Top 10 Tips to Help Conserve iPhone Battery Life

So, you have that shiny new iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS, and you’ve enjoyed playing with all of the really cool new features. You now have it all spec’d out with the killer apps that makes your life easier (and perhaps more fun), and you feel confident with the pocket power you now possess.

But somehow along the way your pocket power is, well, running out of power. Yes, your iPhone has now introduced you to the Kryptonite of the iPhone (and all mobile devices for that matter) – iDrain. The iPhone, thanks to its expanded capabilities, gets used more – and this additional use over a standard cell phone leads to faster battery depletion.

But fear not. There are steps to take that will prolong the run time for your iPhone, allowing you to have your cake and look it up on the web too. While some power saving tips are common sense (don’t browse the web and/or talk all day long), some things could easily be overlooked. So, as a service to our readers, we present a list of tips to help the road warrior in all of us get the most out of an iPhone charge.

1. Turn down the screen brightness. The iPhone has a nice, bright screen, but driving that backlight takes battery power. I usually keep mine at around 25% brightness, but you can easily experiment with the settings to see what works best for you, To adjust the screen brightness, go to settings/brightness and slide the control down to a setting that is acceptable

2. Adjust your poll time to check for email less frequently. The amount of time to wait before checking for new email is adjustable, and the less often you check, the less power you will use in the process. The iPhone offers settings of 15 minutes, 30 minutes, Hourly, and Manually. I usually set it for 30 minutes, with the knowledge that I can also always pull up the email client and manually check whenever it is convenient for me. However, you can set it for what works for you. It might be good to note that a longer polling period cuts down on potentially distracting email notifications as well as saving power from the notifications themselves (especially from the vibration alert). To adjust this setting, go to settings/mail and adjust the fetch time. Now, if you use a push email service, this will not be an option for you. But it has been reported that push services end up using more power, since they keep a connection open. This may be a tradeoff for the end user to decide.

3. Turn off the WiFi. Sure, it makes browsing faster to be connected to a good WiFi data source, but it uses more power in the process. Not only that, but leaving the WiFi on continues to burn through power even when you are not actively connected to a source. My advice – turn off the radio until you are in a location that has a fast WiFi connection and plan to use it for a bit. Otherwise you are writing a tiny power check every few minutes, and cashing them out hits your battery fairly hard. To adjust, go to settings/Wi-Fi and select off.

4. Turn on Auto-Lock for the screen. The iPhone has a beautiful screen, but if you don’t have Auto-Lock on it will be happy to keep that screen shining brightly until you manually turn it off. Not only is this not battery friendly, but it could lead to unexpected calls to Timbuktu thanks to a little accidental screen contact. You can adjust how long the phone will wait before Auto-locking, but the shorter the duration the greater the battery savings (and potentially the more secure the iPhone is, especially if you select an easy to remember but quick to type passcode while you are at it). To adjust this, go to settings/general and select a value for Auto-Lock.

5. Turn off the Equalizer. If you listen to music a lot, this one may be helpful. By turning off the equalizer you can save power over the entire listening session, and depending on the type of music you listen to this could be beneficial over time… Apple has suggested this for the iPod for some time now. To adjust this, go to settings/iPod and turn off the EQ.

6. Pack more juice. Just because you are on the road does not mean that you can’t have a backup power source for your iPhone. Several third party solutions are available that give you an easily pocketable power up to keep you running. For example, the 3GJuice gives you an additional 1800 mAh battery that will charge up your phone to 100% in relatively short time.

7. Take advantage of the commute time. Keep a mobile charger in the car, and plug up the phone when out for lunch or getting to a meeting location. Make it very convenient, and the action soon becomes habit, giving you a battery boost when you get to your destination. The same thing goes for keeping an extra USB cable handy when you are working – most devices now have USB ports, and installing iTunes is not required to charge the iPhone from a port.

8. Kill the vibrate. A vibration alert requires a physical process to drive it, and as you would expect this takes a chunk of power to make it happen. You can save some power by being judicious with its use. You can find this (strangely enough) at settings/sound.

9. Turn off Bluetooth. Let’s be honest, Bluetooth is great when it is in use. Wireless headsets are sweet, no doubt about it. But that connection requires an active radio to be on and listening for the headset to connect in and that requires power. By turning off the Bluetooth radio when not in use for extended periods of time you can save a little juice. This can be found at settings/general/bluetooth.

10. Update the phone often. Apple engineers are always working hard to tweak their flagship product to provide the best user experience, and these tweaks come to us through updates via iTunes. (For example, the latest 3.x update is already in beta and expected out soon.) So, if you typically do not sync via a desktop iTunes make it a point to do it on occasion and check for a new iPhone update – you may save power by doing so.

By following these tips and using a little control in the iPhone usage, you should find that getting through a typical day (or two) without a dead battery is not difficult at all. The most important thing to remember is that you are on a limited amount of power reserve when using any mobile device, and weighing your usage goes a long ways to having your device handy and charged when you need it most.

How to Use Tansee iPhone Transfer

It is essential for iPhone users to copy important data from iPhone to computer for backup purposes. Some iTunes users could not copy music files from iPhone to computer directly because iTunes blocks iPhone-to-computer song/video transfer. Luckily, Tansee iPhone Transfer, a very easy-to-use tool, is a full solution to this. With Tansee iPhone Transfer, iPhone users can transfer songs/videos from iPhone to computer easily.

Steps:

1. Download and install Tansee iPhone Transfer . You also need iTunes version 7.3 or higher installed.
2. Connect your iPhone to your computer.
3. Launch Tansee iPhone Transfer, and all the contents of your iPhone including music and videos will be automatically scanned and displayed instantly.
4. Select the photos to be transferred to your computer. The selected file will marked with red border. You can select photos by click on each one, or just drag a rectangle to select a bundle of photos. You can also select all photos by click right button of your mouse or click “File” to choose.
5. Click “Copy” button on the bottom right side to set output path and start to transfer songs or videos to your computer.

The trial version will only allow you to select the first 5 songs.

Google Keeps Supporting The iPhone

So, when the T-Mobile G1 was released a week ago and the new Android platform was introduced to the world, did you think that Google would stop supporting the iPhone? Well, it seems the answer is a resounding, “No!” Google keeps its relationship strong with Apple and its iPhone users with a new app this week.

In addition to Google Maps, which already comes with the iPhone, you can download Google Earth [iTunes link] from the App Store for free. When I first opened up the app, I immediately drew a comparison with the Earthscape [iTunes link] app which is also free. Both apps use a 3-D rendered landscape. Google Earth for the iPhone includes Wikipedia entries and photos from Panoramio. You can set it to see your longitude and latitude as well as the altitude at which you are virtually viewing the globe.

Unlike the desktop version of Google Earth, the iPhone app has no street overlay. Boo. So, basically it is a big 3-D globe with Wikipedia entries and Panoramio photos. Boo. I’m disappointed to say the least. Especially so since Earthscape has gotten quite good over many updates and has built up a photo community. Right now, you cannot take pictures within the Google Earth application.

Google Earth also has some bugs. Near my house, there is a weird 3-D wall along my street which doesn’t exist in real life (see picture, right). Looks like a bad render to me. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go away. Boo.

Google Earth does have some interesting features that even Earthscape doesn’t have. To see Google Earth in 3-D, you tilt your iPhone. It has a Google Street View effect, although you can only tilt up and down. Also, clicking the compass in the upper right corner makes the top of your screen north.

Hopefully, most of my complaints will be addressed in future updates. In the meantime, go ahead and download BOTH Google Earth and Earthscape and let us know which app you like better.

Now Google Earth for the iPhone is Here

I just downloaded Google Earth and so far it seems pretty nice. It takes advantage of both the Accelerometer and the GPS in the iPhone 3G. It is stunning. Tilting the iPhone allows you to move through the terrain and works pretty well. The GPS allows you to find your current location and see the Panoramio geolocations around you. And although not a replacement for Google Maps because you can’t see the street names, it is pretty cool.

Its at the App Store [iTunes Link]. Here is a link to the YouTube video demonstration.

Here is what the Google Blog had to say:

Even before we introduced Google Earth back in 2005, the team had long dreamed of being able to carry the Earth around in your pocket. Well, today that dream becomes a reality as we introduce Google Earth for iPhone and iPod touch. With just a swipe of your finger you can fly from Peoria to Paris to Papua New Guinea, or anywhere in between. It may be small, but it brings all the power of Google Earth to the palm of your hand, including all of the same global imagery and 3D terrain. You can even browse any of our 8 million Panoramio photos or read Wikipedia articles.

With Google Earth for iPhone, you can:
• Tilt your iPhone to adjust your view to see mountainous terrain
• View the Panoramio layer and browse the millions of geo-located photos from around the world
• View geo-located Wikipedia articles
• Use the ‘Location’ feature to fly to your current location
• Search for cities, places and business around the globe with Google Local Search

It’s available today in 18 languages and 22 countries in the iTunes App Store. To learn more, check out this video tour and read the blog post on the Lat Long Blog

LockDockBar is a free alternative to IntelliScreen

LockDockBar is an application that displays 4 icons on your locked screen: SMS, Calls, Emails, Calendar. The app displays the notification badges for each app so if for example you have a new email, you will see this notification next to the email icon. From there, instead of unlocking the phone and launching the mail app, you simply tap the mail icon from your lock screen and it takes you there directly.

iPhone Tips and Tricks: Using the Phone

Handling Incoming Calls

If you would like to silence an incoming call, just press the sleep/wake button on the top of the phone. If, instead, you would like to send the call directly to your voicemail, press this button twice.

Entering Pauses To Automated Number Series Dialing.

A lot of times you want to automate dialing a series of numbers. We do this all the time for calling cards, extensions, etc. For example, I have a telecom number at work and I want to dial the main number, wait a second or two and then dial the passcode for me. On my blackberry it was an X to insert a pause, but on iPhone it is a comma. Here is how it looks in my contact: 18005555555,,1234567. The two commas created a long enough pause for me to make this work for me.

Avoiding 411 charges

Instead of calling regular 411 to get information (and an extra charge on your phone bill), Google by voice by calling 1-800-GOOG-411 to get a street address or phone number. Some Lifehacker readers say GOOG 411 works better than others; if you haven’t tried it, here’s a YouTube clip (courtesy of Google) on how to give it a try

Avoid Calls from certain People using silent ringtone

Do you have people calling you that you want to ignore? Create a silent ringtone and make a contact for them and set the ringtone to silent.

Trick Automated Phone Bots into Thinking your Phone is Dead.

If you’ve got automated phone marketers or political campaigns or debt collectors ringing your phone at all hours, trick the system into thinking your phone’s dead. Add the U.S. Special Information Tone signal for “vacant circuit”to the beginning of your voicemail greeting to automatically unsubscribe your phone number from bot call lists.

Getting your Voicemail when Roaming

If you are roaming and visual voicemail is unavailable, you can call your own phone number and get your voicemail the old fashioned way.

1. Enter your 10-digit wireless number
2. Interrupt your personal greeting by pressing the “*” key
3. Enter your voice mail password
4. Use the standard keys to manage your messages. (7 to delete, 33 to skip to the end, etc)

Avoid Roaming Charges While Traveling

to avoid roaming charges, set your phone to “unconditional call forwarding” that way, your phone will NOT ring while you are roaming (calls go STRAIGHT to voicemail). to do that, follow these instructions:
# On your phone, dial *#62# and click Send.
# Phone number of your voicemail will be displayed.
# Write down the number (including +1)
# Dial **21*+1xxxyyyzzzz*11# and hit Send. +1xxxyyyzzzz is the number you wrote down previously to forward your calls automatically to your voice mail.
# Dial *#21# to verify that the new settings are active.
# When no longer desired, dial ##002# to reset back to normal.

Copying voicemail messages to your computer

If you want to save that favorite voicemail message to your PC so you can save it for all time, follow these steps.

1. First, if you haven’t already, jailbreak your iPhone 2.0 (here’s the Windows method). This will install an OpenSSH server on your device that lets you transfer files from it to your computer.
2. On the iPhone, under Settings->Wi-Fi, select the network you have joined to view connection details. Write down the phone’s IP address.
3. Fire up your favorite FTP client. (I like the not-free but great Transmit, butthe free FileZilla works, too.)
4. Using your FTP program, connect to the device’s IP address with username root and password alpine (unless you’ve changed your password). You’ll need to use SFTP (secure FTP), not plain FTP.
5. Once you’re connected to the device, browse to/private/var/mobile/Library/Voicemail/ to view the list of VM files. They’re saved as .AMR files, which QuickTime can play. Transfer them to your computer and you’re done.

Create Speed dial icons for your screen using Qlink

A very nice person created a web site that lets you associate a phone number with a web page so that you can create a Homepage bookmark that dials a number. Click here for instructions.

Using Favorites to Create a Speed Dial List

Most people have figured this one out, but I recently talked to two people lately who hadn’t put it all together. You can set up your phone so that pressing the home button twice (In Settings/General/Home Button/Phone Favorites) brings up your contact list Favorites list. This makes dialing a number simply pressing the home button twice and then selecting one of your favorites in the list.

Reordering Favorites in Phone on iPhone

Favorites are usually displayed in the order they’re added to the Favorites list. But they can be reordered in whatever way you want. It’s as easy as drag and drop.

1. In the Favorites screen, press Edit.
2. Tap the three-line icon and hold it.
3. The favorite you’ve selected will become active (when active, it appears to be slightly above the other favorites).
4. Drag the favorite to the position in the list you want it to have and let it go.
5. Click “done” in the top left and your favorites will be reordered.

Secret Service Numbers

Apple iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.1 OS jailbreak guide

With the iPhone Dev Team’s release of the Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 2.1 giving arm-chair iPhone hackers the tool they need to jailbreak and activate their iPhone 3G and any iPhone running the newest iPhone 2.0.1 2.1 OS, there are likely mobs of jailbreak-fiends out there looking to hook up your brand-new iPhone 3G or updated iPhone with those free third-party applications, a la the Installer.app.

The iPhone Dev Team has done their best to ensure that the iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0.1 2.1 OS jailbreak process is as simple as possible and shouldn’t need too much in the way of DIY tutorials or instructions, but that doesn’t mean all you iPhoners out there don’t want a Pwnage Tool 2.0.1 2.0.2 2.1 tutorial.

Follow these PwnageTool 2.0.2 2.1 usage instructions to avoid the possibility of ending up with a glossy-backed iBrick 3G. This tutorial is only meant for Mac users (Windows tutorial to follow shortly). Keep in mind that only the iPhones running iPhone 2.0.1 2.1 OS can be jailbroken, activated, and unlocked. The iPhone 3G cannot be unlocked at this point.

So without further ado, here are the instructions you will need to get your iPhone 3G and updated iPhone jailbroken with Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 (for the purposes of this PwnageTool 2.0.1 2.0.2 2.1 jailbreak guide, we’re going to assume you want to jailbreak an iPhone 3G on a Mac):

• Familiarize yourself with the Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 2.1 jailbreak instruction video at the bottom of this DIY tutorial
• Backup your iPhone 3G with iTunes
• Quit iTunes
• Disconnect iPhone 3G from computer
• Make sure your iPhone is not connected to your computer
• Download Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 2.1 here or update your current Pwnage Tool installation to Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 2.1 accordingly (That is, once the Dev Team pushes out the updates through Pwnage Tool’s integrated software update utility)
  • Do NOT use Pwnage Tool 2.0 or Pwnage Tool 2.0.1 or Pwnage Tool 2.0.2
  • Download Pwnage Tool 2.1 to your desktop
• Download iPhone 2.1 OS for your iPhone 3G here. Dowload iPhone 2.1 OS for your original iPhone here.
  • Use Firefox to download the .ipsw file
  • DO NOT use Safari
  • Download to your desktop
• Move the firmware file from your desktop to your iPhone Software Updates directory (~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates)
• Start the Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 2.1
  • Click “Ok” on Copyright prompt
• Choose “Expert Mode” in top left corner
  • Choosing the “Simple Mode” allows you to take the easy way out and circumvent much of this PwnageTool 2.0.2 2.1 jailbreak guide – you may want to choose this option if you want to just go with default settings. If not, continue with the rest of this jailbreak tutorial
• Pick your iPhone version
  • Pick the iPhone 3G on the far right
  • Click the blue arrow in the lower right corner
• Allow Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 2.1 to search for firmware bundle
  • If you placed the firmware file in the correct location, Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 2.1 will locate the firmware file automatically – give it time to do its thing
• In this next step, you’ll want to make sure you select only those options that you inted to change. Here are the recommended options:
  • General
    • Click the blue arrow in the lower right corner
• When you are taken to the “General” options screen:
  • Official iPhone customers (AT&T iPhone customer in US) will want to:
    • UNCHECK the “Activate” box
  • Unofficial iPhone customers will want to:
    • CHECK the “Activate” box
  • Click the blue arrow in the lower right corner
• Skip over the “Cydia” options screen
  • Click the blue arrow in the lower right corner
• When you are taken to the “Custom Packages” options screen:
  • Make sure the “Cydia Installer” box is checked
  • Click the blue arrow in the lower right corner
• When you are taken to the “Custom Logos” options screen:
  • Decide which logos you would like to use
    • Uncheck the boxes to use the default iPhone boot logos
  • You may also browse for custom logo files
  • Click the blue arrow in the lower right corner
• Click “Build”
  • Wait for your custom .ipsw iPhone firmware restore file to be built
  • Click the blue arrow in the lower right corner
• Save the custom restore file to your desktop (default location)
  • File will be named “iPhone1,2_2.1_5F136_Custom_Restore.ipsw” – leave it alone
• When asked if the iPhone has been Pwned before, choose the appropriate option
  • iPhone 3G:
    • “NO”
  • iPhone (never Pwned – No pineapple logo):
    • “NO”
  • iPhone (previously Pwned – Has pineapple logo):
    • “YES”
• Connect your iPhone
• Follow directions to enter “Restore Mode”
  • To put iPhone in to Restore mode, follow these steps (same steps as outlined by Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 2.1) – you can just follow on-screen instructions and ignore this section of the guide:
    • Turn off iPhone by holding down “Power/Sleep” button located on the top edge of your iPhone (you may “Slide to Power Off,” or you can just keep holding the Power/Sleep button until your iPhone powers down)
    • Hold down the “Home” button (the only button on the front-face of the iPhone) while plugging in USB cable (or iPhone dock)
    • Keep holding that “Home” button
• If you followed the directions correctly, you will be rewarded with a blue window exclaiming your success – this is a good thing
  • Click “OK”
• You will see “I Can Haz Success”
  • Quit Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 2.1 by hitting the Apple+Q keys or from the “PwnageTool”
• Fire up iTunes
  • You will be told your iPhone needs to be restored
  • Click “OK”
• Option+Click Restore (VERY IMPORTANT)
  • Make sure you hold down the “Option” key on the keyboard while clicking on “Restore”
• Choose the “iPhone1,2_2.1_5F136_Custom_Restore.ipsw” from your desktop
  • Click “Open”
• Wait
• Wait some more
• After some more waiting, you will be told that your iPhone that your iPhone has been restored
  • Click “OK”
• Disconnect iPhone AFTER iTunes recognizes it
• Restore backup of iPhone data

Your iPhone 3G is now fully jailbroken with third-party jailbreak application support. You may use jailbreak applications and AppStore applications alongside eachother.

Happy iPhone-ing!

UPDATE
This guide has been updated to reflect the release of PwnageTool 2.0.2 that is compatible with the iPhone 2.0.1 OS and preserves the older baseband firmware (making it more likely that a future SIM unlock solution will still work).

UPDATE 1
This guide has been updated to reflect the release of PwnageTool 2.1 that is compatible with the latest iPhone 2.1 OS and preserves the older baseband firmware (making it more likely that a future SIM unlock solution will still work).

In this updated guide, you will see all references to Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 edited to reflect the usage of the latest version of Pwnage Tool – Pwnage Tool 2.1

Click here to view guide video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7RCQwV7qh0

PwnageTool 2.1 Tutorial for Mac OS X

That’s a lot of work for me this morning with all these news falling… I just posted about a tutorial for QuickPwn 1.1 for Mac OS X and now I’m gonna show you how to jailbreak your iPhone 3G with PwnageTool. This tutorial (or guide) will show you how to use PwnageTool 2.1 and how to update your iPhone to 2.1.

Before we start, make sure you backup your iPhone in iTunes and also download your iPhone firmware from here and save it to your desktop.

1. Download PwnageTool 2.1 from here.
2. in iTunes, go to the summary tab and download (do not update!) the latest iPhone firmware 2.1
3. Launch PwnageTool 2.1
4. Select your device and click “Next”
5. Select the right iPhone firmware
6. You will then get a message that says “We will now create an .ispw file that you can use to restore your iPhone with iTunes. This file will be placed on your desktop. Do you want to continue?”. Click YES
7. The it will ask “Do you have an iPhone contract that would normally activate with iTunes?”. If you are a legit AT&T customer, click YES, if not, click NO
8. Then wait while PwnageTool 2.1 builds the custom .ispw file. It could take a few minutes.
9. Enter your password when asked to. Then wait for the custom .ipsw to be built
10. The it will ask if your iPhone has been Pwned before. Click YES or NO
11. Turn off your iPhone
12. You will then get a message saying: “Close the PwnageTool application, put your iPhone into recovery mode, start iTunes and restore with your custom firmware bundle”.
13. Close PwnageTool
14. Put your iPhone into recovery mode (Google it or go to YouTube to see how to do this)
15. Start iTunes. iTunes will say “iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes.” Click OK
16. Do NOT just click “Restore”. Hold the OPTION key + click “Restore”
17. With Finder, select the Custom .ipsw file PwnageTool created on your desktop
18. Select whether to set up as a new iPhone or restore your it from a backup. I recommend setting it up as a new phone. You will lose all your contacts and everything but these can be synced again later on. Restoring from a backup sometimes created problems.
19. You’re done!

How was this PwnageTool 2.1 guide? Hope that helped!

How to install ipa files on iPhone

what are ipa files?

Files with the extension .IPA are application files used by iPod Touch and iPhones..IPA application files can include: games, finance, health, etc. and are usually downloaded from the official iTunes App store..IPA files are essentially zipped/compressed archive files utilising an Apple specific file extension, by changing the extension to .ZIP and unzipping in a program such as WinZip some idea of the files contents can be gained.

You can either look at this tutorial or watch one of the videos below.

How to install .ipa files on iPhone or iPod Touch?

How to use the 1.1.3 jailbreak on any iPhone (Mac/Windows)

We’ve compiled a complete instruction set for turning any iPhone revision (except for those with software/firmware 1.1.3 out of the box) into a jailbroken iPhone running software/firmware 1.1.3. The process is lengthy and requires some dexterity. When you’re done, you will have a jailbroken 1.1.3 iPhone that retains the capability to use Apple’s official application signing mechanism (“Nikita”) and does not use any copyrighted code.

Before beginning this guide, make sure you are within range of a usable Wi-Fi network and connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC.

• If you’re on a standard (non-jailbroken) 1.1.3 iPhone, start with step 2.
• If you’re on a standard (non-jailbroken) 1.1.2 iPhone, start with step 1.
• If you’re on a standard (non-jailbroken) 1.1.1 iPhone, start with step 1.
• If you’re on a jailbroken iPhone running software 1.1.1, start with step 7.
• If you’re on a jailbroken iPhone running software 1.1.2, start with step 8.

If you have problems with the jailbreak, see this article.

Step 1: Update your iPhone software/firmware 1.1.3

If your iPhone is already running software/firmware 1.1.3, there’s nothing to do here.

If not, launch iTunes, select your iPhone from the left-hand pane and press the “Update” button. This will download the 1.1.3 update and install it your iPhone.

Step 2: Download iPhone software/firmware 1.1.1

Click this link to download iPhone software/firmware 1.1.1: iPhone1,1_1.1.1_3A109a_Restore.ipsw

Make sure that your system doesn’t automatically decompress this file after downloading it. If you’re on a Mac using Safari, go to the “Preferences,” click “General,” then uncheck “Open Safe files after downloading.”)

Step 3: Put your iPhone in recovery mode Hold down the sleep/wake and home buttons simultaneously until the iPhone screen goes black, then after about 2 seconds, release the sleep/wake button but continue holding the home button. The intended result is that your iPhone screen remains black, and iTunes delivers a message stating that it has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. If that doesn’t happen, you need to try again.

If your iPhone’s screen turns back on and you see cable pointing to an iTunes logo, your iPhone is not in the correct mode. You will need to click the “Restore” button in iTunes and re-apply the iPhone 1.1.3 update, then try this step again.

Step 4: Downgrade your iPhone to software/firmware 1.1.1

1. With your iPhone’s screen black and iTunes displaying a message that it has detected an iPhone in recovery mode, click the “OK” button to close the error message dialog box.
2. If you’re on a Mac, hold the “Option” key and click the “Restore” button, then select the file you downloaded in step 2.
3. If you’re on a PC, hold down the “Shift” key and click the “Restore” button, then select the file you downloaded in step 2.
4. This will apply the old firmware. At the end of the process you’ll receive an error message (either 1013 or 1015) stating that the iPhone could not be restored. This is normal. Click the “OK” button.
5. Now, apply the 1.1.1 firmware/software again. Hold the “Option” key on a Mac or “Shift” key on a PC and click “Restore,” and again select the file you downloaded in step 2.
6. If you immediately get an error message “1″ when attempting to apply firmware 1.1.1, your iPhone is in the wrong mode. Go back to step 3.

Step 5: Kick your iPhone out of recovery mode

If you are on a Mac, download iNdependence, and launch it. Wait a minute or so, and your iPhone will be pulled out of recovery mode.

If you are on a PC, download iBrickr and launch it. Wait a minute or so, and your iPhone will be pulled out of recovery mode.

[Once your iPhone is out of recovery mode, your iPhone will display the "Activate iPhone" screen with a message stating "Incorrect SIM." Quit iNdependence or iBrickr.]

Step 6: Bypass activation and jailbreak 1.1.1

Your iPhone, even if it is locked to AT&T’s network, will not be able to activate through iTunes at this point. Instead, you need to temporarily bypass activation. This is the trickiest part of the process. Follow these steps:

1. Slide the “slide for emergency” slider
2. Enter *#307# and press “Call.” Your iPhone will start to ring.
3. The screen should quickly show the dialer again, and you will be able to edit the numbers. Tap the “X” button to delete all the characters (*#307#) and enter “0″ then tap “Call” again.
4. Tap “Answer”
5. Tap “Hold”
6. Tap “Decline”
7. You should now see the iPhone’s normal dialer.
8. Tap “Contacts” at the bottom of the screen.
9. Add a new contact and name it whatever you want.
10. Tap “Add new URL,” and enter prefs: (that’s the word prefs with a colon after it). Save the URL.
11. Tap “Add new URL” again and enter http://jailbreakme.com. Save the URL.
12. Save the contact.
13. Now tap the URL “prefs:” that you just created. This will launch the iPhone’s Settings application.
14. Now tap “General,” then “Auto-Lock” and change the setting to “Never”
15. Scroll up and tap “Wi-Fi.” Select your network and enter a password if necessary.
16. Press the iPhone’s home button. You will be back at the “Activate” screen.
17. Slide the emergency slider and tap “0″ then tap Call.
18. Tap Answer.
19. Tap Hold.
20. Tap Decline.
21. You will now be back at the Contacts screen.
22. Tap the contact you created before, and this time tap the http://jailbreakme.com URL. This will launch Safari and access the jailbreakme page.
23. Tap “Install AppSnapp” on that page. You will be return to the “Activate” screen. Do not touch anything at this point — wait until your iPhone automatically restarts.
24. You will see the “Activate” screen again. At this point, you can slide your iPhone to unlock it and see the normal home screen. You can now access all of your iPhone functions except for the phone.

[If any part of this step fails, turn your iPhone off by holding the sleep/wake button until the power off slider appears and sliding it, then turn the iPhone back on and try again.]

Step 7: Upgrade to jailbroken 1.1.2

1. On your iPhone launch “Installer” from the home screen. Allow the application to update, then re-launch it.
2. In Installer, tap the “Install” button at the bottom of the screen, then select the category “Tweaks 1.1.1″
3. Select the package “OktoPrep” and tap the “Install” button. After it installs, you should see a message stating that you are ready to upgrade to 1.1.2.
4. Download the iPhone 1.1.2 jailbreak package on your Mac or PC and the iPhone 1.1.2 firmware package.
5. Launch iTunes if it isn’t already open. You may need to restore your iPhone from backup. If you see the message “A new iPhone software version (1.1.3) is available,” click the “Don’t Install” button.
6. Select your iPhone from the left-hand pane (it may be named “untitled playlist”)
7. If you’re on a Mac, hold the “Option” key and click the “Update” button (not “Restore”), then select the file iPhone1,1_1.1.2_3B48b_Restore.ipsw you just downloaded.
8. If you’re on a PC, hold down the “Shift” key and click the “Update” button (not “Restore”), then select the file iPhone1,1_1.1.2_3B48b_Restore.ipsw you just downloaded.
9. Once the update process is done, you will again see the Error 1015 or 1013 message, and your iPhone will be in recovery mode.
10. Launch iNdependence (on a Mac) or iBrickr (on a PC) again, and wait for your phone to be kicked out of recovery mode. You will again see an activation screen (a bit different from the previous one).
11. Quit iNdependence or iBrickr.
12. Quit iTunes
13. Open the 1.1.2-jailbreak folder you downloaded earlier in this step on your Mac or PC.
14. If you’re on a Mac, launch jailbreak.jar inside the 1.1.2-jailbreak folder (make sure you have the latest version of Java installed).
15. If you’re on a PC, launch windows.bat inside the 1.1.2-jailbreak folder.
16. Click the “Jailbreak!” button. This process will take a few minutes.
17. Your iPhone should restart normally and go to the “Slide to Unlock” screen. If it does not, again launch iNdependence (on a Mac) or iBrickr (on a PC) to kick the iPhone out of recovery mode again. It may restart twice, and then should take you back to the “Slide to Unlock” screen.

Step 8: Update to jailbroken 1.1.3

[UPDATE: There is now a file available through Installer.app that automates the below procedure. Try it first, but return to these steps if the automatic method is not successful]

1. On your iPhone, tap “Settings.” Go to “General,” tap “Auto-Lock” and make sure it is set to “Never.”
2. Press the home button to go back to the home screen and launch Installer.
3. Tap the “System” category, then install both “BSD Subsystem” and “OpenSSH”
4. Press the home button to go back to the home screen.
5. Tap “Settings” then “WiFi,” then press the small blue arrow next to the the WiFi network to which you are connected. Take note of your iPhone’s IP address.
6. On your Mac or PC, download the 1.1.3 jailbreak package and expand it (it will be a folder when it’s expanded)

If you’re on a Mac, launch the Terminal, located in /Applications/Utilities, then do the following:

1. Type cd then a space.
2. Drag the folder “Jailbreak-1.1.3″ you just downloaded onto the Terminal window and press return. Your command should look like this: cd /Users/username/Downloads/Jailbreak-1.1.3
3. Press return
4. Type scp -r ./* root@YOURIPHONEIPADDRESS:/ (where YOURIPHONEIPADDRESS is your iPhone’s IP address)
5. You should now have a command that looks like this: scp -r ./* root@10.0.1.2:/
6. When asked if you are sure you want to continue, type yes and press return again.
7. When prompted for the password, type alpine and press return. The files will transfer to your iPhone.
8. Now type ssh root@YOURIPHONEIPADDRESS and press return
9. When prompted for the password, again enter alpine and press return.
10. You will now be SSH’d into the iPhone.
11. Type cd ../../ and press return.
12. Type sh install.sh and press return.
13. Allow the process to take place (it takes quite a while — up to 15 minutes). When it’s done and your device reboots (it may also take several minutes to boot, and reboot several times), you will have a jailbroken 1.1.3 iPhone.

If you’re on a PC, download and launch WinSCP then do the following

1. Establish a new connection using WinSCP. Enter your iPhone’s IP address for the “Host name” (user: root and password: alpine); use the file protocol SCP.
2. Navigate to the root directory of your iPhone (/) and transfer all of the files in the folder Jailbreak-1.1.3 from your PC to this directory.
3. Download and install Putty.
4. In Putty, type ssh root@YOURIPHONEIPADDRESS and press return.
5. When prompted for the password, again enter alpine and press return.
6. You will now be SSH’d into the iPhone.
7. Type cd ../../ and press return.
8. Type sh install.sh and press return.
9. Allow the process to take place (it takes quite a while — up to 15 minutes). When it’s done and your device reboots (it may also take several minutes to boot, and reboot several times), you will have a jailbroken 1.1.3 iPhone.

[If your connection is interrupted or you get another error and your iPhone refuses to boot put your iPhone in recovery mode and start again with step 3. Or, if you want to give up on jailbreaking, put your iPhone in recovery mode and just hit the "Restore" button (without holding shift of option) in iTunes to bring your iPhone back to a normal 1.1.3 state. Make sure to quit iNdependence or iBrickr before doing this.]

Tether your iPhone with PDAnet

According to PhoneScoop, “tethering is connecting your phone to a laptop or similar data device using a data cable, usually for the purpose of connecting to the Internet on the laptop, via the phone’s wireless connection to the cell phone network. Carriers usually charge more money for accessing the Internet via tethering, as opposed to on the phone itself. Sometimes this is enforced via technology in the phone, although often it is simply the honor system and not strictly enforced”.

In our case, AT&T clearly doesn’t want you to tether your iPhone. Strangely, they don’t even have such a plan you could subscribe to in order to use your iPhone as a modem. So to make it clear, tethering your iPhone is against AT&T Terms Of Services.

At first there was Netshare, that quickly was banned from the App Store. Then iPhoneModem came along but we haven’t heard much about them… Given how uneasy it was to set it up, I didn’t even give it a try.

But here is some hope from a new app called PDAnet by June Fabrics. PDAnet is actually not new as it has been one of the most popular software for Windows Mobile phones and Palm OS phones. It is now ported to the iPhone! The 1.2 version turns your iPhone into a true WiFi router for your computer (MAC or PC), and allows your laptop to go online wirelessly through the 3G network on the iPhone.

What are the benefit of usint PDAnet to tether your iPhone?

• full Internet access at 3G speed (if available) on your laptop
• easy setup
• works with Windows, Mac, and Linux
• ability to use other applications while using PADnet

How to set up PDAnet?

This is a PDAnet tutorial for Windows XP. I assume steps are very simmilar on Vista. I don’t have a Mac so I can’t help you set up PDAnet on a Mac. I also posted a quick video on YouTube. The video + this tutorial should help you install PDAnet without any issue.

First, you need to create an ad-hoc network.

1. Go to Control Panel >Network Connections
2. Right click on “Wireless Network Connection” and select “Properties”
3. Select the “Wireless Networks” tab
4. Click “Add”
5. Give a name to your network in the SSID box, ie. “iPhone”
6. For security purposes, uncheck the box that says “The key is provided for me automatically”
7. Enter a “Network Key” and confirm it (this will make sure no one gets on your network)
8. Check “This is a computer-to-computer (ad-hoc) network; wire less access points are not used”
9. Click “OK”
10. On your iPhone, go to Settings > WiFi and your newly create network should show up, unless your computer is already connected to a router. Select your network and enter the WEP key if you set it up
11. On your PC, go to “View Wireless Networks”
12. Select the network you created
13. Now it should just try to establish the connection but not connect; it’s ok
14. On your iPhone, open PDAnet
15. Turn WiFi router ON
16. That’s it!

Ok, now, the not-so-cool stuff… Although it looks pretty easy, it took me a while to have it set up. For some reason, my “iPhone” network wouldn’t show up on my iPhone in WiFi settings. After doing the steps over and over again for like 20 minutes, it finally worked. I’m not sur

e what I was doing wrong.

The way I did it is that I completely deleted my home WiFi network from both my PC and my iPhone, so there was no conflict between my ad-hoc network and my Wifi network. It now works like a charm.It is very very fast too. I was actually amazed at how fast it was.

PDAnet will drain your battery like crazy so you may want to plug it to your computer to charge the battery. When you’re done using it, don’t forget to turn it off…

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