Feed: sizeof(cat)
Title: Jailbreak an iPhone 3GS running iOS 6.0 - 6.1.6
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2025 12:18:07 +0000
Link: http://sizeof.cat/post/jailbreaking-iphone-3gs-ios-616/
 
[image 1]
 
If you happen to run into an Apple iPhone 3GS that doesn’t cost an arm and a 
leg, and you want to upgrade it to the last iOS version available (6.1.6), and 
jailbreak it so you can install applications and tweaks via Cydia[2], this 
article will help you. A lot.
 
For prerequisites, if on Windows you will need the last version of iTunes 
installed, so download it from Apple[3] and run the installer. You will 
obviously need an iPhone 3GS[4] running any iOS version, provided you want to 
upgrade it to a version between 6.0 and 6.1.6.
 
The last version of iOS that’s supported on the iPhone 3GS smartphone is 6.1.6, 
so if you have an older version and you want to update it, download the 6.1.6 
IPSW from Apple’s website[5] and restore it on your phone using iTunes. Keep in 
mind that Aquila jailbreakes all iOS versions between 6.0 and 6.1.6, so if you 
want to preserve your older iOS version you will need another jailbreak tool, 
like blackra1n[6], purplera1n[7] or redsn0w[8].
 
You cannot downgrade the iOS version on the iPhone 3GS, unless you saved the 
unique-for-your-device SHSH[9] blobs.
 
Download Aquila[10] 1.0 for Windows[11] or for macOS[12] (you will need a 64bit 
Windows or macOS version), extract the zip archive if on macOS, plug in your 
iPhone 3GS and run aquila_macos (or aquila_windows.exe, obviously). Aquila is an
untethered jailbreak, which means it works permanently.
$ ./aquila_macos
 
Once Aquila confirms that it’s done and reboots the phone, the iPhone 3GS should
be jailbroken and Cydia installed, so have fun with it. What next?
 
Start by updating the Root CA certificates on your iPhone, visit Hanabi’s 
website[13] on iPhone’s Safari web browser and click on the Signed iOS Bundle 
(iOS 5+)[14] link. This will allow Safari to open most of the current websites. 
Next you can open Cydia and start installing various Cydia tweaks that will 
bring back Youtube browsing, the Weather app, on-device maps, etc.
 
[image 15]
 
Links: 
[1]: http://sizeof.cat/post/jailbreaking-iphone-3gs-ios-616/img/cover.jpg (image)
[2]: https://cydia.saurik.com/ (link)
[3]: https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/win64 (link)
[4]: https://sizeof.cat/%28https://appledb.dev/device/iPhone2,1.html%29 (link)
[5]: https://secure-appldnld.apple.com/iOS6.1/091-3457.20140221.Btt3e/iPhone2,1_6.1.6_10B500_Restore.ipsw (link)
[6]: https://theapplewiki.com/wiki/Blackra1n (link)
[7]: https://theapplewiki.com/wiki/Purplera1n (link)
[8]: https://theapplewiki.com/wiki/Redsn0w (link)
[9]: https://theapplewiki.com/wiki/SHSH (link)
[10]: https://github.com/staturnzz/aquila (link)
[11]: https://sizeof.cat/files/aquila_windows.exe (link)
[12]: https://sizeof.cat/files/aquila_macos.zip (link)
[13]: http://tlsroot.litten.ca/ (link)
[14]: http://tlsroot.litten.ca/beeg.mobileconfig (link)
[15]: http://sizeof.cat/post/jailbreaking-iphone-3gs-ios-616/img/iphone.png (image)

