MostlyGeek

*Update*

Omri posted a comment before I even finished updating the blog post. I guess Fring won’t work on the 2.0 firmware. So at least this post has instructions and links on updating your jailbroken iPhone to the latest firmware.

I’m going to be anxiously awaiting for Fring on the 2.0.x firmware.

*Update #2*

PwnageTool 2.0.3.1 worked successfully with the 2.0.2 firmware for the iPhone 3G. The backup in iTunes didn’t restore however so I had to reinstall everything from scratch again. The apps I got from Appstore automatically reinstalled themselves.

*End Updates*

Well I’ve had my iPhone 3G from Rogers for a few weeks now and I love it! Still not a fan of Rogers however. Anyways, I jailbroke it about two days after I got it. The iPhone is much more useful once it’s been opened up. I did brick it on my first attempt but after unchecking the “Active the phone” option everything went smoothly.

Usually I don’t like to make changes to things that work but I really wanted to try out Fring, a free VOIP app for the iPhone. Unfortunately there were a few snags:

1. The original PwnageTool didn’t support installer.app.
2. Fring is installed through Installer.

Fortunately yesterday the iphone dev team, creators of PwnageTool, released PwnageTool 2.0.3.1 which includes a beta version of installer.app. While I hate to blow away all tweaks, it’d be worth it if I can get Fring to work and make skypeOut calls.

Hopefully I don’t brick my phone again. I’ll update this post as I upgrade with a jailbroken firmware and hopefully get Fring to work.

Here are the basic tools you need:

1. One 3G iPhone
2. PwnageTool 2.0.3.1 (sha1 checksum: a3faf5c074d5556a40ce4c7678a51995b5767073)
3. iPhone 2.0.2 5C1 Firmware
4. Instructions from Lifehacker (I *heart* lifehacker)

Since my iPhone was jailbroken before I clicked yes on this screen:

PwnageTool said to put my iPhone into recovery mode, then go to iTunes to restore using my custom firmware.

Getting the phone into recovery mode wasn’t so hard. Just hold down the sleep/wake button for a few seconds and then slide the red slider to turn the phone off. Press and hold the home button, plug the iPhone into your computer and iTunes should discover your phone in recovery mode. Instruction credits to iPhone Alley.

In iTunes this funny message popped up. I just clicked Check and the expected recovery mode notification appeared. So far so good.

Then in iTunes, hold down the option key and click Restore. Holding down the option key allows you to choose the custom firmware you built. After that point iTunes will load the new firmware on your iPhone.