The iPhone Dev Team has shared some numbers on the Absinthe jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad. These are the downloads over the last 3 days.

• 491,325 new iPhone 4 devices
• 308,967 new iPad2 devices
• 152,940 previously jailbroken (at 4.x) iPad 2 devices
• 953,232 total

The numbers were calculated using Cydia, the jailbreak app store, which can track queries being made to the server based on the list of available SHSH blobs. While the numbers may seem quite small in comparison to the number of iOS devices out there, it certainly shows there is still many folks willing to take the plunge and jailbreak their devices.

iMore recently ran some polls asking our iPhone 4S and iPad 2 enthusiasts if they were going to jailbreak their devices using Absinthe. For iPad 2 users, 40.23% noted they would be diving in immediately while 33.64% of iPhone 4S users were jumping on-board.

So even with all of the iOS 5 improvements, a large percentage of our readership still wants more then what Apple is directly offering.

Source: Dev Team Blog

If you’re a prospective iPhone 4S user who’s patiently waiting for an unlock, you may get one soon. According to Musclenerd, long time member of the iPhone Dev-Team, they’ve got an unlock for the iPhone 4S in the works that looks promising. This is exciting news considering the iPhone 4S is currently the only device that can’t be unlocked with Ultrasn0w.

Crazy Thanksgiving weekend! Very promising 4S unlock is in the works (Not i4, just 4S..that’s crazy part)

Musclenerd posted the above image with his tweet about an iPhone 4S unlock. We’d still need a jailbreak for the iPhone 4S in order to unlock it. A jailbreak is also rumored to be in the works as well. You can help the jailbreak community find one faster by sending your crash reports to the Chronic Dev-Team via their new Crash Reporter tool as well.

Any of you out there holding off upgrading or purchasing a 4S due to the need for an unlock?

iOS 4.3.2 untethered jailbreak for iPhone, iPod touch, and original iPad is now live… and it’s pretty much the same as the iOS 4.3.1 Jailbreak so we’re updating this post to get you going faster! The Dev-Team has used their hax0r magic to bring us yet another gift in the form of an untethered jailbreak! This jailbreak will require you to use redsn0w, which is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.

Important: iPad 2 is still not supported and unlockers need to steer clear until ultrasn0w is updated. If you’ve got a Verizon iPhone you’ll want to check out our greenpois0n jailbreak guide for iOS 4.2.6 instead.

Hit the jump for a complete how-to!

What you need

• iTunes 10.2.2 or higher
• redsn0w for Windows or Mac
• iOS 4.3.2

1. First, you will need to download redsn0w via the link above

2. Next, you will need to go grab the appropriate iOS firmware for your device. (If you updated via iTunes, it’ll be in your iTunes directory)
3. Once you have downloaded the correct firmware and redsn0w, you are now ready to jailbreak.

4. After you launch redsn0w, you will be asked to browse and choose the custom firmware you downloaded in the previous step.

5. Next you’ll choose to install Cydia and redsn0w will walk you through how to place your device in DFU mode. Just make sure you start this process with your device OFF.

6. Let your device do its thing and you’re done!

In our experience, we’ve noticed this jailbreak seemed a bit buggy on the original iPad.

For a complete walk-through, check out the video tutorial above. If you aren’t sure whether or not you want to take a jump to the dark side, check out our complete jailbreak basics guide first!

Questions? Concerns? Did you encounter any problems during your jailbreak? Let us know in the comments or check out the TiPb jailbreak forum!

Developer Stefan Essen recently demoed an iOS 4.3 untethered jailbreak exploit on video. Today on Twitter, he has stated that the exploit has been turned over to the iPhone Dev-Team. He stated when he released the demo video that he had no intention of releasing a jailbreak tool himself.

What the iPhone Dev-Team will do with the untether isn’t completely clear at this point, but we can hope that it allows for a untethered jailbreak in the near future under iOS 4.3. For all of you iPad 2 users out there, Stefan Essen has already stated that this exploit won’t do you any good.

The iPhone Dev-Team is currently beta testing the exploit. We’ll see if they decide to implement it in a tool in the near future. How many of you are waiting to upgrade and still on iOS 4.2.1?

iOS 4.3 for iPhone is surely on the horizon and that leaves many unlockers wondering whether or not there will be an unlock ready. It’s been a while but it appears a tweet from @sherif_hashim may be confirming that the issues have finally been worked out.

Don’t go upgrading just yet though! MuscleNerd of the iPhone Dev Team stated earlier that an iPhone 4 unlock solution would not be released until after iOS 4.3 goes public. This unlock would allow iPhone 4 users to unlock their phones on the newer basebands (3.10.01 and 2.10.04).

If all goes well and the unlock does perform as expected, we can probably expect a release a few weeks after iOS 4.3 is released to the public. Any of you unlockers stuck waiting for a solution so you can upgrade? Sound off in the comments!

Redmond Pie

The Phone Dev Team’s PwnageTool, which allows for the Jailbreak of iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Apple TV, has been updated to version 4.2 and now is untethered and fixes issues with iBooks.

With [Chronic Dev Team's] permission, we’ve incorporated their 4.2.1 “feedface” untether into today’s PwnageTool 4.2. This means iPhone unlockers can safely restore to a custom 4.2.1 pre-jailbroken IPSW and retain their current baseband and unlock.

PwnageTool also includes two very recent improvements to the 4.2.1 JB: iBooks was just fixed by @comex and @pushfix last night so that it works as intended on DRMed books, and the wifi problem on AppleTV 2G was fixed by @nitotv, @DHowett, and @saurik. Both of these fixes will also be available in upcoming Cydia package updates, so if you’re already jailbroken you can wait for those updates rather than restore and jailbreak again.

If PwnageTool is your preferred Jailbreak, go get it via the link below (they have mirrors posted as well) and tell us how it works for you! If you need help, head on over to the Jailbreak Forum.

[Dev-Team Blog]

For anyone who has been waiting for a software unlock soltution for their iPhone 3G, it looks like you patience will be paying off in a short few weeks. As Dev Team member MuscleNerd stated “Target date is a few days after Christmas”.

With this good news comes some bad news… in order to be one of the first to be able to unlock your iPhone 3G it will be required that you are running the 01.45.00 baseband. Which would mean you are on 2.0 firmware. Now who is actually running the 2.0 firmware at this moment in time is beyond me but we have to take what comes our way. There is a possibility that a unlock will come for the 02.11.07 baseband (2.1 firmware) as well but that is not for certain. And if you are running the 2.2 firmware currently you must have followed our guide to jailbreak 2.2 firmware on a Mac while preserving the baseband. The Dev-Team did warn you and we relayed the warning numerous times.

Here is what the Dev-Team had to say recently:

Right now for 02.11.07 we have some untested ideas. Ideally we’d have something solid by the end of next week, but if we don’t then it would be a staged release, with 01.45.00 first out of the gate.

Here is a list of the iPhone firmware versions and their matching basebands…

- 2.0.0 Firmware & 01.45.00 Baseband

- 2.0.1 Firmware & 01.48.02 Baseband

- 2.0.2 Firmware & 02.08.01 Baseband

- 2.1.0 Firmware & 02.11.07 Baseband

- 2.2.0 Firmware & 02.28.00 Baseband

Those of you lucky enough to still be on 2.0.0 or the 01.45.00 baseband will be able to unlock first. If you are at 2.1 or used PwnageTool to update to 2.2 then you will have the 2.11.07 baseband. This will be the second baseband to receive an unlock. Those on the 02.28.00 baseband will likely have to wait a while before an unlock is released so make sure you use a tutorial on our site to jailbreak and update rather then using iTunes directly.

If this has totally confused you, accept our apologies. An iPhone 3G software unlock should be here before New Years for the first baseband of the device. Other unlocks for later basebands should come shortly after. Keep hanging in there, the Dev-Team will take care of you!

[Via iPhone in Canada.ca]

Jeremy recently reported that the iPhone-dev Team were inching towards an unlock for the iPhone 3G. This time, the iPhone-dev Team checks in through their blog saying that they have made “significant progress” with the 3G Unlock.

The team modified the baseband of the iPhone 3G and even though it failed the integrity check, it was still running. They state that though running modified code is extremely useful, they still can’t give an accurate time table to when we will see a 3G Unlock. Click the read link to see a video of the process. And let’s hope that the amazing iPhone-dev Team are able to get through.

Read

Let me first start off by quoting the iPhone-dev Team:

Disclaimer!! This is a purely technical post with no pragmatic use!

Sadly you will not read that they have unlocked the iPhone 3G. They have posted a few updates over the past few months giving us some idea of what is going on with the 3G unlock. It seems they have hit a snag while trying to use a specific exploit. They were able to get the baseband to stop responding to the OS. They then tried to restore the device multiple times to no avail.

Without getting too technical, they were able to fix the issue and even tried to reproduce the issue but had no luck. Reproducing this error would have been a Good Thing and possibly would have gotten the Dev Team one step closer to unlocking the 3G. So, “two steps forward, one step back”.

For all of the technical jargon please check out this the Dev Teams Blog. Good thing is, we all know the iPhone Dev-Team is still hard at work for all of you looking to use your iPhone 3G on a carrier besides AT&T. Have faith, it should only be a matter of time.

[Via blog.iPhone-dev.org]

Did Apple finally bring the hounds to the old iPhone jailbreak/unlock cat and mouse game?

Maybe. It’s been over 2 months and while the miraculous iPhone DevTeam has jailbroken the iPhone 3G, unlocking the device to work on any carrier has thus far eluded them. Likewise, the brand new iPod Touch — which might be a sign of things to come with the next iPhone as well — has proven more resistant to Jailbreaking. Says the DevTeam:

the 3G iPhone soft unlock and iPod Touch 2G jailbreak are still relatively new challenges (compare them with the timeframe of the iPhone challenges last year). We’re making slow advances on both fronts, but it’s not the sort of thing that can be easily described in a blog like this. But, to maybe show how interlinked these challenges are, this weekend we’ll be trying some hardware based ideas on the iPod Touch 2G jailbreak

It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as the DevTeam also elaborates a little on iPhone 2.2 “Timberline”, confirms it’s still vulnerable to pwnage, and shows it running Terminal.app.

Clever.

Catch-up time: QuickPWN for Mac was released a few short days ago. This go-around is for all of the Mac peeps out there looking to jailbreak the 2.0.2 firmware.  Still no software solution for unlocking, though…  sorry folks.  

It is important to note:

“QuickPwn is not a replacement for PwnageTool, they are different tools and provide different features, QuickPwn is for quickly pwning a device, whereas PwnageTool is designed to custom build and tailor the ipsw (Apple’s iPhone firmware files) production process, both tools will be actively developed in the future.”

“To use QuickPwn 1.0 Mac OS X your device should be running 2.0.2, if it isn’t then you can upgrade it to 2.0.2 using iTunes and then use the QuickPwn tool, we repeat, it’ll only work on version 2.0.2 of the iPhone or iPod touch firmware.”

Now I am not going to leave all of the Windows loyalists left out in the cold.  Also recently released is WinPwn 2.5-Beta 2. Which is available here.  Keep in mind that this is indeed a finished version but “beta” is used to simply say “Use at your own risk”.  

Join us in the TiPb’s Jailbreaking, Hackery, and Jailbroken Apps forum for a more detailed look into the dark side.  Be careful and have fun!

Cool. Who else loves this cat and mouse game that Apple and the iPhone dev team have with one another? First one goes and the other quickly follows, you gotta admit, at the very least it makes for good theater. At best? Well, a jailbroken iPhone of course!

This time around 2.0.2 has been pwned and is available to us via Pwnage Tool 2.0.3. It’s Mac-Only so Windows users will have to use QuickPwn. PwnageTool 2.0.3 includes the newest build of Installer.app. Heads up to those waiting for QuickPwn to come to the Mac (I am), they state that it’s about a week away.

But bad news for those still looking for a baseband unlock of the iPhone 3G since there are no significant updates on that front. Well, I guess we can’t have everything right?

Read

A member of the iPhone DevTeam — you may know them from a little thing like Pwnage and the new QuickPwn — has uncharacteristically issued a warning AGAINST unlocking the iPhone 3G. At least not with a hardware-based SIM card hack.

Are they suddenly becoming fans of handset lock-ins? Bias against hardware in favor of their own (still pending) software solution?

The coder notes that the modern 3G baseband chip has been designed around SIM-based hardware hacks, and so any attempt at them must use fake identifiers. This information is said to “leak” into cellular networks, generating errors. While a hack could in theory work under this scheme, the errors are recorded by telecom companies, and may be considered tampering in a company’s network. In countries like Germany, as a result, a person could allegedly face up to three years in prison, and in the US, it may fall under legislation designed to combat terrorism.

Yowzers! Sounds triple-panicky harsh, and the hyperbole alarms would be going off, if it didn’t seem like jaywalking was a Gitmo-able offense these days.

So, is this for realz, or just a scare? Anyone still want to risk a SIM hack?

(Thanks Bad Ash for the tip!)

Tired of the three-percenter Mac population hogging all the iPhone Unlock/Jailbreak/Pwnage goodness for their eye-candied, single-button’ied selves? No longer!

The Windows version of the iphone-dev team’s Pwnage tool, WinPwn, is now available:

Support for both 1.1.4 and 2.0, Custom Image Support, Custom Payload Support, 3g iPhone support

So, if you really want to Pwn your iPhone and haven’t already hunted down that turtle-neck wearing snob at the sushi bar and commandeered the aluminum sliver that passes for his laptop, your Microsoft compatible version awaits…

UPDATE: Pawnage has been updated to address some of the problems users faced over the weekend, including better discovery of the boot loaders, creation of the devices folder, etc.

Original post:

Starting with the cryptic announcement “We love Sundays. We think you will too”, the iphone-dev-team followed up quickly with the words many (including all those with unsupported countries and carriers) have been waiting clamoring for:

We’ll be releasing a more official announcement soon, but we wanted to get the tool out there. We sincerely hope you enjoy using it as much as we enjoyed making it

Of course, the site’s being hit so hard right now the links are down, if pwnage is what you seek, and you want to jailbreak and unlock 2.0 on your original iPhone 2G, or jailbreak your iPhone 3G (I don’t believe unlock is supported yet on the 3G but will be following soon), new mirrors, seeds, rapidshares, etc. should be popping up.

JAR!

We’ve been all over the jailbreak/unlock situation for both the iPhone 3G and the original iPhone 2G updated to 2.0, and here’s the latest.

The iphone-dev team’s pwnage hasn’t been released yet, but will be soon. According to their blog, Apple’s firmware update slowed them down a little, as has the 3G baseband, so what you’ll get short term is:

iPhone (1st Gen) with 2.0 – Activated, Unlocked & Jailbroken, (with support for third party applications). iPod Touch with 2.0 – Activated & Jailbroken, (with support for third party applications). iPhone (3G) with 2.0 – Activated, Jailbroken (with support for third party applications).

Can’t wait? Willing to risk mail order? Engadget Mobile says you can order a $1000 worth of unlocked iPhone 3G now:

According to the [Alibaba.com] wholesale goods supply site, you can just order up the “original” Apple device direct from a company called Union Camera and have them sent to whatever poorly lit dock, abandoned warehouse, or suburban safe-house you desire. The best part? They’re network unlocked.

Dunno if I’d risk it yet. How about you?