Here is a small summary: Try not to upgrade to the 3.1 software if you want to be able to keep the ability to Jailbreak or unlock your iPhone 3Gs. & Make the necessary iTunes adjustments to “future-proof” your 3Gs Jailbreak.

Here are a few, well-noted, words from the iPhone Blog Dev Team:

If there’s one thing we’ve been stressing the last few weeks, it’s that if you want to keep the jailbreak or unlock on your 3GS, you should resist all urges to install Apple’s official firmware updates without knowing if a jailbreak exists for that version yet.  Unless another (different) bootrom exploit is found for the 3GS that doesn’t require a “foot in the door” with a signed official iBoot, then accepting official updates willy-nilly may cause you to be cutoff from the jailbreak.  And it will definitely cause you to be cutoff from the carrier unlock.

Now, there are ways to ensure that even after taking an official 3GS update (which you really shouldn’t do!), that you’ll nonetheless be able to revert to a jailbreakable 3GS (this is NOT true for the unlock, see NOTE #1 below).  We’ve been explaining these methods (like the iTunes /tmp technique) over the last few weeks, and there’s been some great discussion and feedback for the methods in the comments.

Having said all that, we realize that some of you updated your 3GS to 3.1 anyway.  If you want to come back to the world of the jailbreak (but NOT the sim unlock, sorry!) then saurik’s new “on file” server may be able to help.  He’s got all the details in a new article so do check it out.

Even if you did not update your 3GS to official 3.1 (good job!  You really shouldn’t do that!), then you should still read the article and make those changes today. We fully recommend redirecting your iTunes signing process through saurik’s “on file” server to future-proof your 3GS jailbreak through all future updates.

AFTER ADJUSTING YOUR ITUNES SETUP, YOU SHOULD STILL AVOID DOING AN ACTUAL FIRMWARE UPDATE. For all the reasons mentioned in this post, you’ll lose the unlock forever, and lose the jailbreak until a new one for 3.1 comes out.  And there’s no guarantee that your 3.0 signed files were captured by saurik in time.  This is more about protecting your 3GS jailbreak in future updates — it’s not a way to jailbreak 3.1 right now.NOTE #1: the carrier sim unlock is a different story.  Jailbreaking and unlocking have two different security mechanisms, and if you update your 3GS (or 3G) to 3.1, you will lose your carrier unlock, possibly forever.  Even if you downgrade from 3.1 to 3.0, you will have lost your carrier unlock.  So if you think you’ll ever want to carrier unlock your 3G or 3GS (or maybe give it away or resell it later as an unlockable iPhone), then please stay clear of all official Apple IPSWs.  You’ll soon be able to create custom 3.1 IPSWs using PwnageTool that let you pre-hack your 3.1 update in a way that preserves the carrier unlock.

NOTE #2: The custom IPSW flow using PwnageTool also ensures that even if Apple fixes all the iBoot holes, you’ll still be able to retain your jailbreak through later updates.  That’s because a jailbroken iPhone will happily accept a custom (pre-jailbroken) firmware update even though it’s not blessed with Apples signatures.  This is the “once jailbroken, always jailbroken” approach.  It’s very powerful, but it requires you to only update to pre-hacked IPSWs.

NOTE #3: None of this applies if you have an iPhone 2G, iPod touch 1G, or iPod touch 2G.  The iPhone 3G is also unaffected by Apple’s signing process for the jailbreak, but it is susceptible to permanent loss of the carrier unlock as mentioned in note #1.

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Documentation does not equal progress

This was the title of the latest post by the Chronic Dev Blog.  It is there to address two issues. The issue of complainers, AKA all the people pissed off at the iPhone Dev Team.  They have done a wonderful job on the 3G iPhone, for which they should be praised.  It is too bad that they are not too enthused about the 2G JB but we have the Chronic Dev Blog.  Now the owner of the site is making slow progress but he isn’t really getting paid and it is not his responsibility to pump out miraculous JBs everywhere. We should be thankful he has taken on the challenge and supportive of his efforts. The second thing this addresses is what his blog and posts are about.  Well. . . it is in the title, documentation does not equal progress. He is just trying to keep everyone updated about his findings and shouldn’t be judged negatively on his speed of progression. Just reminding you to support all those in the JB community.

Happy Holidays

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We have been working hard on a few other things. The main one being the 3G unlock codenamed “yellowsn0w”. This is now completed and is currently being packaged into a user-friendly application with the simplicity that you see in QuickPwn or BootNeuter.

• The target release date for the unlock is New Year’s Eve 2008.
• This unlock method is available to iPhone 3Gs that have 2.11.07 baseband or earlier, we did warn you.
• You can tell what version baseband you have by going to Settings->General->About->Modem Firmware
• The unlock requires a jailbroken 3G iPhone.  It’ll be installable via Cydia and so it doesn’t matter if you have a Mac or PC.
• Please refrain from updating your baseband, regardless of what version you’re at.  We’ll have complete directions on New Year’s Eve.

Good news for you 3G owners. You will be able to unloack your iPhones relatively soon. As for the long awaited iPod Touch 2G jailbreak, well…

Currently we are not investigating the iPod touch 2G. Other people outside the Dev-Team are looking into this, but we are not at the moment. Please don’t hassle us with comments and requests about this, they’ll just be deleted and ignored. If we do look at this device it will be sometime in the New Year and we’ll inform you guys if and when we commence this work.

This is because -

1. It’s not an iPhone
2. We have been busy with the 3G unlock.
3. We have been busy with the CCC talk.
4. Only one of us has a iPod touch 2G (but we’ll see what Santa brings)
5. Our employers don’t get as excited as us about hacking expensive pretty devices
6. Unfortunately our partners, parents and pets need occasional attention too.

I guess they bring up some good points, even if people might not agree with them. I would suggest not complaining to them until after the release of the 3G unlock. They have done their best to make a mojority of the people happy, so you 2G owners will just have to wait your turn.

This is a simple jailbreak method now. Just update your iPod in iTunes and then run the new version of QuickPwn (download here). It is quite simple really. This will work on any type of iPhone and the first Gen iPod Touch (sorry to all of you 2nd Gen owners).

So, as anticipated our friends the misfits have recently released the long awaited 2.2 update. We can confirm that this update SHOULD NOT be applied using iTunes if you want the chance of a soft-unlock in the near future.

If you want to keep that option of a ‘soft-unlock in the near future’ available but you want the new features of 2.2, you will be able to update to 2.2 using a PwnageTool created custom ipsw file that disables the baseband update. You will be able to do this using an updated version of PwnageTool that will be released sometime soon.

Some facts -

• The 2.2 firmware for 3G contains a baseband update for the 3G iPhone
• The 2.2 firmware for 2G (1st gen iPhones) doesn’t contain a baseband update and the baseband is still at 04.05.04
• We believe that our Pwnage technique (and therefore the Jailbreak) isn’t affected, but PwnageTool and QuickPwn do not support this release as yet, so DO NOT install 2.2 using iTunes as you will lose your jailbreak
• If you apply this update and you previously relied on PwnageTool or QuickPwn to activate your phone, it may become temporarily deactivated and unusable (until we release the new version of PwnageTool or QuickPwn).
• PwnageTool and QuickPwn updates will be released as soon as possible that will allow a safe update path to 2.2 the release of these updates is inevitable but not imminent, we are creating the modifications right now and we need to put the new software through the usual testing process.
• If you apply this update and you have third-party (non AppStore) applications  that you rely on they will stop working.
• 2G (1st gen) iPhone users who cannot wait for the new PwnageTool or QuickPwn can safely “Update” to 2.2 using iTunes, this will preserve the existing activation. However “restoring” to 2.2 using iTunes will return the iPhone to the unactivated state. If you are in any doubt just wait. NB: This works for 2G ONLY.
• The use of SIM-Proxies (small circuit boards/chips that sit underneath the SIM card) to provide GSM/UMTS service on your locked iPhone 3G is a method that we have always advised against. Early reports suggest that the 2.2 update disables the functionality of these devices. The techniques used were always unreliable and we are surprised that they have lasted this long.
• We are not working on the 2nd generation iPod touch at the moment, so we cannot comment on what the the 2.2 software update may do to this specific model

So, as always, if you are in any doubt whatsoever please delay the install of this firmware on any of your devices until we have investigated the release in more detail. Watch this space

So there it is. The warning. Do not update yet, and I will not have to help you and answer all of your stupid questions dealing with NOT FOLLOWING ADVICE. Thank You.

Also, there is a new version of iTunes is out (8.02). Do not upgrade to this. iTunes is quite stable now, and this update may affect the jailbreaking process. Don’t upgrade until we say it is okay to do so.

This ability we now have to spawn background tasks means we are one step closer to the 3G soft unlock.  We have a clear path to follow, and “all” that remains is the implementation.

A quick summary of the key 3G-unlock-related achievements we’ve made so far:

1. Unsigned code execution on 3G baseband
2. Reverting 01.45 baseband to previous versions
3. Patching of static text (the AT&V demo)
4. Injection of AT routines (the task list demo)
5. Injection of background tasks (this demo)

Now it’s on to overriding the baseband code that enforces the carrier lock.

A high-quality version of the video is available via bittorrent here.

A version that’s playable on your iPhone or iPod Touch is available here

P.S. That “One more thing!” text is being generated by the backgrounded “steve” task at 5-second intervals.  The “A0” is the task’s priority.

P.P.S. Remember…don’t update to official 2.2 when it comes out if you ultimately want a 3G soft unlock!

Yeah, we finally have some good news. I personally am not affected by this update (I own an iPod Touch), but for all of you with iPhone 3Gs, you can now start becoming excited.