Torrenting iPhone 3.0 firmware: a cautionary tale
You probably know that installing a copy of the new iPhone 3.0 firmware that you grabbed off a torrent site is illegal, but you should also know that it's a royal pain in the butt. Users on iPhone forums are discovering the hard way that a copy of 3.0 is no good unless you're a registered developer, so it can be unlocked on your device. Otherwise you're in for a world of hurt, with hacky workarounds that require you to turn off your Internet connection every time you want to use your phone with iTunes. Once you've gone to 3.0 without registering, it turns out to be really hard to go back. Users having trouble downgrading back to the current version of the firmware are all over iPhone forums, annoying legitimate developers (or their friends -- each dev can apparently sign up 100 devices) with questions about restoring to the old version. Meanwhile, the iPhone just throws a bunch of errors at them. I'm sure a way to restore will pop up soon, but if it doesn't, you could be holding a brick until the official release. Is it really worth all this trouble to avoid waiting a few months for copy and paste?
Note: Gizmodo has a step-by-step guide to downgrading.












Comments
7
Subscribe to commentsSmithMar 27th 2009 2:53PM
Heck, I'm a developer and I have access to the image and I'm leary of installing the beta on my iPhone.
skr3diiApr 6th 2009 2:18PM
I am a in the dev program and I can make you part of my authorized beta tester so you can install the latest iPhone OS 3.0 firmware on your iPhone.
If you are interested, read my instructions on this page : http://www.macgeekblog.com/blog/archive/2009/04/04/want-iphone-30-beta-but-cant-afford-99.html
Peace.
Jesse BunchApr 7th 2009 1:10PM
I will add you to my developer account immediately!
Just visit my web site to continue! http://www.bwebdesign.net/iphone30/
JayApr 10th 2009 8:23PM
I may as well spam to, I'm only charging $3 so everyone gets access to this and I pay for my dev account!
http://jay.connor.googlepages.com/iphoneos3.0downloandandregistration
inshadesofgreyApr 14th 2009 2:51PM
don't fall for scams...half the people take your money and don't respond....
the iphone 3.0 beta 2 is GREAT and better ones to come......so to use....
try this - Half the other people can't do this because they don't have accounts. bad name for our dev community.
a snapshot of my dev account
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37393173@N04/3441644233/in/set-72157616765640898/
Send $6 via paypal to ibelieveingood@gmail.com with your UDID and have yourself added in 30 mins FLAT!!!!!
skr3diiMay 29th 2009 3:46PM
Hi folks, we are looking for beta testers to install iPhone OS 3.0 firmware and test our applications. If you are interested and would like to try it before this summer, you can join us here : http://tinyurl.com/macgeekblog
Cheers,
skr3dii
taranfxJun 10th 2009 11:26AM
Looking for iPhone, iTouch 3.0 Firmware leaked, by Developers WWDC 2009 ?
get it here:
http://www.taranfx.com/blog/?p=1089