Timeline

2010

August

• August 12 -- Saurik releases the first version of PDF Patcher, a tweak that actually installs Apple's patch for the malformed PDF files exploit (used by Star's first payload) without updating the iOS. This makes updating to iOS 4.0.2 or iOS 3.2.2 completely useless for jailbreakers, since those versions were made only to patch that.
• August 11 -- Apple releases iOS 4.0.2 for iPhone/iPod touch and iOS 3.2.2 for iPad, patching the exploits Star uses. Ultrasn0w's exploit remains, since there's no baseband update on those versions.
• August 3 -- Just before midnight in planetbeing's timezone ultrasn0w has been released by the iPhone Dev Team to unlock the iPhone 4.
• August 1 -- comex releases Star, a jailbreak for all iDevices with firmwares 3.1.2 through 4.0.1.

July

• July 30 -- iPhone 4 is released in major countries (second wave).
• July 26 -- Jailbreaking is now officially legal in the U.S.A.: EFF Wins New Legal Protections for Cell Phone Jailbreakers and Unlockers
• July 15 -- Apple releases 4.0.1 firmware

June

• June 24 -- iPhone 4 is launched.
• June 22 -- iPhone Dev Team releases PwnageTool 4.0 and later 4.0.1 for all devices on 4.0 except those with newer bootroms (some iPod touch 2G and iPhone 3GS devices, and all iPod touch 3G and newer devices).
• June 21 -- iPhone Dev Team releases redsn0w 0.9.5 to jailbreak 4.0 on iPhone 3G and iPhone touch 2G (old bootrom).
• June 21 -- iPhone Dev Team releases ultrasn0w 0.93, an unlock for baseband firmwares 4.26.08, 5.11.07, 5.12.01, and 5.13.04.
• June 21 -- Apple releases 4.0 firmware
• June 19 -- geohot holds a speech at the Nuit du Hack

May

• May 3 -- Windows version of Spirit has been updated to not require Windows 98 compatibility mode to run and fixed a photo deletion issue.
• May 2 -- comex releases Spirit, an untethered jailbreak for all iDevices with firmware 3.1.2 through 3.2.

April

• April 3 -- Apple releases the iPad.

Feb

• Feb 12 -- sherif_hashim discovers AT+XAPP Vulnerability and passes it to MuscleNerd, an elite member of the iPhone Dev Team
• Feb 2 -- Apple releases 3.1.3 firmware closing usb_control_msg(0x21, 2) vulnerability used by blackra1n, redsn0w, et. al.

2009

November

• November 3 -- geohot releases blackra1n RC3, a software jailbreak for all devices. Includes a new unlock for baseband 5.11.07 called blacksn0w and is also noticeably faster than previous versions.

October

• October 11 -- geohot releases blackra1n RC1, a 30 second software jailbreak for all devices, including a tethered jailbreak for the iPod touch 3G.

September

• September 24 -- iH8sn0w discovers the AT+XEMN crash independently.
• September 9 -- The iPod touch 3G with S5L8922 processor is released. iPod touch 2G units continue shipping, but with a new bootrom. iPhone 3GS units also begin shipping with a new bootrom. These are no longer vulnerable to the 0x24000 Segment Overflow.
• Firmware 3.1/3.1.1 (7C144/7C145) Released to the Public. Firmware closes iBoot Environment Variable Overflow and AT+XLOG + AT+FNS Baseband Exploits.

July

• July 14 -- geohot releases purplesn0w, a software unlock for the X-Gold 608 using the same exploit as ultrasn0w, but handled differently. Minutes later, an explanation and source code was posted.
• July 7 -- The iPhone Dev Team updates redsn0w and ultrasn0w to version 0.8, now with iPhone 3GS support. Saurik also updates WinterBoard to support the iPhone 3GS.
• July 3 -- geohot releases purplera1n, a software jailbreak for the iPhone 3GS.

June

• June 28 -- geohot posts pictures on his blog of the first fully jailbroken iPhone 3GS.
• June 25 -- It's discovered that iPhone 3GS is vulnerable to the 0x24000 Segment Overflow.
• June 24 -- The iPhone Dev Team releases ultrasn0w, an unlock for X-Gold 608 thanks to a new exploit discovered by Oranav.
• June 23 -- geohot announces he's found a new exploit in iBoot he calls purplera1n.
• June 19 -- Release of iPhone 3GS to the public and the release of PwnageTool 3.0 and redsn0w for jailbreaking devices running firmware 3.0
• June 17 -- Release of firmware 3.0 to the public.
• June 8 -- Apple announces the iPhone 3GS.

March

• March 10 -- The untethered jailbreak for the iPod touch 2G is released thanks to the combined work of chronic, CPICH, posixninja, pod2g, ius, planetbeing, MuscleNerd, and co. after being leaked and sold by NitroKey. To prevent users wasting their money on a stolen exploit, the Hybrid DevTeam decided to release it immediately.

January

• January 31 -- The iPhone Dev Team released a redsn0w Lite, a tethered jailbreak for the iPod touch 2G. It combines the ARM7 Go vulnerability with the well-established pwnage flow for other Apple mobile devices. It was bundled in a way that will allow usage on the 2.2.1 firmware through uploading the ARM7 Go vulnerable 2.1.1 iBoot to the device while in DFU mode.
• January 29 -- Apple releases 2.2.1 firmware, closing the AT+stkprof exploit
• January 25 -- 0wnboot is released to chronicdev google code page, thanks to AriX, chronic, CPICH, westbaer, ius, pod2g, the rest of the iPod devel crew on IRC, and to the #iphone-hax lab rats. Within days, the AriX and the chronic dev team got a ramdisk booting for a tethered jailbreak.
• January 17 -- MuscleNerd of the iPhone Dev Team shows a video demo of the first jailbroken iPod touch 2G.
• January 16 -- ARM7 Go hole disclosed where else but here on The iPhone Wiki, for developers to poke and prod at
• January 15 -- The iPhone Dev Team tweets the vfdecrypt key for the iPod touch 2G 2.2 firmware, demonstrating for the first time that unsigned code can now be run on that device.
• January 1 -- The iPhone Dev Team releases yellowsn0w 0.9 beta for baseband 02.28.00.

2008

December

• December 27 -- 25C3 presentation "Hacking the iPhone"
• December 21 -- MuscleNerd, of the iPhone Dev Team does a live demo of the 3G unlock, dubbed as yellowsn0w: http://qik.com/video/729275

November

• November 21 -- Apple releases 2.2 firmware

September

• September 9 -- Apple releases 2.1 firmware. iPod touch 2G, which no longer had the Pwnage 2.0 exploit, is revealed.

August

• August 18 -- Apple releases 2.0.2 fimware. iPhone Dev Team releases QuickPwn, a 2.x pwnage/ramdisk combination exploit that allows jailbreaking without needing to create custom IPSWs.
• August 4 -- Apple releases 2.0.1 fimware

July

• July 22 -- TA_Mobile hardware dumps the 3G baseband (bootloader 5.8 & FW 1.45.00) by desoldering the NOR.
• July 19 -- iPhone Dev Team releases PwnageTool 2.0, jailbreaking and unlocking the 2.0 software on the iPhone 2G and jailbreaking firmware 2.0 on the iPhone 3G and iPod touch.
• July 15 -- Apple releases 1.1.5 firmware, the last of the 1.x firmwares
• July 11 -- iPhone 3G is released. Apple releases 2.0 firmware and MobileMe on the same date, resulting in server issues.

June

• June 9 - iPhone 3G is announced at WWDC '08.

April

• April 3 -- iPhone Dev Team releases PwnageTool 1.0, making use of the pmdx exploit (to patch RSA checks out of the kernel, to write unsigned to NOR)

March

• March 12 -- Dev team releases dual-boot jailbreak method, only to be silently fixed in 2.0.
• March 4 -- George Zhu (n000b) releases iLiberty / iLiberty+.

February

• February 28 -- Cydia is released as an open-source alternative to Installer.app, and prepares to take over the jailbreak application scene upon 2.0's release.
• February 26 -- Apple releases 1.1.4 firmware
• February 11 -- Zibri leaks the Ramdisk Hack in ZiPhone, the first all-in-one unlock, activate, jailbreak solution.
• February 8 -- geohot releases software unlock for 4.6. Apple states 25% of phones were never activated with AT&T.

January

• January 28 -- iPhone Dev Team releases soft upgrade jailbreak for 1.1.3.
• January 18 -- Geohot and his friends unlocked 1.1.2 OTB 4.6 by test point, the unbeatable version at that time.
• January 18 -- iPhone Dev Team posts YouTube video of a jailbroken 1.1.3, which was made possible by the dual boot jailbreak from bgm.
• January 15 -- Apple releases 1.1.3 firmware, closing the Mknod exploit. In addition, everything now runs as "mobile" instead of "root."

2007

November

• November 15 -- New Baseband bootloader 4.6 comes out, new iPhones can't be unlocked.
• November 12 -- Apple releases 1.1.2 firmware, closing the LibTiff and Symlinks exploits.
• November 2 -- Jailbreakme is released, bringing jailbreaking to the mainstream iPhone user.

October

• October 23 -- iPhone-Elite Team releases the Virginizer.
• October 14 -- AriX releases iJailBreak, the first automated iPod touch jailbreak for the Mac.
• October 12 -- planetbeing releases touchFree, the first automated iPod touch jailbreak.
• October 10 -- niacin, cmw, and dre release the LibTiff exploit to jailbreak the iPod touch, which is later adapted for use in Jailbreakme.

September

• September 27 -- Apple releases 1.1.1 firmware
• September 11 -- iPhone Dev Team releases iUnlock, first free software unlock.
• September 10 -- IPSF releases first paid software unlock.
• September 9 -- Apple announces the iPod touch at a media event.

August

• August 23 -- geohot and team release hardware unlock method.
• August 21 -- Installer.app is released by Nullriver, first GUI apps are distributed.

July

• July 23 -- First phones are used with other carriers by means of SIM hacks.
• July 20 -- nightwatch adapts a toolchain to the iPhone. The first apps are compiled.
• July 9 -- iPhone Dev Team releases a jailbreak method. The first use of this is ringtones.
• July 3 -- DVD Jon first cracks activation. People can use the apps on the phone without a subscription.

June

• June 29 -- iPhone is released. World's most hyped consumer product.
• June 26 -- The iPhone Dev Team was formed.