Unlock Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

PwnageTool offers risky iPhone 3G, 3GS unlock

by Dave Caolo (Nov 29th, 2010)

Those eager to carrier-unlock their iPhone 3G/3GS under the latest firmware (and only the latest firmware) have an option, if the risk of using iPad code does not dissuade them. The iPhone Dev Team has released a new version of PwnageTool that uses the 6.15.00 baseband from iPad firmware 3.2.2, ...

iOS 4.2.1 brings baseband signature check, unlockers warned to wait

by Sam Abuelsamid (Nov 25th, 2010)

With the release of iOS 4.2.1, Apple has again gained the upper hand in the ongoing cat and mouse battle against iPhone unlockers. While the U.S. Library of Congress has decreed that users who choose to unlock their mobile devices for use on alternative networks cannot be prosecuted under the ...

iPhone 4 unlock now available

by Dave Caolo (Aug 5th, 2010)

Here's good news for iPhone 4 users who've been waiting for a carrier unlock. The iPhone Dev Team has released an update to Ultrasn0w, its iPhone unlocking client, that's compatible with the iPhone 4. When run on an jailbroken iPhone 4, Ultrasn0w will allow you to use a carrier other than ...

iPhone 4 unlocked, says Dev Team member

by Dave Caolo (Jul 13th, 2010)

It took some doing, but the iPhone 4 has been unlocked. Unfortunately, you can't get your hands on what you'll need to do it yourself just yet. A member of the iPhone Dev Team who goes by PlanetBeing has posted a picture of an iPhone 4 on Canada's Bell network. The feat was made more difficult ...

Hiring a new sheriff: Apple clamping down on jailbreaking to soothe corporate angst?

by Steven Sande (Nov 10th, 2009)

With the latest jailbreaking code, blacksn0w, now available for Geohot's blackra1n utility, iPhone owners who want to free their favorite smartphone from the constraints of the App Store and the AT&T network may do so. But a recent report by PCWorld / Network World indicates that Apple is hiring ...

Blacksn0w unlocks iPhone OS 3.1.2 and baseband 05.11.07

by Josh Carr (Nov 3rd, 2009)

For the last several months, anyone who had updated to iPhone OS 3.1 or greater without following a pre-update procedure lost the unlock on their iPhones due to new software in the modem firmware or the baseband. Using the at+xemn crash as an injection point, iPhone hacker Geohot (of the original ...

Mouse steals cheese, iPhone 3.1 jailbreak released

by Kevin Harter (Sep 15th, 2009)

The legendary Dev-Team has done it again. It just released the new version of the Pwnage Tool, a desktop application that's used to create custom firmware packages to jailbreak iPhones and iPod touches. Jailbreaking is the act of modifying the official firmware in order to run applications not ...

iPhone push on unlocked phones sends AIM message to unintended recipients

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Jul 21st, 2009)

Update 7/22: AOL has responded to the reports of misdirected push notifications, and has confirmed that the issue is due to the use of a workaround for push notifications on unlocked phones. -- If you want to have a hot and steamy exchange with your sweetheart via AIM on the iPhone, you might want ...

Ultrasn0w for 3G, OS 3.0 is out -- 3GS not yet

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Jun 23rd, 2009)

If you know what Ultrasn0w is, then you maybe just did a little happy dance. If you don't: it unlocks your iPhone to work on other carriers. If you don't care for AT&T, for example, you can use Ultrasn0w on T-Mobile. One tip: you'll have to disable 3G for T-Mobilers in the US of A. Lucky us, eh? ...

Dev Team announces 3.0-compatible jailbreak tools

by Michael Rose (Jun 19th, 2009)

As the night follows the day, surely an updated Pwnage tool must follow the release of a new iPhone operating system. True to form, the dedicated hackers of the iPhone Dev Team have posted a blog entry detailing the steps needed to jailbreak (and, in some cases, unlock) iPhones running the new ...

iPhone 3G unlock (finally) crashes everyone's party

by Aron Trimble (Jan 1st, 2009)

While everyone was assuredly watching the ball drop in in NYC and finishing off glasses of bubbly, the iPhone Dev-Team was hard at work pushing out the iPhone 3G unlock. They previously stated that an iPhone 3G unlock would occur in the final hours of 2008, and though the unlock was made available a ...

Contract-free iPhones selling in France

by Dave Caolo (Dec 29th, 2008)

When Apple was planning to sell the iPhone in France, Orange was identified as the exclusive carrier. The problem was that France prohibits a carrier lock to extend beyond 6 months. Additionally, French provider Bouygues Telecom SA filed a complaint with the Competition Council about that agreement ...

Reader report: Rebel SIM working with 3G iPhone

by Dave Caolo (Aug 19th, 2008)

A reader in Barbados sent us a message today describing the success he had with a Rebel SIM card and his 3G iPhone. Having purchased a 3G in Canada, he returned to Barbados and ordered the Rebel, which has been working perfectly with no dropped calls. Barbados does not have 3G service, but decent ...

Unlocked iPhones a growing industry

by Robert Palmer (Jul 17th, 2008)

A cottage industry has grown up surrounding unlocked iPhones, and two new companies are looking to cash in. Brazilian company DesbloqueioBr came up with a clever way of using a SIM-card adapter to enable unlocking the phone and choosing a carrier at your discretion. It's much like the Turbo SIM ...

Software-only unlock for the current iPhone firmware announced

by Michael Rose (Feb 10th, 2008)

As many have you have emailed to tell us (thanks everyone), hacker teen wonder George Hotz a.k.a. GeoHot, of the hardware iPhone unlock heard 'round the world, has apparently made something unexpected: a software-only unlocking procedure for the iPhone's 1.1.2 and 1.1.3 firmware versions. With ...