First experience with iPhone, I need help

[r9800pro]

This is my first experience ever with iPhone and it is so bad that I am pulling my hair out!

I bought a used iPhone 4 16GB with hactivated (or jailbroken, I don't know) iOS 4.3.3/Baseband 04.10.01 and was told it was not working at all at first and someone hacked it to make it "at least" run but it was carrier locked

I've read about Gevey Sim and Official Unlocks but before deciding which I should choose I upgraded to 4.3.5 (so stupid, I discovered that too late!) then gave it to a guy in order to hack it and unlock it (I would like to choose Gevey Sim)

I don't know what would happen then, I should check with the guy tomorrow but can't sleep from anger!

Could it be downgraded to 4.3.3 and activated again or is it stuck forever at 4.3.5 ?

I've read (later!) about SHSH blobs which I didn't save that is the only way to downgrade and I had cybia installed on the iPhone but don't know whether it really automatically saves SHSH blobs or not, and of course I can't check that while the phone is unactivated !

What are the chances that the guy would mess everything and I am stuck forever with an unactivated/carrier locked iPhone ?

I've also read that 4.3.5 Jailbreak (is it different from activating ?!) is tethered which is unacceptable to me

I am from Egypt and they told me before the stupid 4.3.5 upgrade mistake that it would cost me 60$ for Gevey Sim unlocking and 126$ official unlocking but I don't trust what they say !

Any help would be much appreciated

 

[iCrank]

This is my first experience ever with iPhone and it is so bad that I am pulling my hair out!

I bought a used iPhone 4 16GB with hactivated (or jailbroken, I don't know) iOS 4.3.3/Baseband 04.10.01 and was told it was not working at all at first and someone hacked it to make it "at least" run but it was carrier locked

I've read about Gevey Sim and Official Unlocks but before deciding which I should choose I upgraded to 4.3.5 (so stupid, I discovered that too late!) then gave it to a guy in order to hack it and unlock it (I would like to choose Gevey Sim)

I don't know what would happen then, I should check with the guy tomorrow but can't sleep from anger!

Could it be downgraded to 4.3.3 and activated again or is it stuck forever at 4.3.5 ?

I've read (later!) about SHSH blobs which I didn't save that is the only way to downgrade and I had cybia installed on the iPhone but don't know whether it really automatically saves SHSH blobs or not, and of course I can't check that while the phone is unactivated !

What are the chances that the guy would mess everything and I am stuck forever with an unactivated/carrier locked iPhone ?

I've also read that 4.3.5 Jailbreak (is it different from activating ?!) is tethered which is unacceptable to me

I am from Egypt and they told me before the stupid 4.3.5 upgrade mistake that it would cost me 60$ for Gevey Sim unlocking and 126$ official unlocking but I don't trust what they say !

Any help would be much appreciated

You will find great help here about unlocking and hopefully downgrading your phone to a older firmware. we have good guides here that have tremendous knowledge in this matter. $186 for unlocking is to much and you can do this yourself

 

[r9800pro]

You will find great help here about unlocking and hopefully downgrading your phone to a older firmware. we have good guides here that have tremendous knowledge in this matter. $186 for unlocking is to much and you can do this yourself

Thank you very much for your reply

It is actually either 60$ for Gevey Sim or 126$ for official unlocking

I am also worried that they may ask for another sum of money to activate/jailbreak the phone which was activated in the first place but I stupidly upgrared/deactivated it

 

[Jmills87]

You don't need to pay anyone to unlock your phone with the Gevey SIM, all it requires is downloading a Cydia package and sticking the Gevey SIM in your phone. What you need is called "Gevey ULTRA SIM" it is the ONLY hardware unlock that doesn't dial the emergency number so it's legal. They only cost about $30 on some websites.

The $126 unlock you are talking about is where they actually add your IMEI to the whitelist so it would be just like getting a factory unlocked phone. The problem with that is that Apple can tell which IMEIs are supposed to be on the whitelist and which are not so there have been rumors that users who use this service have had their IMEIs removed from the whitelist by Apple and lost their $126 so I would advise against this route.

In terms of jailbreaking: since you bought the iPhone pre-jailbroken it is highly likely that the person you purchased it from had backed up their SHSH either with Cydia or TinyUmbrella. What you need to do is download the latest TinyUmbrella and check to see if your 4.3.3 SHSHs are saved. If they are, then you can downgrade to 4.3.3 and have an untethered jailbreak. Otherwise you will have to do a tethered 4.3.5 jailbreak.

 

[r9800pro]

You don't need to pay anyone to unlock your phone with the Gevey SIM, all it requires is downloading a Cydia package and sticking the Gevey SIM in your phone. What you need is called "Gevey ULTRA SIM" it is the ONLY hardware unlock that doesn't dial the emergency number so it's legal. They only cost about $30 on some websites.

The $126 unlock you are talking about is where they actually add your IMEI to the whitelist so it would be just like getting a factory unlocked phone. The problem with that is that Apple can tell which IMEIs are supposed to be on the whitelist and which are not so there have been rumors that users who use this service have had their IMEIs removed from the whitelist by Apple and lost their $126 so I would advise against this route.

In terms of jailbreaking: since you bought the iPhone pre-jailbroken it is highly likely that the person you purchased it from had backed up their SHSH either with Cydia or TinyUmbrella. What you need to do is download the latest TinyUmbrella and check to see if your 4.3.3 SHSHs are saved. If they are, then you can downgrade to 4.3.3 and have an untethered jailbreak. Otherwise you will have to do a tethered 4.3.5 jailbreak.

Some awesome info Jmills87

I've learnt these in 3 days and you put them in one post, I wish I had come here first

The problem is that I am from Egypt and I don't trust the people who promis unlocking here, plus I don't think they even have the Ultra model of Gevey Sim

One thing they told me made me suspect, they said that the Gevey Sim (they didn't even mention Gevey!) needs to be coupled with a specific network sim and from what I've read it is not remotely true !

Yesterday I contacted a friend who knows them and he told them that I am not the kind of guy to mess with lol

A friend of mine paid 126$ for the "claimed" official unlock and it did indeed unlock but he has Cydia crashing all the time and after what you said this is not an option for me

I just would like to know whether the phone was really jailbroken or not, when I bought it it was running fine (very fine actually) aside from being carrier locked and it had Cydia installed and I logged into the internet via WiFi just one time and the seller told me that he had it activated coz it was not running at all (is this jailbreaking or something else?)

I can't get the phone till tonight and I am very worried that the guy I left it with would mess something if Cydia indeed backed up SHSH blobs or that is unlikely to happen

I am sorry for all these questions but my life in IT (Computer hardware and software) tought me that knowledge is power

 

[Jmills87]

They were completely right about coupling the Gevey SIM with a network SIM. That's exactly what you do. Both SIMs have to be inserted in the phone at the same time.

Here's the Gevey ULTRA SIM for under $30, they ship worldwide.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Gevey-Untethered-Gevey-3g-Iphone-4-3-4and/dp/B0058EHN1W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313605669&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: Gevey Ultra Untethered Unlock Turbo Sim Works on Newest Apple Ios 4.3.5 Gevey-3g Unlock Turbo Sim for Iphone 4 Ios 4.3 ,4.3.1 4.3.2, 4.3.3, 4.3.4and 4.3.5 Baseband 01.59, 02.10, 03.10.1, 04.10.1 Tested on Iso 5: Electronics[/ame]

 

[r9800pro]

They were completely right about coupling the Gevey SIM with a network SIM. That's exactly what you do. Both SIMs have to be inserted in the phone at the same time.

Here's the Gevey ULTRA SIM for under $30, they ship worldwide.

Amazon.com: Gevey Ultra Untethered Unlock Turbo Sim Works on Newest Apple Ios 4.3.5 Gevey-3g Unlock Turbo Sim for Iphone 4 Ios 4.3 ,4.3.1 4.3.2, 4.3.3, 4.3.4and 4.3.5 Baseband 01.59, 02.10, 03.10.1, 04.10.1 Tested on Iso 5: Electronics

No, he said it should be coupled and software programmed and it would be locked to that particular carrier !

The Gevey sim from Amazon seems like a scam from the feedback

I found this :

GENUINE GEVEY ULTRA PRO Unlock Turbo Sim iPhone 4 4G | eBay

I am trying to get it via a company that buys merchandise from ebay and ship it to me but it would take a month

 

[Jmills87]

God call, I didn't see the reviews of that seller. Ya the one on eBay looks legit. And no, you only need the hardware unlock. The only software you need is a Cydia package called "Furious mod" and it's free.

 

[r9800pro]

Thank you very much

I will buy it but now I need to activate the phone

Somebody activated it before with 4.3.3 iOS and after I upgraded to 4.3.5 it shows this :

How do I activate it and if possible downgrade to 4.3.3 ?

 

[Jmills87]

You have to hacktivate and jailbreak with Redsn0w 0.9.8b5

 

[r9800pro]

Any tutorials ?

Can I hactivate without jailbreaking (coz I don't like the idea of tethered JB)

I would also like to try downgrading first

 

[Jmills87]

You have to jailbreak either way because you need to install "Furious Mod" for the Gevey SIM to work which is a Cydia application. If you have your 4.3.3 SHSH saved I can help you downgrade

 

[r9800pro]

I am utterly speechless from this great help Jmills87

God bless you

I tried TinyUmbrella with the device connected (still deactivated) and it shows this :

Does this mean I have the 4.3.3 SHSH Blobs ?

What should I do now, jailbreack/hacktivate first or downgrade first ?

 

[Jmills87]

Yep, that's exactly what that means. Follow this downgrade 4.3.5 to 4.3.3 tutorial it jailbreaks, downgrades and hacktivates all at the same time. Make sure that in sn0wbreeze you select the "activate this iPhone" option under the general settings

 

[r9800pro]

I've just used sn0wbreeze and downgraded/hacktivated the phone and now it is runnung with iOS 4.3.3 again.........AWESOME

Is it jailbroken now ? (the concept still confuses me)

I just don't know how the 4.3.3 SHSH blobs were saved, maybe from the guy that hacktivated it first or when I used WiFi for a few minutes (it needs to connect to the internet to save the SHSH on Cydia server, right?)

I am very happy now

Thank you very much Jmills87 for your help and I will keep you posted when I get the Gevey Sim

One last question though : what if the phone was lost or stolen ? I don't know for sure but what if that was the case ? could that cause the network to not unlock even with Gevey or something else may happen ?

I connect to iTunes normally so I guess there is nothing wrong

I hope to get network service instead of "No Service" when I get the Gevey Sim