveit
I have a 2g 8gb iPhone that I purchased from a guy that had 1.1.3 on it with t-mobile. I upgraded it it to 2.1 using Pwnagetool or whatever but I didn’t have a simcard in it when I did it. I didn’t really use it as a phone, so it was months until I tried a sim card and found out it didn’t work. I figured I just needed to run Pwnagetool again with it while having a sim card in it, but I recently upgraded to version 3.0 while using both Pwnagetool and Redsnow, and when I put the sim card in, it doesn’t even recognize that there IS one inside. I’m not sure anymore if it just used to ever say there was a sim card when I tried earlier, or if it used to just say it was an invalid sim… but anyways, I’m really stuck.
Either I have bent pins inside my phone or there’s some really weird software issue going on? Any suggestions?
UPDATE: Thank you to everyone for being patient, the new iPhone 3.0 Firmware jailbreaking/unlocking guide is now up!