A jailbroken phone is an iPhone which has been modified to allow the user to install applications which are not released through Apple's App Store. This term called “jailbroken” This practice is not condoned by Apple, which regards it as copyright violation, and it will void the warranty on the phone, which means that if the phone is damaged or the software is corrupted, the user has no recourse through Apple.
A jailbroken phone is not the same thing as an unlocked phone. When a phone is unlocked, it means that it can work on any mobile network, and “unlocking” can refer to a wide variety of phones. When a phone is jailbroken, it specifically allows the user to install applications from sources outside the App Store. Should other producers of mobile phones follow Apple's lead with the App Store, presumably innovative techies will figure out how to jailbreak them as well.
Before you are going to jailbreak your Apple iPhone, you need to check whether the tools you use able to jailbreak the current iPhone firmware version installed on your Apple iPhone. The most popular and the only tools used by the iPhone users are pwnagetool, quickpwn, redsn0w and ultrasn0w created by the iPhone Dev Team. The tools are available in two operating system platforms that are windows and mac. Normally the mac version will released first follow by the windows version. I can only show you how to jailbreak the iPhone 3G on firmware 3.0 using Ultrasn0w 0.8 for windows version since I’m on XP. The steps for mac version are similar so you will not have problem to follow this tutorial, let’s get started.
Before you are going to jailbreak your Apple iPhone, you need to check whether the tools you use able to jailbreak the current iPhone firmware version installed on your Apple iPhone. The most popular and the only tools used by the iPhone users are pwnagetool, quickpwn, redsn0w and ultrasn0w created by the iPhone Dev Team. The tools are available in two operating system platforms that are windows and mac. Normally the mac version will released first follow by the windows version. I can only show you how to jailbreak the iPhone 3G on firmware 3.0 using Ultrasn0w 0.8 for windows version since I’m on XP. The steps for mac version are similar so you will not have problem to follow this tutorial, let’s get started.
It is recommended that you restore or update your Apple iPhone to the latest version of iPhone firmware provided the version is able to jailbreak. After restore completed, download iPhone firmware 3.0 for 3G and Redsnow 8 or Ultrasnow 0.7.2. Extract and save the downloads to your desktop so you can get the files easily.
After you preparing the downloaded files, close your iTunes and launch red snow 8 or Ultrasnow 0.72 and it will close iTunes automatically if you did not close it. On the Welcome page, click Browse button and locate the iPhone firmware 3.0. Please make sure it is for iPhone 3G. It will identify the firmware and state that IPSW successfully identified.
Click Next button, now it will patch the firmware and then check install Cydia or install Icy. You can choose to install both installers. For this tutorial, I will check install Cydia only and click Next button.
Then, please make sure your Apple iPhone is both connected to your computer and is switch off. If it is not, you can follow the instructions given.
Once it is done, you need to prepare to hold the sleep/wake and home buttons before you click Next button. If you are ready, then click the button and follow redsn0w instructions. This is to transfer the necessary files to your Apple iPhone in DFU mode to jailbreak the iPhone. The iPhone will automatically restart and you shall see Cydia installer on the iPhone home screen. If you did not manage to follow the steps for the first time, you can always start the steps all over again.
Update: Please refer to this guide if you want to unlock your Apple iPhone 3G.
Update 2: After jailbreak, you can setup Cydia installer and installing jailbroken applications on your iPhone
After I have jailbroken my iPhone, what next? You can setup Cydia and Icy installers for the first time. Based on this jailbreak tutorial, I have only selected Cydia installer as it is more stable than Icy installer. Therefore, for this tutorial I am going to show how you install the jailbroken apps using Cydia installer.
Before we continue, you need to make sure your iPhone is connected to the Internet as Cydia installer needs the connection to download the files to be installed on the iPhone. For iPhone 2G and those who had not subscribed to any mobile broadband, you can access the Internet through your home Wi-Fi connection. Go to Settings, Wi-Fi, select your home Wi-Fi and enter the password you have set (if any). For those who had subscribed to the broadband, your iPhone should have connected to the Internet. After your iPhone have the Internet access, set the Auto-Lock to Never because the connection will lose whenever the iPhone goes to sleep mode.
Once you are ready, launch Cydia installer. It will automatically close after reorganizing has completed. Restart Cydia and now you need to choose which category you are belong to. In this case, choose User (Graphical Only) and it will bring you the home page. Then, you can start to install the jailbroken apps by Section or search for specified apps. Take an example, you want to install OfflineMaps but you are not sure which Section it is in, go to the Search tab and type the name. Select it, press install button on top right corner and then press confirm. Cydia will download the necessary files to install and when it finished, press Return to Cydia and close it. The newly installed app icon will appear on your iPhone home screen. Please take note that few apps will not have the icon, so make sure you always read the description before install.
Now, make sure your Apple iPhone is connected to your home Wi-Fi to access the Internet and set Autolock to never to avoid the Wi-Fi connection lost.
Unlock Process:
* On your Apple iPhone, launch Cydia installer and update it if it is prompted to.
* After restarted Cydia installer, go to Manage, Edit and tap Add.
* Enter http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com/ to the text field and tap Add Source.
* Once the source has been updated, press Return to Cydia and then tap Done.
* On the Sources, select repo666.ultrasn0w.com from the list of Entered by User and you will see ultrasn0w package there.
* Select ultrasn0w, Install and tap Confirm. Cydia installer will install the ultrasn0w.
* Once installation completed, press Return to Cydia and restart your Apple iPhone.
Once it is done, insert your sim card and you will see there is network coverage on the signal bar. It means you have successfully unlocked your Apple iPhone 3G and you can try to make a call to your house telephone to ensure it works. :-)
