Jailbreaking the 3G iPhone (with 2.1 firmware)

intel Mac & PPC

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Who is this guide for?

• 3G iPhone owners
• Official contract, or not
• Pwned or not
• Any firmware version
• I used iTunes 8.0.2
• Make sure to Sync your iPhone prior to using this tutorial. This way your personal information, and any App Store applications will be preserved.
• The "late 2008" MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines of computers have an issue with DFU mode. While it's possible to go from Pwned 2.1 firmware to Pwned 2.2 firmware (using PwnageTool), you can't yet go from stock firmware to Pwned firmware. If in any doubt use a different machine.

Thanks again go out to the iPhone Dev Team for providing this amazing, and FREE program for jailbreaking, activating, unlocking, and customizing the 1st generation iPhones. You can visit their website here.

Note: you can put other AT&T SIMs (GoPhone - prepaid) into the 3G iPhone and they will work.

BigBoss has compiled a FAQ for issues with 2.x here.

Step 1.

Download PwnageTool 2.1 from me here, or via the iPhone Dev Team's download link list here. You could also update PwnageTool to the latest version from within the program itself - once the iPhone Dev Team has added this to their servers for download.

If you haven't already downloaded 2.1 firmware from Apple, then you can download it here.

Step 2.

Install PwnageTool. Make sure to drag the program icon from the disk image into your Applications folder! Do not attempt to run the program from the disk image window, it will cause problems.

Step 3.

Launch PwnageTool. Make sure the Expert mode button in the top left corner is selected. Click the iPhone on the right.




You should get a green check mark on the iPhone you selected. Click the blue arrow button in the lower right corner.




PwnageTool will search for the 2.1 firmware on your computer first, then from the Internet. When it displays the firmware file, click on it, then click the blue arrow in the lower right corner.




You will be at this screen and have many choices you can make. Click on General. Then click the blue arrow at the bottom.




At the General Settings screen, if you are using an authorized carrier, then you must uncheck the Activate the phone box. If you are not using an authorized carrier, then check the box for Activate the phone. Check the box for Disable partition wipe-out. Click the blue arrow in the lower right corner.




At the Bootneuter settings screen, do nothing. The 3G iPhone has not been unlocked, so there is nothing to do here. Click the blue arrow in the lower right corner.




Based on Saurik's advice (the creator of Cydia), I ignore the the Cydia settings screen in PwnageTool. It is better to install any applications you need from Cydia directly. I've found problems when using this screen to automatically install programs. Just click the blue arrow in the lower right corner, to continue to the next screen.




At the Custom packages settings screen, make sure your packages are checked. Click the blue arrow in the lower right corner.




At the Custom logos settings screen, you can choose to use the suggested images by leaving their boxes checked, or uncheck them and use the stock images. If you click on Browse... you can add your own images in their place. Click the blue arrow in the lower right corner when done.




Here is a template image you can use. It is 320 by 480 in size. It has a one pixel, transparent border on all sides. All you have to do is paste in your 318 by 478 image onto it and center it. Then just save the image with the transparency intact and your image will work. Make sure your saved image is 100kb or less.




Finally, click the Build button and the blue arrow in the lower right corner.






Now name your custom firmware file and select where to save it.




You will now see this screen while your custom .ipsw is assembled. This stage is about four minutes long.




You will be prompted to enter your system password. There is nothing nefarious in this request, the reason it is asking is because it is creating your firmware and running commands as the root account (or superuser) on your computer. There are various processes where unmounting and mounting of a file systems is necessary. This is performed while using a system UID of 0 which causes the prompt for a system password. The root access is only for the creation of the ipsw file. So it's completely harmless.




You are then asked if your iPhone is CURRENTLY Pwned.




If you weren't already Pwned before, then you will receive instructions to put the iPhone into recovery (also referred to as restore) mode. This is NOT the same thing as DFU mode! At this point iTunes may launch, along with a pop up mesage, just move them out of the way at this point. This did not happen to me. Instead, I received this message.