If you’re still wondering if you need to jailbreak your phone, I suggest you check this post because i gave valid reasons to get it done. It gives you total freedom and makes your iPhone truly yours, not just another product of Apple.
The latest firmware iPhone 3G supports is iOS 4.2.1 and it’s what we’ll be using to do this. If you’re ready to get your iPhone 3G jailbroken and explore all the locked capabilities your phone has to offer, download these softwares:
1. iTunes
2. iOS 4.2.1 firmware for iPhone 3G
3. Redsn0w (Windows) | Redsn0w (Mac)
We’re jailbreaking your iPhone 3G with iOS 4.2.1 in this tutorial and if you’re running a lower version, you should connect your phone to iTunes to upgrade the firmware. Don’t know how to check your firmware version? Go to Settings > General > About > Scroll down till you see the version.
If you already have iOS 4.2.1 there, you can skip the upgrade but if it’s 4.1 or something lesser than that, follow these steps:
– Switch off your iPhone
– Hold down the home key and connect your phone to the computer. It should now be in recovery mode
– Go to iTunes, you should be notified that your phone firmwares needs to restored for it to work.
– The rest is easy. You done it before, haven’t you? 🙂
Now that you already have iOS 4.2.1 installed, lets get to the jailbreaking proper…
1. Extract the content of the zip folder and start Redsn0w. If you’re running Windows 7, be sure to run redsn0w as Administrator.
2. Click on Browse and select the .ipsw firmware file you downloaded earlier
3. Redsn0w processes the firmware after which you must click the Next button
4. Select the options as shown below:
Please note that the third option,”Install iPad baseband,” is optional. You only need this if you need to unlock your iPhone using ultrasn0w after jailbreaking with redsn0w.
5. Hit the Next button
6. At this point, be sure your phone is switched off and now connected to your computer via USB.
7. Now click Next and on the next page, you have to do certain combinations to make you iPhone enter DFU mode. This is quite easy and you need to closely follow the prompt or the whole process will fail.
At this stage you will be presented with a screen where you will be guided on how to enter DFU mode. Quickly hold “Power” button and then while holding the “Power” button, you will now have to hold “Home” button too. Now after few seconds release “Power” button but keep holding “Home” button until installation begins.
As soon as installation starts, you’ve got nothing to do but just sit, relax and watch the magic happen. The installation stops on your computer after a while and later continues on your mobile phone. A couple of minutes later, you have yourself a jailbroken iPhone 3G with iOS 4.2.1
When the whole process is complete, go to Cydia from your springboard (Menu) on your phone. You may be informed that the Cydia version is outdated and no longer supported, click on Changes and install all available updates. Enjoy your jailbroken iPhone 3G! In the days to come, I’ll post an update on jailbreaking newer iPhones / iPad with iOS 5.0.1.
