Updated: February 15, 2010

Page 1 of 2

First, I only write tutorials for Mac users. Second, I have a lot of content on this site so I made this page as an introduction to the iPhone hacking scene. Consider it a roadmap for everything I have to offer.

These are the topics I will cover:

• What is jailbreaking, and why should I do it?
• How is unlocking different from jailbreaking?
• What jailbreaking has to offer.
• Why are there seven Step 1 tutorials, and which is the right one for me?
• Step 2: Okay I've jailbroken, now what?
• What else does your site offer?
• Alternate hacking programs.
• Reminders for hacking the iPhone.

What is jailbreaking, and why should I do it?

Jailbreaking is a process where you modify your iPhone to run unsigned code. Without getting too technical, all the programs on the iPhone run inside of a programming sandbox. Apple does this so that you and I can not bring our own toys to play with in Apple's sandbox. By bringing our own programs, this increases the functionality of the iPhone. Once jailbroken, you can now run non App Store programs, or modify the iPhone's file system in ways that Apple doesn't approve of.   It doesn't matter to Apple if these programs are safe, or if they are beneficial to you. Apple only wants their approved of programs running on your iPhone. Apple does this to protect their business model, and stifle innovation and competition.

Jailbreaking is a generally risk-free process that will not void your warranty (provided you can restore it with the original firmware provided by Apple). Even Apple employees at the retail stores can be seen with jailbroken iPhones. To undo the jailbreaking process you simply restore your iPhone with iTunes, and all evidence of the jailbreaking is removed. Jailbreaking is a transparent process. Everything on your iPhone will continue to work normally once you have jailbroken. The number one reason to jailbreak an iPhone, is so that you can unlock it for use with any GSM cellular phone service provider in the world! Jailbreaking is not unlocking. Those are two different things...

How is unlocking different from jailbreaking?

While jailbreaking lets you use any programs you want to on the iPhone, unlocking is an additional process performed on already jailbroken iPhones. Unlocking is removing the restriction put in place by Apple or your cell phone service provider (AT&T, T-Mobile, O2), that limits the iPhone to operating only on their particular network. You can roam, but at greatly increased rates of service. When you unlock an iPhone, it allows it to operate on any network in the world that uses the GSM standard (the most widely adopted cellular phone standard on the planet). You simply remove one SIM card, and insert the SIM card of the network you want to use, and the iPhone will accept it.

Remember, iPhones use GSM technology, not CDMA. iPhones can not be made to operate on providers like Sprint or Verizon. If you are a United States resident, keep in mind the 3G frequencies that AT&T and T-Mobile uses are not the same. If you want 3G connectivity and T-Mobile service, then purchase a T-Mobile phone.

The current firmware (3.1.2), is unlockable on the 2G, 3G, and 3G S iPhones if you followed the correct updating procedures spelled out on this site.









While Apple's App Store is fantastic, it doesn't provide you with many things that you can install once you are jailbroken. In fact, there are many things you will never see on the App Store because of Apple's strict, and often capricious rules for approval. Cydia (an alternative to the App Store) is the program that is automatically installed when jailbreaking, and the vast majority of the content it offers is free!





Would you like to have the ability to opt out of data mining services which have their code embedded in some App Store applications? The reasons for this data mining seem harmless enough, developers just want to track how users use their program. If you would like the option to not be tracked, you can install a program called PrivaCy. This program was made by the creator of Cydia and in conjunction with the data tracking service companies in question. Once installed, you are presented with a control panel for opting out of each individual service.





Going hand in hand with blocking data miners is the iPhone's first firewall. Called Firewall iP, this program allows you to select which applications can phone home about you. You can decide which connections (TCP and UDP) to allow or block. You can also fine tune the rules for a given application





Apple doesn't allow applications that duplicate the functionality of core services in the iPhone. Because of this GV Mobile was pulled from the App Store. It integrated with the free Google Voice service. Apparently either Apple or AT&T didn't like the access to free domestic calling, free SMS, and lower rates for international calls. One of these banned applications that took advantage of Google Voice was GV Mobile. It was a paid application on the App Store. When the creator of the program found out he was kicked out of the App Store, he brought his program to Cydia, and offered it for free!

Some of GV Mobile's features include:

• Integration with Google Voice.
• Take calls from different phones other than your iPhone.
• Enable or disable the phones that Google Voice forwards your calls to.
• Add or delete phones that Google Voice forwards call to.
• Playback and delete voicemails.
• Dial numbers via the iPhone address book or typing on the keypad.
• Full SMS support (view historic, reply, send new).
• Retrieve and delete recent call history.

Here's what GV Mobile looks like.




Getting back to Google Voice for a moment... This is not VoIP. You must have a phone plan to use this. It's only available to residents of the United States. This service is invite only, but it only took a few days for my request to be approved.

Here is what Google voice offers:

• A personal phone number that can ring all of your existing phones at once when people call. You can also select which phone numbers of yours will ring. You can even have individual outgoing messages depending on who is calling you.
• All of your voicemail in one inbox with unlimited online storage and free voicemail transcripts sent to your phone and email.
• Low-priced international calling to over 200 countries and free SMS.
• Other powerful features like the first phone spam filter to protect you from unwanted callers, the ability to listen in on your voicemail messages while they are being left, conference calling and more.

Here's another free program called Cycorder, which records video and audio. This program is meant for 2G and 3G iPhones only. Apple will never supply a video recording program for these phones.

When you have recorded a video, Cycorder saves your movies in a list, and they are immediately playable. Yes, you can download them off the iPhone and share them. Click on the QuickTime image below to see a sample movie made with Cycorder running on the iPhone.








There are even game emulators like the Nintendo Entertainment System, the GameBoy Advanced, Genesis4iPhone, MAME4iPhone, and psx4iPhone (Play Station), which will allow you to play your personally owned video games on your iPhone. These emulators are only available through Cydia. There are even ports for games like Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein.





WinterBoard can "theme" the look of your iPhone with just a couple pushes of a button. Take your stock iPhone from this, to this, to this. These themes are called Glass Orb and Neon standard, and can be found in Cydia.










But how about these lock screens instead? You can even have weather widgets and status bars informing you of e-mails and missed calls appear on this screen.




Here is what my lock screen looks like. These menu bars give me all the information I could need at my fingertips: calendar, weather, e-mail received, upcoming calendar events, missed calls, voicemails, even SMS can be added. This is all without evening having to slide to unlock! See my Themes with WinterBoard Section 27 tutorial to learn more...





Since this is a phone, and you’ll be spending a lot of time dialing phone numbers, why not change the phone keypad as well? The standard phone keypad sure is rather plain looking. The keypad in the middle is called Retro Phone Dialer. The keypad on the right is one I made with my own photograph.





You can even change the font used in Notes. And, you might as well change your system fonts, while you are in there, too. Once again, you must be jailbroken to do this. Apple will not allow themes in the App Store.





Apple has banned applications previously approved in the App Store that enable "Emoji". These are emoticons that were added for Japanese iPhone users only. For whatever reason, Apple does not want anyone else to be able to use them, even though they are already installed in your iPhone's firmware. Simply install the Emoji application from Cydia, and follow the instructions, and you can use them in your Notes application, and Text messaging.













Another little known fact is that the iPhone is limited to eleven pages of icons. Once you reach this limit, any new programs you install through the App Store will not display on the iPhone, so you won't have any way to run those programs unless you do a Spotlight search for them. If you jailbreak, you can use a program called Categories to solve this problem. This also has the added benefit of allowing you to organize and simplify your iPhone's home screen (or SpringBoard as we call it). Allow me to demonstrate:

Here is what my iPhone looks like. I have four screens of icons. Not only does this make it harder to find the program you want to use, it makes it hard to reorganize the icons if you keep things in alphabetical order (like I do), without constantly dragging icons from one screen to another to reposition them.






The bulk of my icons have been placed into three folders: Applications, Games, and Utilities. Now you just press the folder you want to go into, and those specific programs are in there. Just press them as usual to use them. You can only do this if you jailbreak.