Timeline

2010

October

• October 20 -- The Dev Team releases PwnageTool 4.1 which jailbreaks iOS 4.1 and 3.2.2 on every device available at the time of release. (see blog post)
• October 18 -- Chronic Dev Team releases greenpois0n RC4 which added support for iPod touch 2G (MC and MB) for an untethered jailbreak using comex's kernel exploit and the usb_control_msg(0xA1, 1) Exploit.
• October 12 -- Chronic Dev Team releases greenpois0n after switching its exploit from SHAtter to the exploit limera1n uses. By doing this, SHAtter remains undisclosed, meaning there is a chance that the 5th generation devices are vulnerable. (The exploit limera1n uses appears to be fixed in the iBoot revision found in iOS 4.2 beta 2, which means Apple probably knows about the vulnerability and the next bootrom revision may have it patched.)
• October 10 -- Following the first limera1n beta release, geohot released multiple versions, each fixing bugs affecting previous releases. Chronic Dev Team officialy anounces that, in order to keep SHAtter undisclosed and possibly preserve it for 5th generation devices, greenpois0n would be delayed in order to incorporate this new exploit limera1n uses.
• October 9 -- In order to push Chronic Dev Team to change the exploit used on greenpois0n, geohot rushed out a beta version of limera1n.
• October 8 -- Geohot comes back to the scene with a new bootrom exploit believed to work on all devices, as shown on the resurrected limera1n web site. He prompts Chronic Dev Team to use his exploit instead of SHAtter, but, since greenpois0n is already scheduled to October 10, it may be not possible. Geohot ETA'd his limera1n release to October 11, if greenpois0n can't be changed to use this new exploit. This decision, however, would burn 2 bootrom exploits: SHAtter itself and the one used by limera1n, which is unpatchable by firmware updates.
• October 6 -- Chronic Dev Team issues expected ETA of greenpois0n as October 10, featuring the new SHAtter exploit for devices with the S5L8930.

September

• September 30 -- MuscleNerd of the iPhone Dev Team posts the first video of an Apple TV 2G jailbroken via SHAtter.
• September 27 -- MuscleNerd of the iPhone Dev Team posts the first video of an iPod touch 4G jailbroken via SHAtter.
• September 20 -- pod2g discloses details about the usb_control_msg(0xA1, 1) Exploit‎ here at The iPhone Wiki. It was used in redsn0w the following day.
• September 9 -- The existence of SHAtter is revealed. Further details were not released, however.
• September 8 -- Apple releases the iPod touch 4G, and iOS 4.1, closing the AT+XAPP Vulnerability.
• September 1 -- Apple event. They announced the new iPod touch 4G, Apple TV 2G, iOS 4.1, and iTunes 10.

August

• August 12 -- Saurik releases the first version of PDF Patcher, which installs Apple's patch for the FreeType vulnerability (used in conjunction with other exploits by Star). It works on firmwares as far back as 2.x, and renders iOS 3.2.2 and 4.0.2 useless for jailbreakers. Jailbreaking and installing this patch is currently the only way for users of first generation iPod touches and iPhones to protect themselves against malicious use of the exploit.
• August 11 -- Apple releases iOS 4.0.2 for iPhone/iPod touch and iOS 3.2.2 for iPad as a hotfix for Star's exploits. 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 iOS 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 iOS 3.2.1 and 4.0.1.

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 iOS 4.0
• 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 iOS 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 iOS 3.1.3, 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, and iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 2G units with newer bootrom revisions.

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.
• Apple releases iOS 3.1/3.1.1 (7C144/7C145), closing the 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 iOS 3.0
• June 17 -- Apple releases iOS 3.0.
• June 8 -- Apple announces the iPhone 3GS.

March

• March 10 -- Information about the 0x24000 Segment Overflow exploit used for the iPod touch 2G untethered jailbreak 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 redsn0w Lite, a tethered iPod touch 2G jailbreak. It combines the ARM7 Go vulnerability with the well-established pwnage flow for other Apple mobile devices. It was bundled in a way that allowed usage on iOS 2.2.1 by uploading iBoot from iOS 2.1.1, which is vulnerable to ARM7 Go, to the device while in DFU Mode.
• January 29 -- Apple releases iOS 2.2.1, 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, 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 vulnerability 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 iOS 2.2 on iPod touch 2G, 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 2.28.00.

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 iOS 2.2.

September

• September 9 -- Apple releases iOS 2.1. 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 iOS 2.0 on the iPhone 3G and iPod touch.
• July 15 -- Apple releases iOS 1.1.5, the last of the 1.x firmwares
• July 11 -- iPhone 3G is released. Apple releases iOS 2.0 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 iOS 1.1.4.
• 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 24 -- Nate True releases a version of iBrickr that used the Soft Upgrade method to jailbreak 1.1.3 for iPhones.
• 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 iOS 1.1.3, closing the Mknod exploit. In addition, everything now runs as "mobile" instead of "root."

2007

November

• November 15 -- Baseband bootloader 4.6 is found on new iPhones, which initially had no unlock.
• November 12 -- Apple releases iOS 1.1.2, closing the LibTiff and Symlinks exploits.
• November 2 -- AppSnapp 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 AppSnapp.

September

• September 27 -- Apple releases iOS 1.1.1.
• 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.