Jailbreaking/unlocking the 1st generation iPhone using redsn0w

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Who is this guide for?

• All 1st generation iPhones: unlocked or not, activated or not, Pwned or not.
• Those on 3.1.2 firmware already. You will be updating (only if you've never jailbroken before) or restoring (if currently jailbroken) to 3.1.2 firmware first. Then you jailbreak and unlock. This tutorial will cover how to restore.
• Make sure to sync your iPhone prior to using this tutorial. This way your personal information, and any App Store applications will be preserved.
• I used iTunes version 9.0.3.
• I used OS X 10.6.2.

Thanks again go out to the iPhone Dev Team for providing this amazing, and FREE program for jailbreaking, activating, unlocking, and customizing the iPhone. You can visit their website here, and their blog here. They have a specific article on their blog here where you can ask questions and get help using this program.

These tutorials represent my experience as an iPhone owner in the United States. Your mileage may vary. There is no way I could create a tutorial to cover every possible scenario out there. So you are just going to have to roll with it, if your experience doesn't perfectly match these instructions.

Note: The team has updated redsn0w 0.9.x THREE TIMES in the last 24 hours (as of February 1st, 2010). I've updated my download links in the tutorials so that you can download the latest STABLE release (there's a beta 0.9.3 that I won't even talk about) which is 0.9.2. I however do not have the time to update my tutorials so that all the screen shots match the program interface, and that I've documented any other changes. I'll check back in a few weeks, and if the dust has finally settled on this program, then I'll update this tutorial.

Step 1.

Place the SIM card in the iPhone that you want to use. Make sure the iPhone is plugged in to your Mac.

Step 2.

Download redsn0w 0.9.2 from me here, or via the iPhone Dev Team's wiki here.

If you want to unlock your iPhone, then download the 3.9 and 4.6 bootloaders here.   Extract them to your desktop or somewhere else where you can easily find them. Note: the preceding link works fine. Try another browser if it doesn't "work" for you. I use a free program called UnRarX to decompress this file.

If you haven't already downloaded 3.1.2 firmware from Apple, then you can download it here. Note: Safari likes to open "safe" files by default. You must turn this feature off for this download to work correctly. Click "Safari", select "Preferences", from the "Geneal" tab uncheck the box that says "Open "safe" files after downloading". Otherwise just use Firefox to download this firmware file.

You should now have these three icons on your desktop.




Double click the redsn0w.zip file and you will see this folder appear.




Go into this folder and drag the redsn0w.app file into your Applications folder.

Step 3.

Launch iTunes, and plug in your iPhone. Here is how to restore to the 3.1.2 firmware file you may have downloaded earlier.

Press the Option key on your keyboard and click the Restore button in iTunes. Note: I erased my serial number and phone number for privacy reasons.




Now navigate to where your 3.1.2 firmware .ipsw file is. Select it, and click Choose.









You will see various status bars, while the restoring process proceeds. The iPhone's screen will turn white, and you will see the Apple logo.




During the restore process you will see a status bar graphic on the iPhone.




When it has finished restoring, you'll receive this message.




Note: If you are interested in having push notifications working (I don't use this so I can't attest to it), you will need to activate your iPhone with an official SIM. Push does not work on hacktivated iPhones. redsn0w can sense whether or not you require hacktivation based on your previous restore. If you activated officially, redsn0w will do nothing, if you did not activate offcially then it will hacktivate for you. Bottom line - you figure it out, I'm just making you aware of a potential issue.

Step 4.

Launch redsn0w. It will automatically close iTunes if you have it open. Click Browse.




Navigate to where your 3.1.2 firmware file is. Select it and click Open.




If you blink you will miss the lines of text that say: Processing firmware, and IPSW successfully identified. Click the Next button.




A pop up will appear and display several messages quickly.




At this screen you can install Cydia, use verbose boot mode (which just shows what the phone is doing when it boots up), you can also select a custom boot logo to replace the Apple logo, or a custom recovery logo to replace the plug in to iTunes logo. You can also choose to unlock with Boot Neuter. If you are already jailbroken, then you can select already pwned (which will deselect install Cydia), and just add the new options you want.




If you select custom logos, a file browser window will open so that you can load your images.




Make your choices and click Next.