UltraSn0w now fully supports IOS 5.1

UltraSn0w has finally been updated to 2.7.  The good news is it Supports IOS 5.1 (and 5.1.1), so UltraSn0w Fixer is no longer needed.  The bad news is there's no changes in baseband support, so people waiting for 4.11.08 and 4.12.01 unlocks on the iPhone 4 are still without a solution, other than getting an IMEI unlock from their carrier.

AT&T's Easter Present - Free iPhone Unlocking

Great news for AT&T customers wanting to unlock their iPhones.  Starting today, the company will give you a free IMEI unlock code straight from Apple.  This will work regardless of baseband, with no Jailbreak or SIM adapter required.

But there's one big catch to qualify - you have to be a current AT&T customer with a completed contract.  For example, you originally bought an iPhone 3GS in 2009 and upgraded to the 4 or 4S on your own without renewing your contract.


The move makes business sense for AT&T.  With the 5-year deal signed with Apple expiring soon, the company is looking to differentiate itself from competitors.  Even though Verizon and Sprint carry the iPhone 4S, both still lock it to their network and charge roaming fees when travelling abroad.  Additionally, the iPhone does not support T-Mobile's 3G network, making it unlikely that unlocked customers will leave for that competitor.

Baseband 4.11.08 downgrade via Chinese SHSH server?

In the latest chapter of iPhone baseband 4.11.08 unlocking, Chinese Hackers have claimed to have created a SHSH server capable of letting users downgrade their IOS and thus also downgrade to the unlocked 4.10.01 baseband.

Will it work?  Hard to say.  Setting up the server is the easy part, since TinyUmbrella has been doing this for years.   The real trick will be creating fake SHSH blobs, which would require cracking Apple's code.

I'm very skeptical that this will be a working solution.  If cracking Apple's SHSH codes were so easy, it would have happened a while ago.

Don't waste your time on IMEI unlocking services

If you've seen unlock services for baseband 4.11.08 costing $180 US, chances are they're referring to an IMEI unlock window that was recently offered.  On March 14th, the window closed, so this is no longer an option. Full details can be found in this article.

This leaves most of us stuck waiting for a software unlock for 4.11.08.  When will that happen?  Nobody really knows.  Supposedly it's "being worked on" and should be released with the next version of UltraSn0w, but there is no real timeline.

IOS 5.1 Update Released

IOS 5.1 was released today, and installing the upgrade will take the baseband to 4.12.01 (iPhone 4) or 2.0.10  (iPhone 4S).  Neither baseband version is currently unlockable nor will they be anytime soon.

Downgrading to IOS 5.0.1 and thus downgrading the baseband is currently possible.  Just hit the "Shift" key while clicking "Restore" in iTunes and select the 5.0.1 firmware (ipsw) file.  By default, iTunes downloads firmware files to C:\users\X\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates

If the files are not there, they may be manually downloaded from www.limera1n.cc

As always, if you want to downgrade to IOS 4.X, you'll need an SHSH blob for your phone created with TinyUmbrella

'Patch' that unlocks baseband 4.11.08 is actually a virus

I came across this YouTube video showing an iPhone running baseband 4.11.08 being "unlocked".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJaxIiYKaa8&feature=related

The author claims that by running a patch to RedSn0w, it does a special jailbreak that automatically unlocks IOS 5.0.1 devices with 4.11.08 basebands.  No mention of UltraSn0w or Gevey Sim.

If this sounds too good to be true, it is.  Here's 3 reasons why

1. RedSn0w does not unlock phones, so patching it would be useless.  RedSn0w only jailbreaks.
2. The patch file does not change the size of modification times of the RedSn0w binary.   
3. The iPhone in the video is model MD128TU.  This particular model is not Sim-locked.

Not surprisingly, 'patch.exe' is a trojan horse and running it will infect your computer.

When I see a proven unlock of an locked iPhone 4 (i.e. model MC319LL) with a 4.11.08 baseband, I'll test it personally and post it here.