The Info

Last night, an ex dev team member codenamed “geohot” released the first ever iPhone 3GS jailbreak. This jailbreak will only work on the iPhone 3GS running 3.0. Unlike the official redsn0w jailbreak for the other iPhones and iTouchs, this jailbreak doesn’t hacktivate your iPhone, so you must at least have access to an official SIM card. After jailbreaking, you should be able to run ultrasn0w and unlock your iPhone 3GS and use it on any carrier. Also, just like the “unofficial” 3.0 QuickPwn jailbreaks, this jailbreak does NOT fully patch the iPhone’s kernel. This means that WinterBoard and various other jailbroken software will not work on the iPhone 3GS yet. Still, it is worth it to jailbreak.

UPDATE 07/05/09 - PurpleRa1n now has a Mac version, so you no longer need to have access to a Windows computer in order to jailbreak your iPhone 3GS.

UPDATE 07/04/09 – PurpleRa1n has now been updated to RC2. This new version includes Windows Vista and Windows 7 support, international compatibility, 64-bit support, vm_map patch, and a few other improvements. I will post another update here and post a tweet as soon as Saurik updates WinterBoard to be compatible with the iPhone 3GS. Follow lightmaster and iPhoneGuides

IMPORTANT: Even though the kernel has now been completely patched, WinterBoard still will not work until Saurik updates WinterBoard to work with the iPhone 3GS. Installing WinterBoard now will risk having to restore your iPhone 3GS or even bricking your iPhone 3GS.

The Requirements

1. iPhone 3GS
2. Windows XP, Vista, or 7 (Win7 supposedly will not work)
3. or Mac OS X 10.5 + (Intel only)
4. iTunes 8.2
5. A working internet connection

The Process:

1. Download the file PurpleRa1n.exe for Windows or PurpleRa1n.zip for Mac OS X.
2. Plug in your iPhone in normal mode (NOT in DFU mode or restore mode).
3. Just to be on the safe side, back up your iPhone.
   1. Open iTunes.
   2. Right-click your iPhone in the left sidebar.
   3. Click “Back Up”.
   4. Close iTunes.
4. Open purplera1n.exe.
5. Click “make it ra1n”.
6. If your iPhone doesn’t restart in Recovery mode, restore your iPhone to 3.0, then try again.
7. After you iPhone 3GS successfully reboots, you will have a new icon on your SpringBoard called “Freeze”. Open it.
8. Click “Install Cydia”.
9. “Freeze” will run through the steps of Downloading, Unpacking, and Cleaning the install.
10. If “Freeze” doesn’t auto-close, hit the home button to close it.
11. Notice Cydia on your SpringBoard! (If its not there, restore to 3.0 and try again.)
12. If you had to restore your iPhone, you can now do a “Backup from Restore…”.
    1. Plug in your iPhone.
    2. Open iTunes.
    3. Right-click your iPhone in the left sidebar.
    4. Click “Restore from Backup…”.
    5. Select the most recent back up of your iPhone 3GS.

Congrats, you have now jailbroken your iPhone 3GS! A really big thanks to Geohot. If you have trouble with the jailbreak and it just won’t work, email your purplera1n.log file to purplera1n.support[at]gmail[dot]com or call (650) 265-1210.