iPhone Dev Team player breaks ranks to release 3GS hack tool
Jailbreak app lets you install unlock utility
The iPhone 3GS has been jailbroken, a process that opens the handset up to being loaded with apps that haven't been blessed by Apple. One of those applications can free the phone from ties to carriers.
The hack comes from George Hotz - aka GeoHot - one the guys in the iPhone Dev Team, which has been playing mouse to Apple's cat since the early days of the iPhone 2G. The team has been behind all the key iPhone 3G and iPod Touch jailbreaking and unlocking tools.
But is seems George became fed up with his fellows' insistence that 3GS jailbreaking tools remain unreleased until Apple posts the iPhone OS 3.1 update, expected in the near future.
"Normally, I don't make tools for the general public, and rather wait for the Dev Team to do it. But, guys, what's up with waiting until 3.1?" he wrote on his blog.
"That isn't how the game is played. We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn't worth waiting because you might have the "last" hole in the iPhone. What last hole... this isn't golf. I'll find a new one next week."
Describing his hack as "awesome", George tells 3GS owners to visit his website and download the jailbreak tool, purplera1n, which uses a tool called Freeze to break in and install the third-party app loader Cydia. It runs on Windows XP and Vista but not 7 and needs the latest version of iTunes.
With Cydia in place and the 3GS jailbroken you can run the iPhone Dev Team's ultrasn0w app to unlock the handset. In theory - some users who've tried it claim they've been successful. Proceed at your own risk. ®
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COMMENTS
fix or fix?
@ZenCoder
"...fixes that vulnerability" - I say 'maintains their illegal network lock-in system'
surely EU laws mean that a consumer cannot be locked into just one network - especially if they have paid for that item in full (I'm not talking about the 'free' 45 quid/month people)
If apple was smart ...
They'd throw money at anyone who figures out the security hole. Then people will be tripping over themselves to be the first to submit it to apple and apple would know about it ASAP.
Then they can make sure the next release fixes that vulnerability.
GeoHot != dev-team
Geohot got kicked out of the dev team like a year ago when he released an old unlocking tool early and the rest didn't want it released.
So although he used to be a member, he isn't any more.
Although they seem to still talk to each other fairly nicely
They were...
... trying to protect the last of their crack. If they go shouting about it now, Apple will try and patch it for 3.1, if they release it after 3.1 is out and it's not patched, then Apple won't have time to get 3.2 ready.
@TheJealousAnonAbove
@TheJealousAnonAbove
No seriously George, stay in. It is awesome, its within 2 weeks of launch and yes - that does make you amazing.
