Filed under: iPod Family, Hacks, iPhone
The State of the iTouch Jailbreak

No news to report yet but since I'm being bombarded by email, here's a status report:
iPhuc. Recompiled and working. I've created a hacker version that I'm using to send requests. So we've moved a little closer. Now I'm getting "unrecognized request" messages in GRestore mode instead of request not founds.
Recovery mode. Achieved both by hand and by software. The old restore commands do not work. iTouch uses a new restore protocol. Instead of pushing data from iTunes, the iTouch pulls data via request. It used to be that iTunes sent a request, and the iPhone returned results. Now iTunes starts a restore mode and waits for requests from the iTouch and serves the requested data.
File read/write from disk. Achieved. Pretty much all the normal inside-jail stuff works.
File system mount. Not there yet.
GRestore. Partial success.
RAM disk decryption. Not yet. No luck yet on finding the key, which may be getting served from Apple.
Shell mode. Maybe.
Normal mode debug access working
State. Arminius: Cranky; Pumpkin, tE_gU, Kroo, Roxfan, BloomFilter: Exhausted. Martyn: Bits of his ipod scattered about his workbench. Me: Frustrated. Jailbreak seems increasingly unlikely at this point.
Update: I've gotten the iTouch not to barf at two requests: QueryType and Goodbye. Now I've got to see if there any other requests that I can find and also to figure out how to provide parameters to QueryType. Goodbye takes no arguments and just pretty much ends the session. Update 2: I'm calling it a night (morning). I've restored my iTouch software now almost a dozen times. Just as a rule: make sure to go into recovery mode by hand, not through iPhoneInterface or iPhuc because you can't get back without restoring. The goal of this whole exercise is to get access to disk mount and ditto--neither of which happened today. Once those are solved, you can put in the fstab and Services.plist files and get access to the whole disk. We're not there yet. Or really not that close. Once we get the disk, we're golden. All hacks flow from full disk access with read & write. Without Jailbreak, there's no way to install applications or really do anything else.


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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
xxdesmus said 11:10PM on 9-15-2007
"Jailbreak seems increasingly unlikely at this point."
If that's true that will really suck. Luckily I can return this within 30 days if it appears that it won't/can't be cracked.
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Will Angel said 11:24PM on 9-15-2007
I really want to give this a shot, but I think I'm going to return my iTouch because of the screen "negative blacks" issue, and I'd hate to have to explain to Apple Store Guy that the iTouch is bricked "totally not because of anything I did or the problem I'm returning it for, it just did that for no reason and I don't know why," so I guess it'll have to wait.
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xxdesmus said 11:31PM on 9-15-2007
Yeah same here. The problem is that I really don't like the iPod classic either. Oh well, I guess I can hold off and wait to see how things play out.
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JR said 11:45PM on 9-15-2007
Hrm, this may not bode well for the new iPhone update to be released shortly...
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sh said 12:50AM on 9-16-2007
it's not "iTouch" gosh. it's the "iPod Touch" that drives me crazy!
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byaah said 11:54PM on 9-15-2007
You can do it Erica! And so can the rest of the team. Keep up the good work. Believe me, its much appreciated.
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Peter said 11:58PM on 9-15-2007
iTouch is faster to spell plus it sounds dirty and cool at the same time! BTW while your hating on spelling and abbreviations, it's "iPod touch"! So next time you get all mad, at least know the real name!
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ben said 12:22AM on 9-16-2007
Well I'm not giving up hope for some kind of hack, and plus, I'm loving this thing so it's not going back. I just would like some hackage eventually.
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Christopher said 12:25AM on 9-16-2007
Keep up the good work!!! I really want to jailbreak my iPod touch to instal mail, google maps, weather, notes, and the nes emulator. Thank you Erica and the rest of the team!!! You guys are AWESOME!
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Alex Cormier said 12:29AM on 9-16-2007
You shall restore hopes to the lives of so many people who live in their mom's basements! Persist! Fight for your right to hack!
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luke said 12:43AM on 9-16-2007
This thing's only been out for a few days so I think it may be a little hasty to give up on a hack.
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kevanhloy said 1:24AM on 9-16-2007
@JR
This is a really scary thing in regards to the iPhone update... I guess technically the damn iPod isn't even shipping yet as far as Apple is concerned, but if what we already know about the software/firmware isn't helping, it doesn't sound very good.
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JD said 1:19AM on 9-16-2007
@sh
If you're going to be anal, maybe you should learn capitalization and punctuation.
Also, it should be "its", not "it's".
(Just kidding about that second one. Bet that got someone's goat...)
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craig said 1:52AM on 9-16-2007
*crosses fingers*
i want contacts on my iPhone...
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PSM said 2:59AM on 9-16-2007
I just got to play with one at a party. It's SO thin! Of course I didn't hear about the black screen problem until my train ride home, so I wasn't paying attention to it.
I'm looking to get an iPhone in the future, probably with the next hardware revision, but I swear if there had been an Apple Store inside the bar I would have bought one right there. That's why I try to avoid physical contact with them. It's bad for my wallet.
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Max said 6:21AM on 9-16-2007
"9. You shall restore hopes to the lives of so many people who live in their mom's basements! Persist! Fight for your right to hack!"
Word! :)
Keep on going (pleaaaase^^)
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mycintosh said 4:48AM on 9-16-2007
Was somebody able to get the .dmg Files of the Firmware Update hacked?
We would really like to have the Dictionarys out of it, to put them to the iPhone :)
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cuantics.blogspot.com said 5:36AM on 9-16-2007
What I would like is plugging to my Ipod the gadgets I´ll use each day and so, being able to update them independently.
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TouchMaster said 7:15AM on 9-16-2007
Maybe we have to find an exploit for iPod Touchs Safari and open a remote shell on it?
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Donald said 7:37AM on 9-16-2007
Good work, keep trying. I hope it doesn't end up being the iPod Touché!
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