First iPhone 3GS Jailbreak Hits The Web

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Daniel Brusilovsky

TechCrunch.com
Friday, July 3, 2009; 12:43 AM

George Hotz, the 20-year old hacker who originally unlocked the iPhone, has released a jailbreaking application for the iPhone 3GS codenamed "purplera1n." It's currently Windows-only (Windows 7 not supported), and requires the latest iTunes installed, and an iPhone 3GS with the 3.0 firmware.

Hotz mentions in a blog post that the jailbreak for Mac is "coming soon." The iPhone Dev Team did release a unlock for 3.0 which did not work on the iPhone 3GS, but Hotz's version does (although it doesn't free you from your current carrier).

Hotz goes over the process of the jailbreaking on his blog:

Connect your iPhone normally. Click "make it ra1n". Wait. On bootup, run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app.

Hotz does warn users that you'll need to backup your data just in case, and emphasizes that the tool is still in beta. Hotz also mentions that normally he does not make tools for the public, and rather have the iPhone Dev Team figure out the unlock process. Hotz continues by explaining that Apple will probably find a fix for the loophole, release an update, and he will go back to work on finding the next loophole.

Update: John Biggs over at CrunchGear goes through the process of jailbreaking his iPhone 3GS using Hotz's program.