1.1.2 & 1.1.3 OTB 16GB iPhones Easiest Free Software Unlock : Noob’s Guide!

Update : A much faster easier solution for Mac users can be found here. Windows users may resort to ZiPhoneGUI.

I am back after spending 4 hours on the entire process (which includes some hits and misses! Which means, you no longer have to figure out the right steps/combinations!!). Now the process is trimmed down to much lesser time and the best part being : No command line hackery!

All you need is an iPhone (OTB 1.1.2/1.1.3 BL 4.6), Mac (preferable) / Windows, Firmware files (1.1.2, 1.1.3 ipsws), courage to try this all on your pricey iPhones 🙂 (Trust me, it is so easy!!). Please note I used the ATT sim that comes with the iPhone all the way till the iPhone is unlocked.

I am performing this Unlock on a brand new 16gb iPhone that cam out with 4.6 BL and 04_03_13GB BB. Please proceed with his guide only if you have an OTB 1.1.2 or 1.1.3 with 4.6 BL.

UPDATE : After trying this method for one full day, I had some issues with 1.1.3 Dev Team’s soft upgrade. I had no problems restoring it to 1.1.2 and the Unlock sustained just fine. Hence, I recommend using 1.1.2 until a stable 1.1.3 is achieved.

Step 1 : The most important and tricky one : Downgrading OTB 1.1.3 to 1.1.1 (From _BigBoss_)

  • Turn your iPhone off and hold the power and home buttons for exactly 10 secs (yeah count them!).
  • Now, release the Power button still holding the Home Button till iTunes prompts this message ( you get a beep sound both on PC and Mac ). Remember that the display doesn’t show up at any point.
iphoneRecovery.png

If you have come this far, you have completed the tough part, now for the time consuming sit-back and let-it-perform part!!

Step 2:

Make sure you have 1.1.1 and 1.1.2 firmware files downloaded. Now hit the ‘Ok’ button on the iTunes prompt and hold the opt(Mac)/shift(Windows) key and hit the Restore button. Now locate the downloaded 1.1.1 Firmware file. Wait for it to restore and repeat Step 2 one last time! Yeah, I had to do it twice. First time, I couldn’t kick it out of the restore mode after the iTunes performed the restore process. Hence, I recommend performing the Restore process once more 🙂

Step 3:

Time for famous WiFi Jailbreak process, thanks to Jailbreakme.com! Follow the process here if you are yet to memorize it!!

Step 4:

Don’t worry about any weird SIM error messages till you reach the last step! Now another routine method, OktoPrep Jailbreak 1.1.2 which is detailed here. So, you now see 1.1.2 iPhone HomeScreen. If you still see the Plug icon (DFU mode) then Lunch iBrickr/ iNdependence to kick the hell out of the DFU mode!!

Step 5:

Now comes the 1.1.3 SoftUpgrade process. Remember not to perform 1.1.3 iTunes upgrade as some did which takes us back to Step 1!! iClarified really detailed this step. It involves adding iClarified repo in installer.app (add source : installer.iClarified.com). Dev Team 1.1.3 SoftUpgrade process takes a minimum of 30 minutes. So be prepared.

Step 6:

So now comes the best part : Freeing your iPhone for any network in the world. Time to use Geohot’s most famous, completely free Software Unlock.

Make sure you set General -> Auto unlock -> Never.

Now Launch installer.app -> iClarified -> Geohot Unlock (1.1.2, 1.1.3) -> install. It should take not more than 5 minutes to free your iPhone! Congratulations – You have successfully unlocked your Apple iPhone!!

Snapshots of the unlock process at iClarified’s detailed post

Install iWorld from installer.app -> Tweaks 1.1.2 to prevent phone/sms crash. iWorld supports only few carriers. If you are still facing phone/sms cras, rush to iClarified to resolve this issue 🙂

Few Observations :

  • Sound seems lot better on 16GB iPhones !
  • This method doesn’t fix Google Maps faux-gps solution. Locate Me is still needed from istaller.app to guide the mighty ‘Google Maps’ !!
  • *SIMS will soon be offered for peanuts, trust me eBayers rush your orders before its too late !!

A video compilation of some important steps in the process is underway. Check back soon!!

69 Comments

  • Fray
    Posted February 11, 2008 12:47 am 0Likes

    WOW, i had bought a turo sim card, and was playing with it when i got this site, i did it and it was completely effortless
    and painless, as easy as making lemonade!!! Thanks A lot, for it, now my wife is using her iphone, also please donate, that is the way developers pay for website hosting, GREAT GUIDE

    ALL of the people related in this GUIDE

    MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS!!!!

  • Ken
    Posted February 11, 2008 1:38 am 0Likes

    I bypassed the plug in screen using the iBrickr program. But I still am unsure on how to upgrade the phone from 1.1.1 -> 1.1.2 I downloaded the OktoPrep to 1.1.2 file from the installer, but when I press restore on itunes, it wants me to upgrade to 1.1.3

  • Ken
    Posted February 11, 2008 1:45 am 0Likes

    So I downgraded the iphone to 1.1.1 and all, how do I upgrade 1.1.1 -> 1.1.2 ? Because when I press update on the iTunes, it automatically wants to download the 1.1.3. Thanks for all your help!!

  • kiran
    Posted February 11, 2008 2:05 am 0Likes

    @ Kurt : Sorry to say 1.1.3 (s/w upgrade) is buggy as hell. I am back to 1.1.2 though unlock still is retained. Nate’s method didn’t post many issues but yeah, it is buggy…

    @ Fray : Glad this guide helped you. Digg this guide such that others don’t waste much time on figuring out the best approach!!

    @ Ken : You have to hold the Shift key (Windows) / Option key (Mac) when you hit the Update/Restore button. Just try it and it should work a charm 🙂

  • fray
    Posted February 11, 2008 6:34 am 0Likes

    Ken, you have to press shift before clicking upgrade, that way you can browse the location of the 1.1.2 firmware you have

    previously downloaded

    hope it helps!!

    fray

  • [15[0
    Posted February 11, 2008 10:52 am 0Likes

    Hey, Thanks (on behalf of the rest) for the Video. I know ppl will appreciate not spending 4hrs like us to figure it out.

    I wanted to make another add to this useful post on your blog. The STE package source seems to be outdated. For the iClarified step, they assume you have ssh installed on the iPhone already. Thus, people need to update the STE source:

    If you

  • [15[0
    Posted February 11, 2008 11:11 am 0Likes

    Never mind my last comment, though feel free to post if you find the info useful (not needed for iClarified process though)

  • erikgzon
    Posted February 11, 2008 12:15 pm 0Likes

    hey. will the activation part dissapear after unloocking the iphone? and will this work for europe (sweden) sim cards to?

  • kiran
    Posted February 11, 2008 1:27 pm 0Likes

    @ [15[0 : Thanks for your contribution but I never used that repo in this unlocking process… OpenSSH and Services apps are readily available , right? Thanks though 🙂

    @ erikgzon : You start unlocking procedure only if your phone is activated!! Pl go through the guide step by step, let me know if I have to update the guide 🙂

  • Klasu
    Posted February 11, 2008 3:08 pm 0Likes

    After spending hours and try to downgrade from 1.1.3 to 1.1.1 I found this site and followed the exact procedures (post23). Success! But even after restoring it twice I got stuck and my phone wouldn’t boot. I used windows.bat from the unzipped jailbreakme.com files “Boot from recovery”. It worked fine.

  • Klasu
    Posted February 11, 2008 5:48 pm 0Likes

    I have a OTB 1.1.2. After many failures and starting over and over again I finally followed the instructions on this site to the T – and it works!
    The only problem I had was the iPhone totally froze up instead of rebooting. I used “windows.bat” from the unzipped jailbreakme.com files -> “Reboot from Recovery”.
    The only thing that doesn’t work yet is my 3g TurboSim. My iphone doesn’t recognize the SIM?

  • Will
    Posted February 11, 2008 7:05 pm 0Likes

    Kiram: I am running 1.1.2 OTB but i have installer loaded. Can i just add iClarified as a source and unlock? Or do I have to go back to 1.1.1 and upgrade another way?

    Thanks!

  • master
    Posted February 11, 2008 7:54 pm 0Likes

    Hello Kiran!
    I tried the first step for downgrading to 1.1.1 so many times, and really followed exactly every single step (10 seconds and so on), but I am always stuck in the plug and itunes icon screen on my iphone.
    I tried the downgrading with iTunes 7.5, could it be that I need to use iTunes 7.6? Does it matter? Or did you discover any other reason, why it does not work?
    Thanks for you support!

  • kiran
    Posted February 11, 2008 10:57 pm 0Likes

    @ Master : Well, I used iTunes 7.6 and as shown in the video, I performed the DFU mode (10 sec thingy). It should work, trust me and let me know if you are using OTB 1.1.3 or 1.1.2 OTB…

  • kiran
    Posted February 11, 2008 10:59 pm 0Likes

    @ Will : I performed this unlock on 1.1.3 and it worked a charm. I see no reason why you should not be able to unlock from 1.1.2. IT should work!

  • erikgzon
    Posted February 11, 2008 11:41 pm 0Likes

    (((hey. will the activation part dissapear after unloocking the iphone?

    @ erikgzon : You start unlocking procedure only if your phone is activated!! Pl go through the guide step by step, let me know if I have to update the guide )))

    I still dont understand. When you first plug your iphone in to a pc, itunes wants to activate the phone and connect to ATT, right? I dont want ATT. does unloocking the phone get past the ATT activation in itunes?
    Sincerely Erik

  • Yuriy
    Posted February 12, 2008 12:37 am 0Likes

    Hello! I have a very first version of the iPhone, which was 1.0.2 – I think. Then I Upgraded it 1.1.1 (of original upgrade that was provided by apple), and after i upgraded it to 1.1.2 (also original).
    After all of this mass i downgraded in and jailbroke.
    Then i accedantly restored it and upgraded with 1.1.3 (ORIGINAL VERSION)!
    NOW when i try to downgrade it to 1.1.1 it works but i can not upgrate it nither to 1.1.2 nor to 1.1.3 (I mean jeilbroken versions)PLEASE HELP!!! I’LL BE VERY GREATFULL!!!

  • Yuriy
    Posted February 12, 2008 12:55 am 0Likes

    Oh, yeh, when i try to upgrade it to 1.1.2 i get error (5)!!!???

  • kiran
    Posted February 12, 2008 2:00 am 0Likes

    @ Erik :: Well, if you don’t want ATT then, you can get other networks by Jailbreaking and then unlocking it. For that to happen, you still have to follow this guide step by step. Step 1 will let you downgrade to 1.1.1 followed by the Magic WiFi jailbreak which allows you to bypass the activation screen. Try and lemme know…

    @ Yurly :: Once you downgrade to 1.1.1, lemme know the baseband and bootloader version on your iPhone. You can know this by installing bb info application installer.app Then we can proceed with downgrading the baseband or the like…

  • erikgzon
    Posted February 12, 2008 2:29 am 0Likes

    @ erikgzon : You start unlocking procedure only if your phone is activated!! Pl go through the guide step by step, let me know if I have to update the guide )))

    I still dont understand. When you first plug your iphone in to a pc, itunes wants to activate the phone and connect to ATT, right? I dont want ATT. does unloocking the phone get past the ATT activation in itunes?
    Sincerely Erik

  • erikgzon
    Posted February 12, 2008 2:30 am 0Likes

    I still dont understand. When you first plug your iphone in to a pc, itunes wants to activate the phone and connect to ATT, right? I dont want ATT. does unloocking the phone get past the ATT activation in itunes?
    Sincerely Erik

  • erikgzon
    Posted February 12, 2008 2:44 am 0Likes

    sry for the duplicated posts. I will try it and let you know if it works with europeen sim cards.

  • Yuriy
    Posted February 12, 2008 4:12 am 0Likes

    Thanks for responding!!!
    I got a new truble! i downgraded it to 1.1.1 then i jeilbrokek it, after i downloaded anothe firmware(1.1.2, i think it did not work before because i was using bad or corrapted 1.1.2) now it worked.
    After i jailbroke 1.1.2 i used (ibrickr jb113), and i folowed its instructions. then i downloaded upgrade from installer on the phone.
    Now i have working and jailbroken 1.1.3 but it does not recognise any sim even original ATT. It doesnt show eny errors but i can not call nor can i receive any calls. Please HELP!!!

  • master
    Posted February 12, 2008 7:32 am 0Likes

    Thank you for your fast response, Kiran.
    You wanted to know my iPhone version: I got the brand new iPhone 16 GB US-Version. I also checked my version by using the “emergency call”. So it must be 1.1.3 OTB.
    I didn’t upgrade to iTunes 7.6 and didn’t re-try downgrading yet, because for some reason you asked me for my OTB version in the response!
    Thanks again for your support!

  • Klasu
    Posted February 12, 2008 10:19 am 0Likes

    Erik,
    following these steps exactly will bring you past the activation through iTunes. My phone was never activated before. By the way, I have iTunes 7.6 installed on a PC and it all worked.

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