iPhone 3G unlock arrives at last, time to eat some yellowsn0w
By Paul Miller 
posted Jan 1st 2009 10:31AM
posted Jan 1st 2009 10:31AM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Update: Unfortunately, it seems yellowsn0w might be living up to its beta status, with plenty of commenters and others across the interwebs reporting problems getting "unlocked" iPhone 3Gs to pick up their preferred carrier. As always, proceed with caution, and prepare some loose papers that need weighting just in case.
DON'T EAT THE YELLOW SNOW!!!
...Just kidding, knock yourself out!
Is it done with vigorous circular motion, hitherto unknown to the people in this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology?
Here it goes,the circular motion, now rub it!
He went right upside the head of my favorite baby seal
He went whap with a lead-filled snowshoe, and
He hit him on the nose and hit him on the fin, and he
That got me just about as evil as an eskimo boy can be. so I bent down
And I reached down, and I scooped down and I gathered up a generous
Mitten-ful of the deadly yellowsn0w
The deadly yellow snow, from right there where the huskies go!
might be beer
... Then again, might not.
Personally, if yellow snow appeared anywhere in my vicinity, I'd be less worried about eating than why the hell it's snowing in the middle of summer, in a sub-tropical climate.
Hmmmm... I was always told to stay away from yellow snow. Oh well, I didn't listen then and I won't now!!!
I think Yellowsn0w is sort of a play on the theme of Apple's internal iPhone codenames. Alpine, Bigbear, Littlebear, etc.
Either way, congrats to the Dev Team on another milestone. Breaking into the baseband was clearly no small feat - and it's really cool to see a devoted group of gadget enthusiasts working their butts off for no profit.
I know it's thankless work... but it shouldn't be.
so - THANK YOU for you efforts.
So anyone here successfully unlock their 3G yet?
Well, it's not working for me so far yet. :\
it's still beta
This is not a big deal.
The iPhone and iPhone 3G can be unlocked in less than 20 minutes with Quickpwn.
Its the new ipod touch where there is a problem. Apple put a new cpu in the 2nd gen touch and it can't be unlocked with Ziphone or Quickpwn unless you are a true hacker.
@Joshua Meadows, reinsert your SIM.
As opposed to a fake hacker?
What? This is the first 3G software unlock. And do you know why the second gen iTouch hasn't been jailbroken? Because fucking cares
@ducky, Yeah, I tried that. I'm using a Vodafone AU SIM and it says "Invalid SIM" when I reinsert it. Gonna try the fix below to put the original AT&T SIM back in and see if that helps anything.
@flashpoint
I think you're confusing "jailbreak" and "unlock". Yes, the 3G has been "jailbroken" for quite some time (which means that you can install unoffical "non-App Store" applications via Cydia or Installer. "Unlocked" means you can use a Sim card from Any GSM carrier in the phone and it will work. This is the First software unlock for the 3G. And just in case you weren't aware, QuickPwn is made by The iPhone DevTeam, just like this release YellowSn0w is also made by the DevTeam.
@ flashpoint,
you're an idiot. i hope you know. before you state such ludicrous statements as fact, make sure they are correct.
iPhone 3G can be JAILBROKEN by quickpwn. not unlocked. as for the 2g Touch, it's not a new cpu more than its clocked slightly higher. and because of the difference (and the fact that the dev team is indeed the IPHONE Dev Team) they have decided to not work on it for the time being
a quick read before you post so matter-of-factly would really help your cause
dang conroy beat me too it! :-)
@v langs
Well, we can't have misinformation floating around the interwebs, now can we? lol.
Here at Engadget, we're all about building people up!
This is i-i,
Flashpoint, you noodle head!!!,
I cannot believe you don't even know the difference between UNLOCKING and JAILBREAKING...
SHITE!
hey easy on the guy, I didn't realize there was a difference between unlock and jailbreak, and i consider myself generally savvy. Just not everyone is well-versed in the language of Apple.
Just downloaded the 0.9.4 version, and followed the tutorial over at iclarified. I have succesfully unlocked it now and it seems to be working with a PIN enabled SIM. Didn't even need the airplane mode toggle.
@Flashpoint
I see now, that you are the reason we arent allowed to edit our comments.
For guys in Australia, this is how i did it, install yellowsnow and reboot the phone with a sim that originally works with the phone. After reboot, replace with a sim with a different carrier, wait for like 10 secs or so, it will show new carrier.
UPDATE: Have tried this on my 2nd iphone as well and it works fine. So 2 out of 2 unlocked, can confirm it works
Awesome, I can confirm this worked for me too. Once I put the original AT&T SIM in, then waited for it to find the network and popped the Vodafone AU one back inside, it came up working fine for me.
Am getting really weak signal strength though.
You EDITED THE POST. Wow. Please share your magic!
Just kidding, I know that you added that before you submitted.
Dunno why you say you need it in Oz. I was with Vodafone AU and got the Iphone 3g 16gig free through them (well, 2 year contract style free anyway) and it just worked. I know others with Iphone 3g using Telstra, Optus etc. Why do you need to unlock, unbrick, jailbreak, whatever you want to call it when it works as is, anyway?
top work Dev-Team
I figured as much, never rush to drink the koolaid, beta culture is just a bitch.
cool! keep it up! FREE WORLD!
People are all "it dun werk!" without actually reading their instructions. If the unlock doesn't work for you, REMOVE AND REINSERT YOUR SIM AFTER REBOOTING.
It's difficult to get a good measure of whether it's working or not when people don't know how to actually read the things they ask you to do.
Why assume nobody read the instructions? It's completely possible for someone to follow the instructions to the letter and still have it not work. Case in point, mine.
I'm going by the post on the devteam blog, where everyone says "It's not working... oh wait."
All I'm saying is check the instructions and give it some time. It's new territory, as they say on their post.
Not only should be read the instructions, but they should also be reading through all the threads people are commenting on at the dev site.
Some with tmo have left the sim OUT and let it sit for 5 mins, then reinsert, then reboot... after some minutes part, voila. Working unlock. You have to have patience.
A lot of people are saying it doesn't work then getting it to work and not explaining what they did. Not every unlock is working the same way. Some are saying you have to do the unlock certain ways to get the sims to work.
Does anybody think the iPhone Nano might just be a mobile phone while the 3g will be a smart phone (if you can call it that). The nano would be PAYGO no need for unlocking.
The iPhone Dev team is a gift from God himself. Thank you, Steve!
I can also say that the 0.9.1 fix they just rolled out solved the problem I had the first time with my Vodafone AU SIM. I didn't need to go through the fix of putting the original AT&T SIM in and then switching them out while the phone was on.
Could you also comment on the release post at blog.iphone-dev.org confirming that 0.9.1 works for you? Helps them to know what works.
Good idea, I left a comment saying it worked for me now. Thanks.
Let me just get this dumb question out of the way: will this void your factory warranty?
I have seen numeral ppl being driven away at the Apple store for havin supposedly modified the software. If I unlock, and Apple comes out with a new FW, will that reset everything to factory default and they won't be able detect the mod? Thanks!!
There's a lot of info being displayed in that screen capture...
Am I understanding this right. The message from the Dev Team so far has been avoid the 2.2 baseband, or you won't be able to do a software unlock. But this announcement is for 2.2 only.
Has the Dev Team just pulled the sweetest of misdirection then big reveal?
It works with the newest baseband specifically and it's a soft unlock (it can be turned on and off).
Time to unlcok this sons of bitches.
And hit u craiglist. CASHING.
Time to take some peoples holiday money YEEAAAH!!1
I remember my first beer.
works for me :)
I like it how ppl are already trying to cash in on this free unlock by charging others for jailbreak and unlocking service lol..... really saddens me
This is great, it doesn't even require firmware hacks now.. you just install it from Cydia and it runs when the phone boots in the background. Kudos to them for this!
3G iPhone unlock!?!?!? Headed to Wally World now...
P.S. Thank you Dev-Team!
Not working for me. YES, I read all the directions on their blog- been refreshing that page since 9pm last night. I've rebooted with SIM in, waited a minute, (and longer), taken the SIM out and re-inserted it. Nothing. Sometimes I get "no signal", but mostly just the empty bars next to the wifi signal. I'm using T-Mobile USA and 0.9.1. Any Ideas??
I had a lot of trouble installing through cydia as well- it froze up while supposedly downloading 4 times, but the 5th supposedly worked, (saw all the command line work being done on screen). When it didn't work I removed it and installed through Installer, where it installed the first time with no problems.
I know it's a beta, but if anyone has any ideas for me please let me know.
Thanks Dev Team!!!
Do you have an AT&T SIM that you could have in the phone for the bootup, and then replace it with the T-Mobile SIM?
And also, kinda weird question, but are you sure you have service at your location? If you're around the Northeastern bits of the US, such as New York, T-Mobile is known to be crap...
I do have an AT&T sim card, but it no longer has service. I'll try that. Also, yes, I have bad service here at my apt, (not my neighborhood, just my apt), but i usually have one or two bars pretty reliably. I'll try going outside and using the AT&T sim and report back afterwards.
Thanks for the advice!
Tried the AT&T sim and going outdoors to more reliable coverage. neither worked. Also, about a minute into the phone being on I get a new VM sound (and vibration), as if it IS logging on to the network, but nothing appears in the status bar.
I did quickpwn and hacktivate using a unibody macbook pro.....would that have affected the quality of the jailbreak at all?
With T-mobile in the US you need to turn off 3G in the settings menu for it to work.
Thanks Ben. Like I said, I followed the dev team's instructions to the letter. 3G was off the whole time.
testing
Anyway to get the 3g iPhone and not pay AT&T the early termination fee penalty? I just to buy the iPhone and unlock it to use with T-mobile prepaid card. I hate getting locked into any phone contract! TIA
You could pay an exorbitant price to get it contract-free...
Will this work with OS X 10.5.6 ?
tried to see if the unlocks works for sure, but unfortunately it aint working no more lol...... beta is really a beta .lol..... i uninstall yellowsn0w and reinstall after a reboot, it wont find the carrier anymore lol..... ahh well, it was good while it lasted hahhaa..... guess just have to wait until they fix this.
In the UK, works well.
Got it going with a 3 SIM (www.three.co.uk) and also Voda UK
The really important part appears to be the waiting for 1 min from reboot, does not seem to matter what SIM is in while you do it, at least not here.
Kev
Stupid question, but AT&T is pretty good in my area, Honolulu, but when I travel to Japan will I have to unlock the phone to use the Japanese simm cards? Also when I return, can I reinstall my phone back to AT&T??
I like to see positive advancements like this. Unlocking a phone will not damage anyone save the carrier and is a great help if you travel alot, switching the SIM cards with ease. Im glad to see some sort of positive work being done, unlike jailbreaking which most people use to rip off Apple Developers' software (which takes a lot of effort for us to make) not to mention that stealing this software is illegal. So hooray for iPhone unlocking!
hasn't worked for me.. tried everything, removed the sim and put it back in a couple of times and still nothing.. i guess that's what you get with betas.. i'll have to wait
I unlocked my iPhone for T-mob, had to take out and reinsert the sim 3 times before it worked right but now its been 3 hours with no fail (better than the stupid sim tray unlock i had tried before which nearly failed hourly), ohh yeah and my g1 data plan works with it so i dont have to change data plans back and forth when i switch between phones.
Jess,
Did you use the G1 sim card to unlock the Iphone or an ATT sim card?
I hope they release an unlock for SIM's with PIN's soon...
Hi, Just thought I'd mention that you can find detailed instructions and video on performing the unlock here: http://www.iclarified.com/2538
Its still a bit finicky but the iPhone Dev-Team has already released version .9.1 which is an update to the original .9.0 unlock application.
ok i did everything they said, upgrade my firmware to 02.28.00 version 2.2 (5g77) then i jailbreak using quickpwn, then download and insstall YELLOWSN0W from Cydia... But when i insert my T MOBILE sim and turn on and off my iphone ...i wait for 10-15 seconds. but where sould be the bars and the tmobile network it says (((NO SERVICE))) and i need to know if this Yellowsn0w has done anything good to others ...........Don't work For Me!
I've been at this for hours and nothing worked until this;
1. restart phone
2. terminal type yellowsn0w -r
3. terminal type yellowsn0w -q
4. airplane mode on
5. airplane mode off
I waited about 3-5 seconds after the -q command and then went to airplane mode, entered that, waited about 4 seconds, and then turned it off. I called my voicemail and it didn't drop the call at all.
HEY THE DEV TEAM IS A GROUP WHO IS SMART BUT NOT THAT FUKN SMART. WHAT THEY DID WAS THEY THOUGHT THEY HAD SOMETHING PERFECT WORKING. SO WHAT THESE FUCKN IDIOTS DID WAS RELEASE A NOT-SO-PERFECT-YET VERSION OF THEIR SO CALLED YELLOWFUCKINGBULLSHITSNOW PROGRAM THAT ONLY UNLOCKS SOME PEOPLES IPHONES ALMOST NONE, AND WHAT HAPPENED WAS NOW THAT PEOPLE WHO HAD 2.1 RUNNING AND WERE USING TURBOSIMS AND SHIT NOW ARE FUCKED BECAUSE THEY HAVE 2.2 RUNNING AND CANT GO BACK. SO THANK YOU DEVTEAM U GUYS ARE FUKN IDIOTS WITH P-SIZE BRAINS. U GUYS HAVE DONE NOTHING BETTER THAN FUCKED ALL OF US. AND YEA WE DO APPRECIATE PREVIOUS STUFF U DID BUT U NOE WAT NOONE FORCED U TO RELEASE NE OF THAT SHIT U GUYS DO US FAVORS BECAUSE U GET PAYED DOING IT. SO IM NOT SO FUKN WARMHEARTED FOR U ASSHOLES. NOW IM USING A RAZOR THAT MY MOM GAVE ME THANKS TO YOU. NEXT TIME GET UR FUKN FACTS STRAIGHT AND STOP GETTING PEOPLE READY FOR SOMETHING THAT DOESNT WORK. I CAN DO THE SAME: I CAN MAKE A SOFTWARE THAT "UNLOCKS" THE IPHONE 3G AND CALL IT "BLUEBALLS" AND IT WONT WORK. SO FIX THIS SHIT.
why must you type in all caps?
That's why they call it beta software. If you weren't prepared for it to not work, you shouldn't have installed it.
your mom gave you a razr? how old are you, 12? Shouldn't you have a rumor, not an iphone?
The dev team does not get "payed" [sic] to do this. They don't even accept donations. They make no money off of providing this service and do it in their own time for free.
It's a shame that moronic twelve year olds with entitlement complexes act like they know more about developing a complicated software unlock than the people who actually did it, but in the future if you're using software for free that was developed for free it might help if you dig your head out of your own ass long enough to type "Thank you for all your hard work on this" instead of the caps lock rant above.
TYPING IN ALL CAPS MAKES MY E-PENIS BIGGER.
Still won't work with my carrier... sigh... effing Verizon
Verizon is CDMA, why would it?
man u all celebrating as if iPhone will now be free,.ok I have iphone 3g in LA with AT&T ,xlnt 3g coverage,should I do this? Would I save money? What benefit?will I get more apps,?more gps?is tmobil 3g faster?I want go keep my 3g coverage,what should I do,,,,?will 3g data plan still work if I unlock?is it worth losing my 1 year warranty ? I heard if I stop data plan I get $200 etf,what to do???!?
If you're on AT&T in the US, and don't need to use a different carrier, then no, there's no point in it for you.
I bought my iPhone in the US. Then I moved to Australia. I didn't want to continue using the AT&T SIM card overseas as that equals bill rape for roaming charges. Because of this I can now use my phone in Australia with a native SIM.
If you're on AT&T and don't intend to use another carrier, it makes no difference if you use the unlock or not.
Beta or not, it's working great here with T-Mobile in the California Bay Area.
I had a couple kinks, but this is what I did to get it working:
1.) Take out SIM card.
2.) Restore the iPhone using iTunes to firmware v2.2.
3.) While phone reboots, close iTunes.
4.) Use QuickPWN to jailbreak and install Cydia. (Also bypass activation.)
5.) Use Cydia to install yellowsn0w.
6.) Insert T-Mobile SIM card.
7.) Modify Settings>General>Network>Cellular Data Network and change the APN to "wap.voicestream.com".
Voice and data now works!
Can you make outgoing calls? Mine loses connection as soon as I try to make an outgoing call. Have to re-insert T-Mobile sim card to get the network again. Incoming calls as well as text messaging work perfectly though
Nice info guys...
No need to be an ass, clueless Engadget writer. Had you read any of the dev team's posts, you would realize that there is no way to brick your phone with their unlock. Besides, most of the 'problems' these people are experiencing are due to the fact that they can't read and follow simple directions.
So this unlock means it can be used on any carrier? Will this mean the phone's 3g connection will become useless? Pretty tempting if it means i can use a cheaper tarriff but still have 3g.
I was too drunk that I forgot, it's now January 2nd...
You idiots..........
the pwnage tool uses the Cyndia OS packet installer to unlock it.....just click on "AnySim" and it will work for most simcards, when installed. What they've just released is merely a separate unlock....nothing new. It could be done already...this is just a supplement.
GREAT JOB GUYS---YOU'VE JUST FIGURED OUT.
HAHA
Version .9.4 fixes everything with a 99% Success rate...
I tried that iclarified website..and wow...it worked great.
Thanks to the Dev team and iClarified for amazing tutorial you really helped out a n00b xD
Worked better when upgraded to the latest Beta..0.9.4
Had to place my orginal sim in first, then remove once signal found, then place my tmobile sim inside. Full bars, even when signal is lost, the signal then is recovered. sms,data,voice all work without issues. even turning airplane mode off and on, signal is recovered. Made sure to set data settings for apn are wap.voicestream.com
username to guest, as well password set to guest. turned off 3g and push services. all should be good.
Everything good and i have a good signal with a T- mobile logo, and i can send a message either the only thing i can do is make a call it drop a signal right away and said call failed. Do anyone know or have any idea about it please let me know.
No kidding. Stupid Verizon. Oh well. Off to the storm I go.
Buy iPhone 3G unlock from http://www.replica-cell-phones.com/
this really works my cousin unlocked my iphone 3g for me i was tired of using the tiny piece of plastic that connected to my sim it kept on crashing my iphone