I have some great news for all those who had bricked their iPhone with firmware 1.1.1. The iPhone hacking geniuses at iPhone Dev Team have done it again thanks to Kmac1985. They have just released instructions on how to downgrade iPhone’s Firmware 1.0.2 from 1.1.1. However it won’t downgrade your baseband which means that you can’t re-unlock the iPhone if iPhone’s firmware has already been updated with 1.1.1.
The iPhone Dev Team are working hard to downgrade the new firmware so that people can unlock their iPhone’s again. However until then for iPhone users with a valid AT&T SIM everything should work just fine while those without the valid AT&T SIM can at least work with Wi-Fi and use the iPod.
The best part of the news is that you can have all the third-party iPhone hacks working after downgrading to 1.0.2.
Update (1st Oct): Jesus Diaz over at Gizmodo is reporting that once you have downgraded to firmware 1.0.2 you can also get the phone part of the functionality (make and receive calls, send and receive SMS and mails too) to work with either TurboSIM method or iPhoneSIMFree’s software-only unlocking method.
The recommendation for all those who used iUnlock or anySIM from the iPhone Dev Team to unlock their iPhone is still the same, i.e. to wait for them to provide the necessary fix/instructions to get the phone functionality to work. Click here for more details over at Gizmodo. Thanks Diaz for the update.
If you were one of those who had unlocked their iPhone and then updated it with the latest iPhone firmware from Apple you might have been quite frustrated that it resulted in partially bricking your iPhone as discussed in this article: iPhone Firmware Update 1.1.1 unlocks iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store BUT seems to Partially Brick Unlocked iPhone.
The iPhone Dev Team have just provided instructions on how to Unbrick your iPhone. These instructions are also useful for all those who have bought iPhone’s in the last couple of days and have got iPhone with firmware 1.1.1 and would prefer the hacked iPhone VS iPhone 1.1.1 as you will be able to install and use all the third-party iPhone hacks after downgrading to 1.0.2.
By using the instructions below if you have a valid AT&T SIM activated with iTunes then everything (such as the phone functions, edge, SMS, bluetooth, Wi-Fi etc) has been reported to work fine.
If you do NOT have a valid SIM, then the phone functions will not work as the re-unlock is still not possible however you will be able to use the iPod and internet functions over Wi-Fi and you will be able to jailbreak, install third party iPhone applications, basically all functions that do not depend on the phone modem firmware.
Here are the slightly easier instructions courtesy iPhone Dev Team:
- First, download the iPhone1,1_1.0.2_1C28_Restore.ipsw from Apple (download link). On a Mac, do not unzip the file, iTunes will do this for you in step 4.
- Then connect phone to dock, and hold down home button and power button for about 10 seconds until phone turns off.
- Now release the power button but continue holding the home button. After about 10 seconds the computer will detect the iphone in restore mode, and itunes should tell that the phone needs to be restored.
- Hold down SHIFT key (Windows) or Option/ALT-key (Mac) when clicking the Restore button, and select the file you downloaded previously.
- Let the restore complete and ignore the error at the end.
- Now your phone should show the "Connect to iTunes" screen with the yellow triangle.
- Run AppTap to jailbreak your phone – it will restore it to a working 1.0.2 firmware it even though you get errors.
- Run AppTap again to actually install the installer.app
- AT&T Users: Reset your iPhone before you start using your phone again. Failure to do so may result in you being charged for your "free services."
If you are having issues with the instructions mentioned above then the best way to get your issues resolved would be to contact the iPhone Dev team themselves. You can get in touch with them either on IRC or on their forum, the details are mentioned below:
IRC: #iphone @ irc.osx86.hu
Forum: http://hackint0sh.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=123
Don’t forget to tip them for their effort towards achieving SIM freedom. Follow this link for more details on how to donate to the iPhone Dev Team.
Update:
DistortedLoop, one of the readers @ iPhone Hacks has correctly pointed out in the comments below that the method was not originally discovered by iPhone Dev Team but Kmac1985 over at hackint0sh forum and though there were initial apprehensions; folks at iPhone Dev Team did confirm that Kmac1985’s method indeed works and the above instructions are a result of that.
Thanks DistortedLoop for pointing out the error and not to forget Kmac1985 for figuring out how to unbrick the iPhone, we will call this "The KMAC method" in your honor as someone suggested in the forums. Excellent stuff!
Link to how it all unfolded: http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9016
Update (1st Oct): Jesus Diaz
over at Gizmodo is reporting that once you have downgraded to firmware
1.0.2 you can also get the phone part of the functionality (make and
receive calls, send and receive SMS and mails too) to work with either TurboSIM method or iPhoneSIMFree’s software-only unlocking method.
The recommendation for all those who used iUnlock or anySIM from the
iPhone Dev Team is still the same, i.e. to wait for them to provide the
necessary fix/instructions to get the phone functionality to work. Click here for more details over at Gizmodo. Thanks Diaz for the update.
Stay tuned @ iPhone Hacks to find out when the iPhone Dev Team can re-unlock the iPhone.
You can also check out the video tutorial below:
