The iPhone unlockers appear to have won another round, promising a simple iPhone 3G unlock in weeks.
(Credit: CNET)The iPhone Dev Team is promising a software unlock for the iPhone 3G by the end of 2008.
Back in October the iPhone Dev Team signaled they were getting close to their goal, and Tuesday they announced that a software download would be available on New Year's Eve. The iPhone 3G has presented problems for those looking for a simple way to use their phone on the mobile network of their choice after Apple fixed a loophole that left the original iPhone wide open to unlockers.
There are ways to manipulate the SIM card that comes with the iPhone 3G to use it on the network of your choice, but that's not something the average person should try at home. If you want to unlock your iPhone, you'll need to have jailbroken it first, and you'll have to have heeded the iPhone Dev Team's advice to avoid the iPhone 2.2 software update without applying a special patch first.
That's because Apple might be fighting back against the unlockers using the other platform it controls: the Mac. Several reports indicate that Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.6 update prevents popular jailbreaking tools like PwnageTool and QuickPwn from recognizing iPhones connected to Macs running the latest software.
The iPhone Dev Team thinks it's just a bug, but Ars Technica seems to think Apple knew exactly what it was doing. Unlocking and jailbreaking have lost a bit of their luster with the release of the iPhone around the world and the huge response to the App Store, but there will always be some group of users who doesn't want Apple or their local carrier to dictate how they use their phones.
A little more than a week after the release of Apple's iPhone 3G, an unofficial development team has announced the release of software that "jailbreaks" the new device, allowing unauthorized third-party applications to be loaded.
In a post titled "Thanks for waiting," the self-dubbed iPhone Dev Team announced the release of Pwnage 2.0, which also allows unauthorized third-party applications to be loaded on older iPhones and iPod Touchs running the iPhone 2.0 operating system. In hacker jargon, to "pwn" means "to compromise" or "to control."
While the tool allows third-party applications not available at Apple's App Store to be installed on the iPhone 3G, it apparently does not unlock the new phone to allow it to be used on unauthorized cell networks.
However, installation is going smoothly on both the new and older models of iPhone, according to users who posted their comments on the site. One reader told CNET News that the software "works like a charm. Best thing is you can share your custom firmware with others."
While the Dev Team may not have unlocked iPhone 3G, a Brazilian blog reported earlier this week that the iPhone 3G had been unlocked by using a special SIM card adapter that tricks the phone into thinking it's on an approved network.
Of course, the real trick right now is actually getting your hands on one of the new phones. Apple announced last week that it had sold 1 million iPhone 3Gs during its first weekend on the market. And an AT&T representative confirmed earlier this week that most of the company's stores ran out of iPhones the first day the devices were for sale.
It hasn't even been released yet, but iPhone hackers claim to have already figured out a way to jailbreak Apple's iPhone 2.0 software.
The iPhone Dev Team said yesterday (thanks, Gizmodo) it has figured out a way to hack into the iPhone's bootloader by taking advantage of the way the iPhone authorizes code that can be written to memory. After some modifications, this apparently allows any code to be written to the iPhone, such as applications that haven't been authorized by Apple, and it should work with any new software version Apple releases, according to the team.
It seems the iPhone hacking community has already found a way to get unofficial applications on the iPhone 2.0 software.
(Credit: iPhone Dev Team)The team released a screenshot of what is supposedly an iPhone running external applications on the beta 2.0 software, which can be obtained by downloading the iPhone SDK. It's hard to tell exactly which version is shown in the screenshot, although the inclusion of the App Store is a pretty big hint. Still, Adobe sells a lot of copies of Photoshop for a reason.
Unlike previous hacks, this one isn't specific to the latest firmware version, it exploits the way that Apple designed the iPhone's main bootloader. According to the iPhone Dev Team, the iPhone verifies whether or not firmware code has been signed with an RSA certificate before allowing it to be written to memory. The team has apparently figured out a way to disable that check and allow unsigned code to be written to memory. A detailed explanation of the exploit can be found here.
The hacking community believes this jailbreaking method (which will also let you unlock your iPhone) can't be fixed by Apple in a production version of the 2.0 software. Even though Apple has released the SDK, it seems pretty likely that hacking will continue as long as the company maintains its one-carrier, one-country policy and if Apple chooses to exclude lots of third-party applications that conflict with its goals.
Two weeks to the day after Apple's iPhone software update wiped third-party applications from the device and disabled unlocked phones, the hackers have struck back.
The Unofficial Apple Weblog posted details of the iPhone Dev Team's latest effort, which once again opens the iPhone up to third-party applications and the ability to use it on any other GSM network than AT&T's. This appears to be a more substantial effort than the one posted earlier in the evening that exploits a vulnerability in a TIFF image file; you can bet that one will be patched fairly quickly.
The latest hack allows iPhone users who have already installed the OS X 1.1.1 update to revert their iPhones to the previous 1.0.2 update, "jailbreak" it for third-party applications, and then somehow update back to the 1.1.1 version without the cell door slamming shut. TUAW and iPhone Atlas have tested the latest hack and have declared that it works, assuming you have a certain amount of knowledge of the iPhone's command line interface.
We're not posting links to the actual files you'll need to make this happen, but if you're an enterprising fellow with access to the Internet, I doubt you'll have too much trouble. I downloaded the files, and in a readme file accompanying the patches and guide you'd need to jailbreak your iPhone, the iPhone Dev Team (or NerveGas, Pumpkin, Edgan, drudge, dinopio and asap18) actually posted a disclaimer: "The iPhone Dev Team disclaims any liability of damage to your iPhone as a result of following these instructions. While the instructions listed here are believed to be safe and accurate, there is always a possibility that your iPhone could be permanently damaged." Can you really sue somebody for providing you with a hack that damages your iPhone, even though you're violating your service agreement to install that hack?
Anyway, if you unlocked your iPhone and then installed the 1.1.1 update only to be left with a pretty paperweight, the iPhone Dev Team says their update won't fix your problem. However, the iPhoneSIMFree folks announced Thursday morning that as a result of the iPhone Dev Team's work, they're now able to not only unlock 1.1.1 iPhones but they are also able to unbrick those unlocked iPhones that fell silent after installing the update.
Where's Harold Lederman when you need him? Now that the iPhone hackers have figured out how to get past the latest update, which many thought was much more difficult to crack than the original software, the third round goes to them. I'll score it 10-9, but Apple's still in the lead going into the fourth round, by virtue of the 10-8 second round in which they knocked iPhone hackers to the canvas by disabling the unlocked iPhones. The first round, of course, went to the hackers.
So what has Apple got up its sleeve? With Leopard's release around the corner, many are starting to wonder if Apple might start to tire of this fight and figure out a way to let third-party application development onto the iPhone. It's pretty clear that Apple will be unable to completely fend off an army of determined hackers forever, but I think it is trying to find a way to allow third-party application development without letting people unlock their iPhones just yet.
In the meantime, if you really, really want third-party applications on your iPhone, understand that you might be forfeiting your right to future technical support. Those who previously hacked the iPhone were able to restore the factory settings before bringing it in for service, but it's not clear whether that's still an option with this latest update.
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