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getting an iphone, need unlocking help

A

appleefan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 22, 2008
13
0
hey,

planning on getting an iphone today and unlocking it to work on t-mobile with ziphone. i got 2 questions that i hope u guys can answer for me.

1. do i insert my t-mobile sim card before i run ziphone and unlock it or do i do it afterwards

2. does ziphone downgrade ur firmware? i think i will most likely have 1.1.4 since im buying it today new and if it does can i just update it using itunes or do i have to d/l it seperately

thanks
 
My advice:

DON'T USE ZIPHONE!!!!!!

I highly recommend Pwnage or iLiberty. Much safer and more stable than Ziphone.
 
Use PWNAGE, read the sticky at the top of this forum. You have a lot more control and it seems like a better approach to Unlocking vs. ZiPhone. I have used both.
 
man o man

here i am thinking i know what im gonna use and such and now i got ppl saing ziphone is bad. for me ziphone is the easiest unless someone can post me an updated tuorial of PWNAGE or iliberty+
 
I'll rundown pwnage for you.

1) Make sure your iphone has the latest firmware, 1.1.4. Do this by putting phone into restore mode and connecting with iTunes and hit update.

2) Once all that is done, run the pwnage tool with your ipod connected. Click browse ipsw and load of the apple firmware. If you don't know where to download it from, well use google.

3) Click Pwn, the program will "pwn" your phone

4) Click build custom firmware. Check all the boxes except the ones having to do with the bootloader, so activate, enable baseband update, neuter bootloader, and unlock baseband.

5) Add the programs Installer, BSD Subsystem, and Bootneuter. It's easiest to just click "all categories" and hunt them down from there.

6) Build your custom firmware.

7) Put phone back into restore mode, itunes will pop up saying you need to restore. Shift+click on restore and select the custom firmware you've just made.

8) Sit back and relax, itunes and your phone will do the rest.

It's really a lot simpler then what the tutorial makes it out to be
 
onlycopunk said:
I'll rundown pwnage for you.

1) Make sure your iphone has the latest firmware, 1.1.4. Do this by putting phone into restore mode and connecting with iTunes and hit update.

2) Once all that is done, run the pwnage tool with your ipod connected. Click browse ipsw and load of the apple firmware. If you don't know where to download it from, well use google.

3) Click Pwn, the program will "pwn" your phone

4) Click build custom firmware. Check all the boxes except the ones having to do with the bootloader, so activate, enable baseband update, neuter bootloader, and unlock baseband.

5) Add the programs Installer, BSD Subsystem, and Bootneuter. It's easiest to just click "all categories" and hunt them down from there.

6) Build your custom firmware.

7) Put phone back into restore mode, itunes will pop up saying you need to restore. Shift+click on restore and select the custom firmware you've just made.

8) Sit back and relax, itunes and your phone will do the rest.

It's really a lot simpler then what the tutorial makes it out to be
Click to expand...

thanks for typing that all out, it does seem rather easy, just two more questions lol

1. i have yet to receive my phone as i ordered it online and im assuming it will already come with 1.1.4 so do i still need to do the first step u mentioned or do i just open it out of the box and plug it in and run PWNAGE?

2. when i downloaded the 1.1.4 file it downloads as a zip file, i will include a picture but what i want to know is will it still work? not sure why it looks like that
 

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i've used ziphone on multiple phones and it works just fine.
i wanted to use the pwnage app, but didn't like the fact it didn't have installer and didn't 'get' how to create your own firmware. plus the only reason i really wanted to use that was to use a beta 2.0 firmware. that's almost here now so no point.
either way, ziphone is just fine IMO
 
mdwsta4 said:
i've used ziphone on multiple phones and it works just fine.
i wanted to use the pwnage app, but didn't like the fact it didn't have installer and didn't 'get' how to create your own firmware. plus the only reason i really wanted to use that was to use a beta 2.0 firmware. that's almost here now so no point.
either way, ziphone is just fine IMO
Click to expand...

Ya i like ziphone but ever since i heard that it permanently downgrades ur bootlegger i have been hesitant to use it not really sure what it means, but i dont think it can be good if it permanently downgrades it
 
Where did you order your phone from? If you ordered it new then it should have the latest firmware. If it's a refurb, then it might not.

Either way there is a series of numbers you can type in in the "Emergency Call" screen that will tell you. And I don't know them off the top of my head so I can't tell you. But it's really effortless to put it in restore mode and just hit update.

I don't know why it downloaded as a zip file. Where did you download it from. Can it be unzipped or was .zip just added? If it was just added, delete .zip from the end. Otherwise simply extract the file from the zip archive.

I'm pretty sure there is a link on the first page of the Pwnage sticky to the firmware, that is where I got mine, and if you have any doubts it wouldn't hurt to redownload it.
 
mdwsta4 said:
i've used ziphone on multiple phones and it works just fine.
i wanted to use the pwnage app, but didn't like the fact it didn't have installer and didn't 'get' how to create your own firmware. plus the only reason i really wanted to use that was to use a beta 2.0 firmware. that's almost here now so no point.
either way, ziphone is just fine IMO
Click to expand...

It's really easy to make your own custom firmware. You basically get 3 options when you click, "build ipsw."

1) What actions you want the firmware to perform, ie activating, unlocking.

2) Custom startup and recovery mode logos.

3) What apps you want to add to the firmware. The third option is where you select Installer and whatever else you want. The program will download them and add them to your firmware.

I really think creating your own firmware is the way to go. Especially in the future when you might have to restore. You wont have relock and unactivate your phone by using Apple's firmware and have to go through the process of flashing your bootloader again, which if done too many times can ruin your phone.

With Pwnage tool once Bootneuter unlocks your phone, it's unlocked. And if you have your own custom firmware to restore with you don't have to go through the unlocking process ever again.
 
onlycopunk said:
Where did you order your phone from? If you ordered it new then it should have the latest firmware. If it's a refurb, then it might not.

Either way there is a series of numbers you can type in in the "Emergency Call" screen that will tell you. And I don't know them off the top of my head so I can't tell you. But it's really effortless to put it in restore mode and just hit update.

I don't know why it downloaded as a zip file. Where did you download it from. Can it be unzipped or was .zip just added? If it was just added, delete .zip from the end. Otherwise simply extract the file from the zip archive.

I'm pretty sure there is a link on the first page of the Pwnage sticky to the firmware, that is where I got mine, and if you have any doubts it wouldn't hurt to redownload it.
Click to expand...

bought it brand new

i deleted the "zip" from the file and the firmware looks like how it should now, so thanks for the idea.

i decided to use PWNAGE instead of iphone it does look really ease

thanks alot guys, i will let u al know how it goes once i get it
 
Hello guys.

I will also get my iPhone soon so what do u suggest ... with which programm should i unlock / activate the phone i have windows pc.:(

Thanks
 
just an update, i am still waiting for my iphone to be delivered as the holiday weekend has delayed the shipping:(

quick question though, what happens (God-forbid) that there is something wrong with my iphone, can i bring it to the apple store even though i didn't buy it from apple, i got it from at&t store. also will they even look at my phone if it is jailbrocken/unlocked? how would i go about doing this?

thanks
 
Search the forums. You certainly not the only one who has these concerns or run into this problem.

But to save you some time. If you unlock and jailbreak with Pwnage, you can create a custom firmware that doesn't include installer, thus visually making the phone appear to be stock. You can then pick up a cheap ATT pay as go sim for like $10 bucks.

There have been both reports of people just getting handed replacements on the spot and then there are horror stories. And yes you can take the phone into any Apple store.
 
onlycopunk said:
But to save you some time. If you unlock and jailbreak with Pwnage, you can create a custom firmware that doesn't include installer, thus visually making the phone appear to be stock.
Click to expand...

How would i go about doing this, i would just like to unlock it with t-mobile and not add installer if i could, but on the other hand, i wouldn't be able to to get t-zones and such without the installer tweaks right?
 
You can't unlock without jailbreaking. As for the T-Zones thing, I don't know how that works. I'm on prepay so I've never had the urge to use mobile internet, not to mention I don't think it's available to prepay.
 
onlycopunk said:
You can't unlock without jailbreaking. As for the T-Zones thing, I don't know how that works. I'm on prepay so I've never had the urge to use mobile internet, not to mention I don't think it's available to prepay.
Click to expand...

i gotcha, thanks for helping me out man
 
just an update

iphone came this morning, used PWNAGE, everything worked great!!
youtube even works which i thought didn't lol

just wanted to thank everyone that helped me out in this thread, now im going to get t-zones so i can have edge other than that im good

thanks again!
 
appleefan said:
just an update

iphone came this morning, used PWNAGE, everything worked great!!
youtube even works which i thought didn't lol

just wanted to thank everyone that helped me out in this thread, now im going to get t-zones so i can have edge other than that im good

thanks again!
Click to expand...

Nice Man Congratulations!

Hope all is gonna be okey with PWNAGE ,
nice feedback

Cheers!:)
 
onlycopunk said:
You can't unlock without jailbreaking. As for the T-Zones thing, I don't know how that works. I'm on prepay so I've never had the urge to use mobile internet, not to mention I don't think it's available to prepay.
Click to expand...

You can unlock without KEEPING it jailbroken (I put mine back into Jail, unlocks survive restores)
 
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