How to jailbreak your iPhone

Jailbreak Your iPhone

Want to run custom native applications on your iPhone? Want to have ultimate control over your ringtones? "Jailbreaking" is the necessary first step. More in-depth introduction is needed.

For Mac OS X

The following instructions are for gaining access to an iPhone ("jailbreaking") on Mac OS X. Windows instructions have not yet been written, please contribute to the wiki by placing them on this page.

Using iNdependence

1. Download iNdependence, the open-source application for gaining access to your iPhone. You will also need the version 3.1.2 iPhone firmware from Apple (do not upgrade to 3.1.3 -- at this time, there are no Jailbreaks for 3.1.3). These free files are a 91MB download. If your computer doesn't recognize the files as a ZIP archive, append the extension ".zip" to the downloaded package then unzip it.

2. Make sure your iPhone is plugged in to your computer and active.

3. Set your iPhone's Auto-Lock timer to "Never" so sessions won't be interrupted.

4. Launch iNdependence and select "Perform Jailbreak."

5. INdependence will ask you for the unzipped iPhone firmware files. Navigate to the folder and click Open.

6. At this point, iNdependence may tell you to soft reset your iPhone. To do this, press and hold the Home button (the circular button with the square graphic on the phone's face) and the power button (the small, narrow button on the top). Press and hold both of these for about 25 seconds. The phone will restart -- keep holding. When you get back to the "Connect to iTunes" dialog with the yellow alert symbol, let go.

7. If iNdependence doesn't prompt you to do this, don't worry.

8. You should see the "Waiting for Jailbreak..." screen with a picture of a jail cell. If you get a "Recovery mode" error, power cycling the phone and then trying again. Keep trying until you get to the jail cell screen.

9. If the jailbreak was successful, you'll get a message saying so. If not, restart the phone and try again.

Using iFuntastic

1. Grab the latest version of iFuntastic, the freeware application from BitSpit enterprises. You'll need an Intel Mac to use it. Sorry, but iFuntastic currently only runs on Intel hardware.

2. Make sure your iPhone is plugged in to your computer and active.

3. Set your iPhone's Auto-Lock timer to "Never" so sessions won't be interrupted.

4. Launch iFuntastic and read the welcome screen. You'll see a large button on the left labeled "Unshackle." Click on this.

5. IFuntastic will ask you to restore your iPhone before continuing. This is usually always necessary, so it's recommended for everyone. Follow the instructions and read all of the appropriate warnings before continuing. Clicking Restore should launch iTunes and force it to download a large firmware file. ITunes will then restore your iPhone. When it's done, leave the iPhone connected and quit out of iTunes.

6. IFuntastic will detect that the Restore is finished and it will ask you to put the phone into "Soft recovery mode." To do this, press and hold the Home button (the circular button with the square graphic on the phone's face) and the power button (the small, narrow button on the top). Press and hold both of these for about 25 seconds. The phone will restart -- keep holding. When you get back to the "Connect to iTunes" dialog with the yellow alert symbol, let go.

7. IFuntastic will connect to your iPhone and install a few files on it. Watch the status messages at the bottom of the app window.

8. After a few seconds, iFuntastic will ask you to restart your iPhone.

9. Once the phone is restarted, you should see the "Unshackled" icon in iFuntastic's left navigation.

10. You can now add and delete ringtones, wallpapers and any number of applications on your iPhone.

Using PwnageTool 4.0

1. Download and install the latest version of iTunes 9.2.

2. all your important data including settings, apps, music, contacts and photos.

3. Download PwnageTool 4.0 and the original iOS 4.0 for your version of iPhone 3GS (download links given below). Move all these files to your desktop.

4. Start PwnageTool 4.0 and select your device.

5. PwnageTool 4.0 will now automatically detect the correct firmware for your device.

5. Click on "No" when PwnageTool asks you "Do you have an iPhone contract that would activate normally through iTunes?": Clicking on “Yes” will update your baseband to the latest version. Click on "Yes" only if you are on an officially supported carrier like AT&T.

7. PwnageTool will now create the custom .ipsw file for your iPhone which will be jailbroken. Click the build button to select it, then click the blue arrow button to proceed.

8. Restore the firmware on iPhone with iTunes Once the .ipsw file has been created, you will now have to restore your iPhone to this custom firmware 4.0 that you just cooked using PwnageTool 4.0 for your iPhone 3GS. Full detailed steps located in here.