[OSX-Users] Re: iPhone OS 3.1 and iTunes 9

[Daniel Thorpe]

Yeah, it's not possible to downgrade from 3.1, and it's very annoying,  
as the Internet Tethering trick doesn't work anymore either.

Jay Freeman has quite a lot to say about Apple's "phone-home" policy  
in this blog post http://www.saurik.com/id/12, which was linked to  
from daringfireball.net a little while ago. If you don't want to read  
the whole article, the takeaway for users who don't jailbreak their  
phones, but might like to downgrade a future software update, is to  
spoof Apple's signature server by adding

74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com

to your /etc/hosts file. Then do a clean restore from iTunes, and your  
iPhones ECID will be stored on the Cydia's servers, which will then  
allow you to downgrade back to 3.1 from some equally limiting/disliked  
software update. Doesn't help 3.1 users now, but might be useful in  
the future. After you've restored your phone, I'm pretty sure that you  
can comment out the line in the /etc/hosts file, as (I think) it  
messes with Genius. The article is pretty detailed, but with lots of  
Orwellian overtones.

Cheers
Dan

On 17 Sep 2009, at 17:55, JD Marsters wrote:

> For any of you who are 3G owners and who haven't yet upgraded: you  
> may want to hold your horses just a little while longer.
>
> I "upgraded" from 3.01 a couple of days ago and it was a disastrous  
> decision. Using my phone is now an exceptionally frustrating  
> experience. The UI is sluggish and it frequently locks solid for  
> several seconds. Typing for this message has been surprisingly  
> difficult. Battery life is now dire, too.
>
> Things are definitely far worse than before the upgrade and thanks  
> to their new "phone-home" reflash validation procedure I understand  
> (correct me if I'm wrong) that it's not possible to downgrade to the  
> now deauthorised 3.0.
>
> I'm sure reading this some people will be thinking, "Well it worked  
> just FINE for me so I don't know what you're whinging about! It's  
> not Apple's fault!" but I'm fairly confident that this is neither  
> user error nor exaggeration. The interwebs seem to concur.
>
> A cautionary tale, at least?
>
> JD.
>
> On 10 Sep 2009, at 11:24, Jules <sysjkf at ecs.soton.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> For those of you who happen not to know :-)
>> iTunes 9 and iPhone OS 3.1 were released last night.
>>
>> Loads of new features, including "Genius Mixes", much improved  
>> syncing control in iTunes, you can now lay out your apps in iTunes  
>> instead of on your phone's Home screen, lots of little extras.
>>
>> Mostly documented and described quite well here:
>> http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/09/first-look-tuaw-gives-iphone-os-3-1-the-hands-on-treatment/
>>
>> Also there have been a whole load of updates and improvements made  
>> to the whole iPod product line, read all about it at www.tuaw.com.
>>
>> So do a "Software Update..." from the Apple menu on your Mac, which  
>> will install iTunes 9. Then connect your iPhone, ask iTunes to  
>> check for updates and let it get on with it.
>>
>> Jules
>>
>> -- 
>> sysjkf at ecs.soton.ac.uk
>>