History of iPhone Unlocking

History of iPhone Unlocking



What is iPhone Unlocking?

This is the process by which the iPhone is modified such that the baseband will accept the SIM card of any GSM carrier. This is entirely different than a jailbreak.



Types of iPhone Unlocking



Software Unlocks

This is a way to unlock your iPhone for free with a package from Cydia, however, it only works on selected basebands. The most popular unlocking tool is Ultrasn0w. It supports the following basebands.



iPhone 3G/3GS

04.26.08

05.11.07

05.12.01

05.13.04

06.15.00



iPhone 4

01.59.00



Hardware Unlock

The first iPhone unlocking method for the original iPhone actually required opening up your phone. Currently, it isn't possible to hardware unlock current devices; the closest thing would be SIM hacks, which functions as interposers, not a hardware modification.



IMEI

IMEI Based Unlock Services

In 2012, many IMEI based iPhone factory unlocking companies started appearing on the web. This unlock works by whitelisting IMEI number in Apple or carriers database.



This is how it works:

At +0x400 in the seczone, a token is stored encrypted with (NCK + NORID + HWID). Apple, knowing the NCK, sends it using an activation token over iTunes. The phone receives an AT+CLCK="PN","0,".........NCK......." It decrypts the token with the generated key. If that decryption, after deRSAing with Key 2, is a valid token for the phone, it is stored back to that flash with the token TEA, but not RSA decrypted. On startup, if the lockstate table says the phone is unlocked, it validates that RSA token.

This type of unlock does not require a jailbreak, and is permanent, even surviving a restore unless Apple or your carrier decides to re-lock the phone, something that has rarely happened.



History:

In June, 2007, George Hotz became the first person to carrier unlock an iPhone. Hotz's hardware-based unlocking technique was soon replaced by software unlocking. On February 8, 2008, Hotz developed the software unlock for the iPhone's new bootloader version 4.6 that was previously only achievable with a "testpoint based hardware unlock".



iphone SimFree



First Software Unlock

On September 11, 2007, the first software based unlock came from a company abbreviated to IPSF (iPhoneSimFree). They charged $100 for unlocking app.



First Free Software Unlock

On September 15, 2007, the Dev Team produced a free software utility that re-flashed the baseband in a similar way to the hardware unlock. It started out with various names but ultimately ended up becoming the AnySIM GUI application. Firmware update 1.1.1 rendered unlocked iPhones inoperable.



Further History

In July 2008, iPhone Dev Team released BootNeuter for iPhone 2G. BootNeuter gave option to unlock 1.1.4 or 2.0 (iPhone 2G only) baseband.

On June 23, 2009 iPhone Dev Team released ultrasn0w software unlock for iPhone 3G on iOS 3.0. It worked with baseband 04.26.08.

On November 03, 2009 GeoHot released BlackSn0w to unlock iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G running iPhone OS 3.1.2 and Baseband 05.11.07.



On August 03, 201 iPhone Dev Team released Ultrasn0w 1.0-1 which could work with iPhone 4 baseband 01.59.00 and 3G/3GS basebands 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.13.04 on iOS 4.0.1. HISTORY OF IPHONE UNLOCKING What is iPhone Unlocking? This is the process by which the iPhone is modified such that the baseband will accept the SIM card of any GSM carrier. This is entirely different than a jailbreak. Types of iPhone Unlocking Software Unlocks This is a way to unlock your iPhone for free with a package from Cydia, however, it only works on selected basebands. The most popular unlocking tool is Ultrasnow. It supports the follwing basebands. 0944 iPhone 3G/3GS 04.26.08 10 05.11.07 05.12.01 0.13.04 06.15.00 iPhone 4 01.59.00 .... Hardware Unlock The first iPhone unlocking method for the original iPhone actually required opening up your phone. Currently, it isn't possible to hardware unlock current devices; the closest thing would be SIM hacks, which function as interposers, not a hardware modification. 18v *** 512 PHISE IMEI IMEI Based Unlock Services In 2012, many IMEI based iPhone factory unlocking companies started appearing on the web. This unlock works by whitelisting IMEI number in Apple or carriers database. 6SEREM This is how it works: At +0x400 in the seczone, a token is stored encrypted with (NCK + NORID + HWID). Apple, knowing the NCK, sends it using an activation token over iTunes. The phone receives an AT+CLCK="PN,0,..NCK. It decrypts the token with the generated key. If that decryption, after deRSAing with Key 2, is a valid token for the phone, it is stored back to that flash with the token TEA, but not RSA decrypted. On startup, if the lockstate table says the phone is unlocked, it validates that RSA token. This type of unlock does not require a jailbreak and is permanent, even surviving a restore unless Apple or your carrier decides to re-lock the phone, something that has rarely happened. History: In June, 2007, George Hotz became the first person to carrier unlock an iPhone. Hotz's hardware-based unlocking technique was soon replaced by software unlocking. On February 8, 2008, Hotz developed the software unlock for the iPhone's new bootloader version 4.6 that was previously only achievable with a "testpoint based hardware unlock". First Software Unlock On September 11, 2007, the first software based unlock came from a company abbreviated to IPSF (iPhoneSimFree). They charged $100 for unlocking app. iphone SimFree anySIM First Free Software Unlock On September 15, 2007, the Dev Team produced a free software utility that re-flashed the baseband in a similar way to the hardware unlock. It started out with various names but ultimately ended up becoming the AnySIM GUI application. Firmware update 1.1.1 rendered unlocked iP- hones inoperable. slde tounock Further History In July 2008, iPhone Dev Team released BootNeuter for iPhone 2G. BootNeuter gave option to unlock 1.1.4 or 2.0 (iPhone 2G only) baseband. On June 23, 2009 iPhone Dev Team released ultrasnow software unlock for iPhone 3G on iOS 3.0. It worked with baseband 04.26.08. On November 03, 2009 GeoHot released BlackSnow to unlock iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G running iPhone OS 3.1.2 and Baseband 05.11.07. On August 03, 2010 iPhone Dev Team released Ultrasnow 1.0-1 which could work with iPhone 4 baseband 01.59.00 and 3G/3GS basebands 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01 and 05.13.04 on iOS 4.0.1. Brought To You By: Sources: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/10/a-brief-history/ http://theiphonewiki.com/wiki/Unlock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hotz IPhoneAT&TUnlock UNLOCKING THE WORLD FOR YOUR IPhone www.iphoneattunlock.com 1. GE