Blackrain iPhone Jailbreak for Mac Released + PwnageTool v3.1.4

Via dev-team blog:
Geohot released a jailbreak (now also available for mac) called “blackra1n” which is similar to redsn0w in that it covers multiple devices (and it covers beyond just firmware 3.0.1 where redsn0w currently stops).  blackra1n is not a carrier unlock.  You must always avoid updating your baseband to maintain your unlockability.  If you use blackra1n to jailbreak 3.1 or 3.1.2, the steps you take before running blackra1n will prevent the unlock from working on your iPhone for potentially a very long time. By the way, we haven’t yet tested whether a blackra1n’d device can accept a custom IPSW without tweaks, but if it doesn’t then it should only require a minor change.

Here are some details on our latest version of PwnageTool 3.1.4 for Mac OS X which supports the 3.1.2 release of the iPhone software for iPhone 2G/3G/3GS and iPod Touch 1G/2G.

If you’re already jailbroken (by whatever means), you don’t need to mess around with DFU mode at all.  Just create (or get from a friend) your custom IPSW and Option-Restore (Shift-Restore on Windows) to it via iTunes.  Don’t enter DFU mode at all.  Please make sure you are restoring to the custom IPSW, not the stock one from Apple!  For best results, use the latest iTunes (9.0.1) — which includes a nice new application organizer.

This release allows your baseband to remain unlocked at 3.1.2, but it does not unlock a new baseband put there by restoring to official 3.1.x.  It is super important that people who need the unlock to understand they can keep it only by starting at 3.0 (or earlier) and updating solely to custom IPSWs that don’t update the baseband.  For those who have been onboard the “unlock train”, simply install ultrasn0w via Cydia once you’ve restored to your custom IPSW.  Don’t forget to turn off the “3G” setting in Settings->General->Network if you use T-Mobile in the U.S.A.

As an anecdotal aside, geohot the programmer that made the blackra1n exploit, looks JUST like one of my college roommates from my senior year, and what do you know, he too was a computer nerd/programmer. Sigh.

[blackra1n here | pwnagetool here]

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Permalink Posted in: apple, iphone October 14, 2009