Still No News on the New Bootloader Hack

There is still no new development on the hacking of the new bootloader (version 4.6). George Hotz (aka geohot) had posted his findings of the core code. While the analysis does not give any insight as when an actual exploit will be feasible, it does outline what Apple (and its vendor) had done to tighten up the security.

There are some attempts to unlock the iPhones via hardware hackery, albeit successful, it's not for the average person to open the phone up to short out the testpoints and perform the unlock via command lines.

And the wait continues...

New Firmware 1.1.2

The fun of unlocking iPhones is being put on hold (again) as Apple has released the new Firmware, version 1.1.2, along with the new bootloader, version 4.6.

Right now, there is no work-around to hack the new bootloader. The previous bootloader had a bug that allowed any crypto key (the key that is used to decrypt/unscramble the password) to be used as a valid key hence the iPhone Dev Team and the other teams were able to create the unlock app. As of the release of the new bootloader, Infineon, the maker of the bootloader for mobile phones (Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson are among its customers) had beefed up the security therefore it's "airtight" for now. Also, in the previous releases, Apple included the bootloader core in its update package; it is intentionally left out in the new one, which makes it even harder to grab a copy of the bootloader to examine its working code.

A friend of mine bought 2 new iPhones from a local AT&T store on Saturday and both have the new bootloader. I have been reading and researching everywhere and not a clue as to when any team will release a new unlocking method. There is a Wiki that mentions a propsed date of December 1st, 2007 (http://iphone.fiveforty.net/wiki/index.php/Talk:Main_Page).

Meanwhile, I was able to resurrect a previously unlocked iPhone that was re-locked due to an update to the new Firmware 1.1.2. The process was not at all complicated. It involved downgrading to Firmware 1.0.2 first, then wiping out the new baseband and "virginizing" the empty baseband to be the original Firmware 1.0.2. Then, updating it to Firmware 1.1.1 and unlocking it again.

Even Quicker iPhone (with FW 1.1.1) Unlock

This method only works with a brand new iPhone with firmware version 1.1.1 (for now).

Definite requirement: A reliable WiFi Connection!

I used the follow steps and got a brand new iPhone unlocked in about 12 minutes!

1. In the Activate Iphone Screen Scroll so you can get to the dialer pad
2. Type: *#307# and press call
3. You Phone will Ring Answer it (If you don't get the Answer screen, Delete *#307#, type 0 (zero) and press call again)
4. Press hold
5. Your phone will ring again but this time decline the call, this will send you to the Contacts Screen
6. Add a new contact:
   • Click on the First Last box, enter a name, then click Save
   • Click on the Add new URL box, add "prefs://1F", then click Save
   • Click on the Add another URL box, add "http://jailbreakme.com/", then click Save
   • Click Save to save new contact
   This will show you the new contact with the 2 new URLs
7. Tap "prefs://1F" (this will send u to the Settings screen)
8. Select Your WiFi Connection and leave your phone there for 1 minute or 2 to ensure that you indeed are connected to the Wi-Fi network (the Wi-Fi symbol shows up). To verify that you have obtained a legitimate IP address, click on the right arrow of the network name. You should see 192.168.x.x -- because you are connected to a LAN. If you see any other IP address, you may need to abandon the network and try to connect again.
9. While you are at the Settings screen, click on General to set the Auto Lock time to "Never"
10. Press the Home button to take you back to the Activation screen, dial 0 (zero) and press the call button to bring up the Answer screen, click Answer.
11. Click Hold and the phone will ring again, click on Decline, and the contact Screen is displayed again
12. Tap your contact, and select the URL2 http://jailbreakme.com/
13. Scroll down, and hit "Install AppSnapp". After a few seconds, Safari should disappear, and pop you back to the Home screen --- you should see the "Slide for Emergency" prompt
14. Wait patiently for a minute or longer--don't touch anything until the phone restarts and pops you back to the Slide to Unlock screen
15. Slide to unlock, and Installer.app will be installed on your iPhone
16. Once jailbroken and activated, you can run installer updated it-in Sources tap click Edit then add http://i.unlock.no/
17. Refresh sources
18. Install BSD Subsystem (this takes a few minutes to complete!!!)
19. Under Unlocking Tools folder, install YouTube Activation
20. Under Unlocking Tools folder, install AnySIM
21. Restart Phone, check youtube
22. Run AnySIM (does not matter which SIM card is in the phone, however, to be safe, I always use the non-AT&T SIM card)
23. After AnySIM completes its task (Successfully, hopefully), restart iPhone and Uninstall AnySIM