November3

iPhone 3G Unlocking 3.1.2 for 3UK

By: Dean Clinton

If you’re on 3UK, and want to use it on your iPhone with OS3.1.2, then from today (3rd of November), then it is safe to do so… thanks to blackra1n.

Known Limitations so far: YouTube doesn’t work correctly yet if you use the hacktivation. To get around this, insert the original sim card prior to running blackra1n and activate the iPhone.

I’d advise you do a backup first via iTunes (by right-clicking the iPhone icon in iTunes and choosing Backup).
Once you’ve done that, click the Restore button. It’ll wipe your iPhone and do it from scratch with OS 3.1.2 (as if you bought it new). At this moment in time, your iPhone is still locked to the carrier it was provided with, but that will change in a moment, you’ve got a few easy steps to go through. When iTunes starts up, it’ll complain about the Sim being incorrect – close iTunes. If iTunes opens at all and throws any errors, simply close it and let blackra1n do it’s work.

WARNING: You WILL need WiFi access if your iPhone doesn’t have an internet connection.

Mac Steps

  1. Step One
    Open your browser of choice and navigate to http://www.blackra1n.com. Click the Apple logo at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Step Two
    When prompted save the download to your desktop.
  3. Step Three
    Double click the downloaded blackra1n.zip file to extract the application, then double click the application icon to launch the blackra1n program.
  4. Step Four
    Make sure your iPhone or iPod is connected to the computer then click the large “make it ra1n” button.
  5. Step Five
    Your iPhone will now be placed in recovery mode, at this point you will see a picture of GeoHot that replaces the regular recovery mode screen on your iPhone.
    blackra1n will run and then your device will reboot, then a popup message will appear informing you that BlackRa1n is free software and if you appreciate it you can donate to GeoHot at geohot@gmail.com.
  6. Step Six
    Once your device reboots it will be jailbroken and you will notice a blackra1n icon on the Springboard. Make sure you have an internet connection (Wifi/3G) and press the blackra1n drop to launch the application.
  7. Step Seven
    Choose the installer application of your choice and then press to select “sn0w” (if you would like to unlock your iPhone). Press the Install button at the top right of the screen to begin. At this point, blackra1n will begin to download and install the packages that you have selected.
    If you chose to unlock your iPhone by using blacksn0w you will be presented with a Post Install-log for sn0w, stating that CommCenter will be restarted and there is no need to reboot (If your carrier doesn’t support 3G then make sure that you disable it within the Settings page of your iPhone). Press the Close button to continue.
  8. Step Eight
    Once complete BlackRa1n will respring your freshly jailbroken and unlocked iPhone and you will find the installer package of your choice on the Springboard.
  9. Step Nine
    If you are using 3UK, then download my updated 3_custom.ipcc file from my previous post (you may need to follow the instructions to use it), and it will install the 3G and MMS settings for you, as well as the 3UK logo.

Windows Steps

  1. Step One
    Open your browser of choice and navigate to http://www.blackra1n.com. Click the Windows logo at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Step Two
    When prompted save the download to your desktop.
  3. Step Three
    Double click the downloaded blackra1n.exe file to launch the blackra1n program.
  4. Step Four
    Make sure your iPhone or iPod is connected to the computer then click the large “make it ra1n” button.
  5. Step Five
    Your iPhone will now be placed in recovery mode, at this point you will see a picture of GeoHot that replaces the regular recovery mode screen on your iPhone.
    blackra1n will run and then your device will reboot, then a popup message will appear informing you that BlackRa1n is free software and if you appreciate it you can donate to GeoHot at geohot@gmail.com.
  6. Step Six
    Once your device reboots it will be jailbroken and you will notice a blackra1n icon on the Springboard. Make sure you have an internet connection (Wifi/3G) and press the blackra1n drop to launch the application.
  7. Step Seven
    Choose the installer application of your choice and then press to select “sn0w” (if you would like to unlock your iPhone). Press the Install button at the top right of the screen to begin. At this point, blackra1n will begin to download and install the packages that you have selected.
    If you chose to unlock your iPhone by using blacksn0w you will be presented with a Post Install-log for sn0w, stating that CommCenter will be restarted and there is no need to reboot (If your carrier doesn’t support 3G then make sure that you disable it within the Settings page of your iPhone). Press the Close button to continue.
  8. Step Eight
    Once complete BlackRa1n will respring your freshly jailbroken and unlocked iPhone and you will find the installer package of your choice on the Springboard.
  9. Step Nine
    If you are using 3UK, then download my updated 3_custom.ipcc file from my previous post (you may need to follow the instructions to use it), and it will install the 3G and MMS settings for you, as well as the 3UK logo.

If you have any problems, try e-Mailing the person that wrote the application, blackra1n.support@gmail.com.

Posted in: Blog Posts, Featured, Personal13 comments

Comments

  • Matt

    Thanks very much for the info!

    January 31, 2010 at 1:14 pm

  • Jarome

    hi i’ve managed to jailbreak my iphone, i’ve put the mms settings in from your website thing is i still aint got the camera pic in new msg’s so i am not able to send or recieve mms any ideas what i could be doing wrong?

    January 27, 2010 at 5:32 pm

  • Izaak

    Hey Dean does the ‘official’ unlock apply to both the 3g and the 3gs version and will they both work on 3Uk?

    Cheers

    January 13, 2010 at 2:52 pm

  • Manisha

    Hi dean, I have a o2 jailbroken iphone- jaibroken mainly so that I can insert other sim cards when travelling. I have applied for an official unlock code from o2 recently, and waiting for their sms. my question is, that I would like to unjaibreak my iphone, and then unlock it from o2 so that I can use other sims. Do i unjaibreak first using restore from itunes, and then go through the o2 unlocking process? or the other way around?

    January 12, 2010 at 2:48 pm

    • Dean Clinton

      Yes, restore via iTunes.

      I did it first by restoring to Stock 3.1.2, then requested the code.
      In theory you should be able to use it jailbroken until you get the text, then restore via itunes and it’ll work with your sim… in theory, that is :-)

      January 15, 2010 at 10:57 pm

  • casey

    Hello Dean – though I have successfully unlocked my iPhone using Ultrasn0w, I suppose it would be better to have it ‘unlocked officially by O2′ as you did!

    I’m on o2 Pay&Go and have had my phone over a year. How does one go about getting it unlocked by o2? And after that, presumably, are you safe to go back to stock iPhone firmware (un-jailbreak) and forevermore it will work with any SIM? I also need to still be able to use my phone on AT&T ‘GoPhone’ in the US, which I also now have working.

    Thanks…

    January 2, 2010 at 12:48 pm

  • Yelsaw

    Hey dean was just wondering f i get my iphone 3g officially unlocked then i pop my 3uk sim in it will it work? Because i have herd that the iphone is only compatible with GSM networks and 3uk isn’t one?

    thanks.

    December 28, 2009 at 12:08 am

    • Dean Clinton

      Hi Yelsaw,
      The iPhone works fine with 3UK…. it’s what I use. I think you’re thinking of the fact that 3UK isn’t a 2G network, which is correct – but 3UK have partnered with a 2G network to provide coverage where there’s no 3G available.
      What 3UK don’t like is where the phone is 2G only – then they cut you off if you’re using the 2G network all the time on 3Pay.
      Cheers,
      Dean

      December 28, 2009 at 10:26 am

  • Loyal 3 Customer

    This is very useful…I have been with 3 for last 5 years and i was disappointed that 3 doesnt provide IPhone but after reading this i think i’ll take the risk and buy the Iphone and hope it will work for me on my 3 sim.

    Dean a quick question, i have heard that some people are facing issues that phone automaically switches to 2G when network is lost and it doenst come back…are you facing any such issue? is there any other limitation apart from YouTube?

    Cheers!!!

    December 8, 2009 at 4:32 pm

    • Dean Clinton

      Hi,
      I haven’t had that problem myself, but then 3G coverage is pretty reasonable where I am.. Where I didn’t get coverage when I was away, I also didn’t have 2G coverage as I was out in the sticks..

      What I’d advise you do is install WinterBoard with SBSettings (where you can touch the clock and it pops out a quick menu), where if it does that then you can very quickly disable 3G/Edge and put it right back on..

      I’ve just had my o2 Pay&Go iPhone unlocked officially by O2 within the last 24 hours (even though it’s not 12months old yet), and I’m still using the .IPCC file (although tethering seems to now have disappeared).

      If you activate your iPhone with the sim it came with before you Jailbreak it, then the YouTube problem doesn’t happen – it’s what I was doing.
      Dean

      December 8, 2009 at 4:58 pm

Copyright © 2009, Dean Clinton. All Rights Reserved.