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Mac Users: OS X 10.5.6 update prevents jailbreaking

By Matt Radford on December 16, 2008

I don’t usually repost news that’s covered elsewhere, but I thought I should let people know. Specifically this applies to Mac users with jailbroken iPhones. The latest OS X upgrade (10.5.6) does not recognise DFU mode on the iPhone.

What’s DFU? Device Firmware Upgrade is the iPhone’s “last resort” restore mode. It also means you can put the phone into DFU mode, then use a tool such as Pwnage to load custom firmware. End result? A jailbroken iPhone.

But not if you’re running the newest update from Apple.

This does not only affect jailbreakers though. Mac users whose iPhones go wrong, beyond the ability of iTunes to normally restore the iPhone, will now have to have their iPhone “professionally” repaired. I’ve personally fixed a couple of iPhones using the DFU mode, even when they seemed totally borked.

Was this done intentionally by Apple? We know that the latest MacBooks don’t recognise DFU mode. It’s impossible to say whether this was done on purpose, but it is a little fishy.

Bottom line: If you’re a Mac user who wants to jailbreak, don’t upgrade to the latest release of Leopard.

Window users are not affected…

More information is available at iSpazio.

  • chrsfrwll

    And just after your three articles advocating jailbreaking had me thinking “maybe”, along comes this news. Knew I wanted to stay legit :)

  • http://www.allaboutiphone.net James Burland

    Steve Jobs did say that it would be ‘cat and mouse’. The Leopard just landed a well placed swipe!

  • http://www.allaboutiphone.net Matt Radford

    Macsimium has some workarounds for this DFU issue: http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/macosg_iphone_dfu_workaround_on_os_1058/

    Personally, I’d avoid playing with kexts unless you know what you’re doing. Option 4 is also dodgy, as you have to download a custom firmware from an unknown source, which almost certainly violates Apple’s copyright. So that leaves using a USB hub or Windows.