back to article Hacker springs latest iPhone OS from Jobsian jail

One of the world's foremost iPhone hackers has just released software for jailbreaking the latest firmware released for the Apple smartphone. Geohot's Blackra1n lets Windows users jailbreak iPhone OS 3.1.2 on all iPhone and iPod Touch models regardless of their hardware generation. The tool, which in 30 seconds allows handset …

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  1. Annihilator
    FAIL

    Very very VERY tempted for the first time

    to try this thing. Currently updating the firmware to 3.1.2 and yet again, it crashes during the process and requires a full restore followed by a full re-sync. About 90 minutes in total.

    This has happened ever time I've ever updated the firmware. How hard can it be Apple??

  2. Dana W
    FAIL

    @Annihilator

    I'm betting you are using iTunes under Windows. I never have issues with updates on the iPhone with my Mac. Not a single one with two iPhones.

  3. Richard 20
    Dead Vulture

    Usual El Reg polemic

    Interesting that the author points-out that at present Blackra1n does not run under Mac OS. However, when the Pwnage tool is mentioned he neglects any mention of the fact that it is Mac only.

    Just sayin…

  4. Mr Ian
    Grenade

    @Dana W

    That's no excuse. If you release a software product for an OS you better damn well make sure it works. To make matters worse, writing software for Windows isn't exactly difficult.

    To reiterate: "How hard can it be Apple??"

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Apple - just works!

    It er does.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Apple doesn't always - Just Work!

    my ipod screwed itself a few weeks back and I couldn't launch any 3rd party apps, it wasn't jailbroken and i had been using a 3rd party app to keep track of work projects. i tried every solution online that i could find to try and fix it but to no avail, it was completely screwed.

    had it been jailbroken i would have been able to get my application data off it but alas no - even a guy at my local apple store suggested that it should've been jailbroken - that way i could rescue the information. hell apple don't have any tools in their service centres that can get your information out of a buggy ipod/iphone - the only option is to jailbreak.

    i will never again use an un-jailbroken ipod/iphone it is simply not worth the risk.

  7. fyle

    IN YOUR WAITING HANDS

    NAIL IN MY HAND FROM HAND FROM MY CREATOR YOU GAVE ME LIFE NOW SHOW ME HOW TO LIVE

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    @Dana W - March of the fanbois continues...

    Shock! Horror! APPLE iphone works with APPLE desktop, using APPLE software! Well **** my old boots!

    Not everyone wants to buy Job's overpriced desktop kit, just to put a few MP3s on a phone for flips sake! Apple fans mouthing off about the Lord Jobs wonder-kit again! Of 'course it bloody works when all the kit is made to work together, that's what they want.

    Some people love Windows and despite it's niggles, it's still a damn good O/S, the latest I reckon being the best, most of the time it does "just work", just like OS X. When software is written, nay sold to run on an O/S, it should, underlying issues aside, work fine without failure. iTunes is absolute crud, as a media player it has to be the worst piece of trash I have ever had to use, sadly Apple decided it would be the gateway to it's sad little portable devices so FOSS aside, it's all most have and so they have to tolerate it.

    ( Oh and before you Apple trolls start on me, I have owned 4 Macs and not a single Windows PCs for 2 years now! I just despise and hate Apple fanbois with a passion bordering on genocidal!!! )

  9. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
    Jobs Horns

    Apple is evil

    it is.

  10. Sexual Harassment Panda
    Happy

    For the record...

    Just tried Blackra1n and it works like a charm :) So glad to have my free internet tethering back.

    @Annihilator Im running Windows 7 ultimate, and have never had any issues updating firmware. Works like a charm each time. You sure your running the latest iTunes, etc...?

  11. Annihilator
    Troll

    @ Dana W

    "I'm betting you are using iTunes under Windows. I never have issues with updates on the iPhone with my Mac. Not a single one with two iPhones."

    Yeah, that's definitely *my* fail. It's incredible arrogance to think it's Microsoft's fault that iTunes is an absolute hog on Windows (admittedly, it's better and less bloaty than it was in recent years, but still). This was a clean install of Win XP SP3 and iTunes - nothing new or fancy like Win 7, so it's only been around and known for at least 10 years. Every other major software manufacturer can build stable releases of their Windows apps. Apparently Apple can only do it when they absolutely know the hardware inside out.

    Have a little Google for "iphone 1602/3/4" to see that I'm not alone. In fact it occurs for Mac users too. How 'bout that?

    Wow, have never indulged in a flame-off before, but I can see how easy it would be with idiotic comments like that.

  12. D@v3

    @ Richard20 (and Dana W)

    Pwnage tool might not work under windows, but QuckPwn (also made by the iPhone Dev team) does.

    Also...

    Iv had my 3G for 14 months (give or take) and have had no issues with updating the softwares (on vista64) or any problems with the phone itself. where as i know people who have had 3G's and 3GS's for only a few months and have had various issues.

    its a shame to say, but i think it is the luck of the draw, not every batch is as reliable as the last (or next)

  13. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    @Dana W

    Isnt this the same company that had to release a new OS version because it turned everyone's iPhones to crud by making them freeze unless reset? the same OS that was killing their battery?

    The same OS that interupted the primary function of a phone (ie making a call)? Plus a whole lot more.

    And were the same company who more or less ignored any kind of complaint or user feedback about those issues until too many people were moaning and they had to do something?

    I like the Apple products (well iPod and iPhone anyway) but the whole culture of thinking your better than everyone else with any gadget or computer cause you have some of their hardware really pisses me off. I just hope I don't turn into a Fanboi when Orange finally releases the iPhone!

  14. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    @AC - "It er does"

    Er, no it doesn't.

    I've had no end of problems getting my Touch to work. Turns out iTunes and Apple don't make the connection dynamic, so if my USB hard disk is attached, the Touch doesn't work. I solved the problem by changing the drive letter for the USB disk. (a fix Apple still hasn't figured out and published in its knowledgebase!)

    So to repeat "How hard can it be Apple?"

  15. Scott Mckenzie

    @Richard 20

    Errr... Pwnage and indeed Redsn0w etc both work just swimmingly on Mac and PC.... maybe you should check your facts first eh?

  16. lukewarmdog
    Badgers

    Orly?

    "Every other major software manufacturer can build stable releases of their Windows apps"

    They can?

    Makes you wonder what all those updates are for then, why games are patched before they're even released and why there are all those bug tracking sites and how developers keep themselves in jobs.

    Back to bashing rocks with other rocks.

  17. Richard 20
    Happy

    @Scott M

    I'd be the first to admit that this is a small matter and I don't want to engage in a flame-war but there is NO version of PwnageTool for Windows. Not talking about Quickpwn, Redsn0w, or Microsoft Word, for that matter.

    Quoted from the Dev Team Blog 13/10/09 11:15 BST:

    "There is no Windows version of PwnageTool it is a Mac OS X tool only, we are not developing a Windows version of PwnageTool".

    QED (fwiw).

  18. Ed Uncle
    Unhappy

    Easy Tiger....

    Not compatible with Ipod Touch 3rd Gen 8GB models starting with part number 'MCxxxx'. /cry

  19. Annihilator
    Unhappy

    RE: Apple doesn't always - Just Work!

    "my ipod screwed itself a few weeks back and I couldn't launch any 3rd party apps"

    Oh yeah, forgot about that one. Had mine do that about 4 weeks ago when in the States on holiday. Bit of a bugger since I'd bought Lonely Planet guide as an app instead of a book, but thought, hey, there's an Apple store here:

    "Sorry sir, you'll probably have to connect to your computer and do a full restore" - awesome. I'm 3500 miles away from it.

    Why they haven't built in native disk mode to the thing, I have no idea.

  20. Adam Salisbury
    Jobs Horns

    @ lukewarmdog

    At internity of patches and hotfixes is the inevitable price to be paid when the hardware platform you're coding for is left wide open to allow their users to craft individual, customised machines. With an almost infinite variety of hardware configurations to support most people can understand the requirement for so much patching.

    Crapple however, can't get it right on a closed hardware platform DEFINED BY THEM, and perhaps far more insulting is their refusal to even acknowledge any shortcomings or support the mindless droves of fanbois they've since spawned and expoited.

  21. Bilgepipe
    Jobs Halo

    @Annihilator

    The problem is not with the phone, otherwise everyone would suffer the same issue, wouldn't they? Perhaps you need a better O/S....

  22. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    @Bilgepipe

    "The problem is not with the phone, otherwise everyone would suffer the same issue, wouldn't they? Perhaps you need a better O/S...."

    By the same logic, everyone using Windows would suffer the same issue and no-one using a Mac would experience it. Unfortunately neither of these is true, proving you a fan-boi or a troll. Or both..

  23. James Townsend

    @Sexual Harassment Panda

    Are you running 32bit or 64bit? Im running 64bit Windows 7 Ultimate and was unable to jailbreak a 3G with latest iTunes and firmware. blackra1n also bombs straight away when you go into Windows XP VM mode and wont work on Windows Server 2008

  24. The Cube
    WTF?

    Unofficial reports from iPhone users

    Sorry, does this mean that the author expects there to be "official" reports from iPhone users of their success jailbreaking their JPhone?

    Perhaps http://www.apple.com/iphone/howtos/jailbreak/approved ??

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