In this vast land of the kingdom of iPhone, there are many who feel that the stock firmware and settings of the iPhone, just aren’t enough. Thus, the “Jailbreak” was created. This gives you access to the root folders and files of the iPhone allowing for complete customization and installation of 3rd party applications.

George Hotz (aka: geohot), the original iPhone unlocker, has released a new tool called Blackra1n, that will jailbreak all Apple “touch” devices, on firmware 3.1.2. It works similar to redsn0w, but uses a different exploit than the iPhone Dev Team have used. It is said to be very fast, with no restore needed. So far, the software is only available for Windows, but a Mac version is on the way.

IMPORTANT: If you rely on having your iPhone unlocked, DO NOT USE THIS TOOL. For this tool, you must upgrade your OS, via iTunes, which in turn, upgrades your baseband. The current baseband cannot be unlocked. If you need to have your iPhone unlocked, you’ll have to wait for the iPhone Dev Team to release an update to Pwnage Tool, to jailbreak 3.1.2, to create a custom firmware that preserves the unlockable baseband.

Here’s my experience with Blackra1n:

First, I went to the Blackra1n website, and clicked the Windows logo to download Blackra1n. (OS X logo will be there, as well, once a Mac version is released). I connected my iPhone 3G to iTunes, and restored it to 3.1.2. After that was all finished, I fired up Blackra1n:

I click “Make it rain”. My iPhone 3G then is put into recovery mode, and Blackra1n says it is “Running”.

Now, what is supposed to happen is, you see the Blackra1n logo pop up on your iPhone, while the ramdisk is delivered, and the iPhone is jailbroken. The iPhone will then restart, and you get a success message.

Although there have been many success stories out there, in my case, it was not as easy as advertised. I couldn’t get it to work, at first. I tried with iTunes open, and iTunes closed. I tried quitting all iTunes processes. I tried the quick unplug/re-plug trick, and I’d get the “Done, wait for reboot”, and the “Enjoy your jailbreak”, but my iPhone wasn’t actually jailbroken. In my case, Blackrain just hung at “Running”, and I never got to see George’s face pop up on my iPhone. What finally worked for me was, quitting the iPod Service; Start Task Manager, click the Services tab, click Services button on bottom right, right lick on iPod Service, then click “Stop”. After that, it worked right away, and really does take less then 30 seconds. This is indeed the fastest jailbreak ever.

If it works for you, you will get the Blackra1n app on your iPhone. you use this to install Cydia, Icy, and/or Rock. Open up the Blackra1n app, by tapping the icon on your homescreen (Note: when Blackra1n is intalled, it will probably be on your second page):

Select which 3rd party installer you want to use. In my case I’m just sticking with Cydia. Then tap Install, in the upper right.

Once you’ve installed your 3rd party installers of choice, you can then delete the Blackra1n app. Just tap the edit icon, next to “Uninstall Blackra1n”, and select “Delete”.

We’re done! You can now open Cydia and start installing all your favourite themes and 3rd party apps. Since this jailbreak is still new, we’re not sure if all apps and themes are working. We’ve heard some reports that Winterboard is not working for some people. In my case Winterboard is working fine. As with any jailbreak, you do this at your own risk. We cannot be held responsible for any damage that may occur.

Thanks for reading. If you want, you can read more iPhone tips and tricks at my blog, Green Candy. You can also follow me on Twitter, @rorypiper.