iPhone 3G unlock arrives at last, time to eat some yellowsn0w
By Paul Miller 
posted January 1st 2009 10:31AM
posted January 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.
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.
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!