How to JailBreak the Iphone 3GS

I decided to wait a week after getting my 3GS to attempt jailbreaking it.  I wanted to be sure that I had a good feel for the device’s quirks before throwing any third-party software at it and creating more.  That being said, jailbreaking the 3GS turned out to be a pretty simple process. I did it on the mac, but it works just as well on the PC.

Grab the latest version of Itunes before you start and be sure you’re on Iphone 3GS 3.0 software ONLY. I can’t say whether this will work with updates beyond that.

1) go to http://purplera1n.com  Click on the link for your OS, and download either the Windows EXE or the Zipped Mac app.

2) Connect your Iphone 3GS via USB to your computer. Cancel any sync activity.  Launch the appropriate app for your system.

You shoudl see one of these two windows, depending on your OS:

3) Click “Make it rain”, and let the Jailbreak commence…

Your Iphone should go into Recovery Mode at this point, and after a couple minutes, reboot itself. At that point, you’re done. One my phone, it actually got stuck rebooting. I had to perform a reset by holding power and home at the same time.

4) After it reboots, you should have a new app called Freeze. Run it, and it should install Cydia – the jailbreak software repository.

5) Enjoy your new found freedom.

Some cool things you can do with your jailbroken iPhone 3Gs:

• Run background apps
• Hide unwanted app icons (stocks, youtube, weather..)
• Tether
• SSH into (and from) your iphone
• Run unix/bsd command line tools with MobileTerminal
• Customize the look of your iPhone
• Use Qik for live video streaming
• Unlock your iPhone for another carrier