How to unlock your iPhone 3G with Yellowsn0w - DO NOT UPDATE TO 2.2.1

By Aaron Besson at 6 January, 2009, 9:55 pm

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Hi there everyone and Happy New Year. 2009 started off great for all us iPhone 3G owners with the iPhone Dev Team releasing Yellowsn0w for the iPhone 3G. Yellowsn0w is a simple app that you install from Cydia or Installer that runs a LaunchDaemon on your iPhone at startup that unlocks your iPhone 3G baseband to work on any carrier worldwide.

The first release waws 0.9 and has eventually been updated to 0.9.5 0.9.6 in an effort to fix problems some users (especially T-Mobile USA users) not being able to make outgoing calls. Based on the comments and feedback on the iPhone Dev Team Blog and other forums, it seems like the latest version 0.9.5 0.9.6 is working the best. I unlocked my iPhone 3G last the other night using 0.9.4, but I am positive the steps are the same and maybe easier as some report that the final step of removing and reinserting the sim is no longer needed.

Before you do any of this please remember that this is a Beta unlock, you do this at your own risk. Also do not try this if you are going to call me to fix it for you if it doesn’t work

DO NOT UPDATE TO 2.2.1 - Yellowsn0w will NOT work with 2.2.1 - if you need to restore, make sure and download the 2.2 firmware here:

2.2 Frimware

iPhone1,1_2.2_5G77_Restore.ipsw - For iPhone

iPhone1,2_2.2_5G77_Restore.ipsw - For iPhone 3G

Version 0.9.6 is out and works better than ever, you may not need to use step 14.. you should have signal without Airplane Mode or removing your Sim and re-inserting it.

Instructions are below:

1) Backup/Sync your iPhone with iTunes.

2) Restore the iPhone to firmware 2.2 in iTunes

3) Exit iTunes - do NOT restore a backup of your iPhone!

4) Use Quickpwn to activate and jailbreak the iPhone 3g

5) Set up wifi

6) Update Cydia (cydia and 5 other apps need updating)

7) Rebooted the iPhone 3G

Turned off 3G and data roaming

9) Add http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com repo to cydia

10) Install Yellowsn0w 0.9.5 (or latest version)

11) Exit Cydia

12) Go to settings and reset network settings (phone soft reboots)

13) After reboot, wait about 2 mins

14) Remove your sim card from the iPhone 3G, wait about 10-20 seconds and reinsert it (some people have success just toggling Airplane mode on and off) - (you may not need to do this with Yelllowsn0w 0.9.6now available)

15) You should have full signal (enter your edge APN etc)

Notes:

0.9.6 is out and works the best, please use it. If you are having trouble with signal, please use this latest version available via Cydia.

I have noticed that sometimes after a reboot that signal is hard to get back, this is easy to fix. Simply rerun Yellowsn0w in Cydia again (reinstall) and then reset the network settings again and toggle airplane mode or remove and insert the sim card, voila service….

If you have custom bundles or sim apps like on some bmobile prepaid and most digicel cards you will need to use 0.9.5 and please post and porblems you may have.. (sim apps show up in settings > Phone, under the normal caller id etc you maye see a menu for your carrier with top up, balance etc,, these give trouble with yellowsnow)

Other than that, the latest version works quicker and better than ever. Hope you have success please let us know, any trouble, please don’t hesitate to post your questions here in the comments or in the forum. Thanks to the Dev Team for all their hard work. I think we Trini’s should put together and get them a gift basket with all our local delights.

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Comments

Amaury January 3, 2009

I followed the steps and using Yellowsn0w 0.9.5 and is not working on my Iphone 3G 16GB. I have tried Orange and Claro SIMs from Dominican Republic. Any thoughts?
Thanks the Dev-team for the hard work.

Aaron Besson January 3, 2009

whats going on, the phone never gets service??
make sure the sim you want to use is used throughout the entire process and only removed at the end..

let us know..

Amaury January 3, 2009

Right, I never get service and only remove the SIM at the end of the process. What else I can do? I have tried with 3 different SIMs and none of them is working with the 0.9.4. I was able to get signal with the yellowsnow 0.9.4 (with one of them) but when tried to make an outgoing call lost the signal and couldn’t get it back. Please advise.

Amaury January 3, 2009

Sorry I ment 0.9.5.

Kevin Britain January 3, 2009

finally got it to work..

it’s a bit jumpy but it works… great job dev-team…
i agree with you aaron.. we sould put together something for them..

easy..

AaronBesson January 4, 2009

Hey Kevin I am so glad to hear you got it sorted! I have sent the invitation to them, i'll let you all know if they would accept a hamper or something

IzHockey January 4, 2009

Do I need a seperate SIM card to run yellowsn0w or can I use the SIM card that is already in my ATT 3G iphone? I already ran Jailbreak and have Cydia on my phone.

AaronBesson January 4, 2009

once your iphone is on 2.2 with 02.28.00 modem firmware - you can go ahead and add the yellowsnow source to cydia (apt9.yellowsn0w.com) and install yellowsn0w. and follow the rest of the instructions above

I would use the sim card that you would like to use the phone unlocked with while running yellowsn0w

so if you wish to use a sim other than the AT&T one, put it in before you start doing anything

AaronBesson January 4, 2009

start fresh, restore to 2.2 again, put in the sim you wish to use, quickpwn and update cydia, install yellowsn0w and then reset network settings, after reboot, wait 2 mins (go get a drink) then take out the sim and reinsert the same one… wait about 10 secs.. if it dont work, reinstall yellowsnow and reset network settings again..toggle airplane mode 2 mins after reboot.

IzHockey January 4, 2009

Thank you for your comment. It was very helpful and I now feel good about running yellowsn0w on my iphone.

AaronBesson January 4, 2009

so glad to heard buddy - keep us updated!

DaDOC January 4, 2009

I have a iPhone 3G with AT&T, tried to unlock it so I could use my DigiCell sim while im in the Cayman Islands but it isn't working any suggestions??

Amaury January 4, 2009

Hey AaronBesson!!!
I followed the steps "start fresh, restore to 2.2 again, put in the sim you wish to use, quickpwn and update cydia, install yellowsn0w and then reset network settings, after reboot, wait 2 mins (go get a drink) then take out the sim and reinsert the same one… " and my Iphone 3G is now unlocked. I have full signal now = )

I will let you know if I find anything wrong.

I have a 128KB Orange SIM from Dominican Republic and a 3G 16GB Iphone.

Thank you so much!!

Amaury January 4, 2009

Forgot to mention.. I can also receive and make calls. I don't have the 3G service but the Edge is working as well.

Lost Bajan January 5, 2009

Aaron,

Do you have any tips to get the GPRS packages to work on a unlocked 3G on LIME?

AaronBesson January 5, 2009

whats the problem exactly.. you gertting No Service, or just the 5 dots and no carrier name,plz more info..

but a good rule is to simply retry the unlock and network setting reset again, wait a couple mins after reboot, then toggle airplane mode, DO ALL with the digicel card in there..

AaronBesson January 6, 2009

hmmm.. dont know the settings off hand,,, visit a LIME service provider

Dominic January 6, 2009

The APN code is internet. However I can't get it to work. May I ask what you use?

King_dom January 6, 2009

How did you set up EDGE on your iPhone?

AaronBesson January 6, 2009

I use internet… make sure you have EDGE set up with TSTT…

AaronBesson January 6, 2009

Maybe try resetting network settings again… my bmobile/tstt phone it at 5 bars since I unlocked it a few days ago.

AaronBesson January 6, 2009

I use internet… make sure you have EDGE set up with TSTT/Lime etc..

King_dom January 6, 2009

I have it set up. So if I understand correctly you have not done anything hacks/programming etc. to get it to work?

You just put in your SIM and it works?

Shane January 6, 2009

Ok ok, I know this one, my iphone 3G didn't take well to the EDGE package at first, AT ALL… APN in Internet (with a capital I), turn 3g off and WIFI.

Still didn't work in mine, I took my tstt sim out and placed it into my boyfriend's (don't hate) phone worked fine, but magically (gotta say that) when I placed it back in mine.. it worked just fine.

In my opinion.. atleast with MY iphone 3G TSTT signal drops in low coverage areas and does not come back, I gotta take that sim out and use it in another phone for a bit for it to adapt to the damn Iphone again… I use my digicel in there now and no complaints cept digicel doesn't have EGDE unlimited!

Hope this is helpful

AaronBesson January 6, 2009

not sure if I am following you correctly…
but all you do to unlock it is install yellowsn0w… thats it.. not much more to it than that.. install the caller ID fix if you need it maybe..

newbie January 6, 2009

worked after many tries……I had to do a hard restart,(hold Home and power button til phone shuts off and reboots) then toggle airplane mode

King_dom January 6, 2009

Sorry Full details.
iPhone 3G 16G Version
Upgraded to 2.2
Unlocked via Cydia Yellowsn0w 0.9.5
Added Caller id fix, Boss Prefs, Winterboard etc.
Full service (5 Bars), send/receive SMS, WIFI all good but I cannot get GPRS/DATA to work.
Gone into settings and put in APN code but no dice.
So I was wondering if this is a Barbados LIME problem or if I am missing some critical point?
If I go into Settings-Phone-SIM applications I see a prompt to set up the My BUZZ account.
Press accept and it says my SIM has sent a request to the provider. Request failed?

So my question to you was, If you use LIME and if you do, did your DATA package immediately work or did you have to do anything special to get it to work?

I also have a friend who has 2 x 1st Gen. iPhones.
1 is upgraded to 2.2 and unlocked. Not able to access DATA.
the other is 1.0 or something and unlocked via Zibri and can get DATA.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

AaronBesson January 6, 2009

Sorry I am not on Lime, but sounds like you have GPRS and maybe not EDGE. GPRS is limited access to your carriers mobile store where you can get ringtones some allow limited internet acess to google etc… I would call or visit your carrier, ask them what packages you have on your contract

Shane January 6, 2009

Who unlocked your phone for you? Do you use a super sim? I do and i believe it's the reason why the service is blocked sometimes.

AaronBesson January 7, 2009

hmmm, why are you using the SuperSim on your 3G if there is yellowsn0w?? Take it out

AaronBesson January 7, 2009

I unlocked it myself a couple days after yellowsn0w came out

AaronBesson January 7, 2009

I unlocked it myself a couple days after yellowsn0w came out

hmmm, why are you using the SuperSim on your 3G if there is yellowsn0w?? Take it out

Amaury January 7, 2009

0.9.6 Is just perfect = )
Are we going to give the Dev-team a gift? Count with me if you are planning to..

SHANE January 7, 2009

i keep getting an error message after pwnage in itunes saying a ipod has been detected but could not be identified properly. Please disconnect and reconnect ipod, then try again. An unkown error occurred 2001. I am also starting at the emergency screen where it asks me for some pin, not sure if that is why

AaronBesson January 8, 2009

I am using a post paid with data, works perfect..

3G has not been turned on down here, I think tstt only uses the limited 3G coverage
they have for PCI cards and laptop

3G is rumored to be coming this year with TSTT and a new kid in the market locally America Movil (who carries the 3G in Mexico, Jamaica etc), they apparently purchased Laqtels license.. we'll see..

AaronBesson January 8, 2009

you need to remove the sim pin on another phone, this has been mentioned on the devblog

DaveM January 8, 2009

whats the speed like, dialup, 128k dsl?
Do you know what technology TSTT uses for the data EDGE or GPRS?
I have a prepaid card in, would I get access to the Internet if I add the APN (Internet)? And be charged from my prepaid account?

DaveM January 8, 2009

what's the configuration for the iphone, just enter Internet in the APN and that's it?

DaveM January 8, 2009

Have you tries TSTT's bmoblie datasim with a 3g unlocked with yellowsn0w?
I'm running 0.9.6 with a prepaid bmobile card, was planning on getting a datasim, but was wondering if it would work.
Any luck?

Drewd January 9, 2009

Everytim I try to add http://apt9.yellowsnOw.com/ it’s says it cannot add the repository. I can’t find anyone with that same problem. I am running 2.2 w the 2.28.00 baseband. I have restarted the phone multiple times and even did hard resets still no luck?

Shane January 9, 2009

Did it and it works fine, thanks alot man. the supersim thing was blocking the signal from coming back whenever the phone lost it

Shane January 9, 2009

Internet YUP. I went into TSTT myself and had them do it, once you keep the I capital.. no password or anything
However they did tell me that the Iphones when restarted tend to lose the setting… but it's pretty easy to re-enter Internet there.

AaronBesson January 9, 2009

glad to hear Shane!

anom January 14, 2009

the big O is not an O it is the number 0 (zero)

Andrew January 29, 2009

when i first tried it worked then i had to restore my settings back to 2.2 from 2.2.1 and now that i've done everything all over again it isn't working………..any reason why it's not working?????

AaronBesson January 29, 2009

its not working cause you updated to 2.2.1 - unfortunately the dev team and I have been warning against updating as yellowsn0w will not work and the dev team have said that teh exploit in the 2.2.1 baseband has been closed….

i hope that there is a solution for you soon, but for now, there is no unlock for 2.2.1…

JOHN April 8, 2009

how can I get more info

I jailbreak the iphone but I did everything to unlocked the iphone to use with t-mobile sim ….I also used bossprefs and still did not work with t-mobile …info of the iphone ver 2.1 modem 02.11.07