iPhone Firmware Update Makes Hacked iPhones Inoperable - What Can I Do If I Have a Hacked Phone?
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The question on the lips of everyone who has a hacked iPhone sitting in their pocket is, what can I do about it?
The first choice available to you is to not take the firmware update if you unlocked the phone. This seems like the simplest of the choices, provided you don't want the update -- and you might not if you can't go back, and you want your phone to keep on working. The major benefit to users of this update is access to the iTunes store, and if you don't want or need that feature, skipping this update may make sense for you.
Just be aware that you are also choosing to skip all other updates that come with the iPhone, as updating is likely to be a cumulative process where you will have to add all previous updates in order to get the most current update, so choose wisely.
Another option if you have hacked the phone is to just give up your hacks. That's right, if you want to get the upgrade then you can just go back to the way it was before. To do this you can just do a few simple steps:
- Uninstall any illegal software for your phone. Now I am not talking about your original hack software, yet, just your widgets and applications, and anything else that you could only put on the phone because of the hack. You can keep any that are legit. Let's be honest, you were going to lose them anyway.
- Back up any data that you need from the applications or phone, just in case there is a problem.
- Get out your original sim card -- you remember it, it's that little card that connects your phone to the phone company. If you want to go back, you have to have your original sim card on hand, otherwise you won't get very far into this process.
- Take the steps that you need to in order to reset the phone. These steps may vary slightly depending on what you have done to your phone or you can just follow this guide, adapted from Apple's iPhone manual.
- Turn off your phone.
- Connect the phone to the computer using your USB cable.
- Power the device on with the power button and hold the home button.
- Keep holding the button after you see the Apple logo.
- When the screen says "Connect to iTunes" you can let go of the home button.
- Now you will get a recovery message that says "iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes."
- Click on "OK."
There is just one note on using recovery for the iPhone. If you have made serious changes to the phone's hardware you may find that the phone will not go back. Certain changes will make a difference and other won't; you might want to talk to other people who have used the same hack to find out.
Also, you must do this BEFORE you put the firmware update onto your computer, as the update will render the phone entirely inoperable, and no changes can be made after this point. Users who have tried to restore the phone to its status before the upgrade after it has been downloaded have found it to have little to no effect.
Next: So Why is Apple Doing This? >>
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