Third iPhone software SIM unlock team claims September 1st release

The two big teams claiming iPhone software SIM unlock solutions (iPhoneSIMfree and UniquePhones) have been a bit mum of late, but while iPhoneSIMfree's hack is supposedly due by tomorrow, you just might have a free (as in beer) alternative -- if you're the type to believe the hype you read on internet forums. Unknowns the Deathcorp team claim tomorrow, September 1st, will also mark the wide public release of their iPhone SIM unlock software, which is supposedly going to be distributed with no charge to you, unlike iPhoneSIMfree's forthcoming release, and UniquePhones's intended, but waylayed, launch. As usual, we'll be there to sort the fact from the fiction.

[Thanks, Ed]

Update: The file hit the interwebs, and it's a password-protected RAR. Mysteriously no one has the password! ZOMG! No, wait, the password is "Geohot", but the file is corrupt after all. Or something. It reeks of hoax in here.

[Ahmed @ Aug 31st 2007 10:30PM]

This is hurting me....

[darkstar @ Aug 31st 2007 10:57PM]

i hope this marks the end of carriers and locked in contracts!!!
off course the phone would cost more unsubsidized... but freedom is never cheap

[Ayle @ Aug 31st 2007 10:59PM]

The iphone is already unsubsidized...

[vinegar @ Aug 31st 2007 11:30PM]

i'm sure they have no plans buy iPhoneSIMFree's tool and then redistribute it for free without their permission! because that's just inconceivable!

[Chris @ Aug 31st 2007 11:01PM]

Already available here for $2900:
[SPAM REDACTED]

[MaGiXX @ Aug 31st 2007 11:04PM]

Hardware unlocked

[TJ @ Aug 31st 2007 11:05PM]

Who cares about claiming to be 1st or 100th. For me the first one to release it to the public is the 1st.

[Bee Hatch @ Aug 31st 2007 11:41PM]

Exactly.

Saying you have / posting a video showing you have, does not mean you have. And even if you have, it's pointless. First proven working public release = win.

[EL_RIEL @ Aug 31st 2007 11:06PM]

zOMG!!! the wait...
two groups, two hacks..

the worst part will be when it is finally released and all servers going down because of the MASSIVE DAMAGE to the bandwith!!

iPhone attacks the Internetz to the weak point!! woot!!!

[Ed @ Aug 31st 2007 11:12PM]

LMAO. Puremobile:

- We do not offer any warranty on this phone however the phone is in 100% brand new and a test call has been made with it
- Do not update or restore the firmware of this phone as it may lead to the phone becoming locked
- Puremobile will not be held responsible if the user re-locks the phone after purchase
- There are absolutely no returns or refunds on this product

[Ayle @ Sep 1st 2007 12:45AM]

Hey it's free... I wonder if we are going to see cooked firmware as with htc phones? And wouldn't relocking the phone trough firmware update be illegal since it messes with your right to unlock and use an unlocked device?

[TK @ Aug 31st 2007 11:21PM]

Im becoming sick of these announcments, im gonna go 99% that it wont be let out tomorrow. but the other 1% of me says there might be a chance that finnaly a company thats not greedy to make a pretty buck off consumers is willing to take one for the team and just let people unlock their iPhone at no cost.
On the other hand iPhoneSIMfree, just out their to make the money, but what they see or not is that soon as it released sure they will make a few $$ but a week after, the program will be everywhere, with no need to buy it.
These companys need to stop with the greedyness and just give the people what they want.
/end rant

[Bee Hatch @ Aug 31st 2007 11:43PM]

Will it play Doom?

[Matt @ Sep 1st 2007 12:44AM]

Old. Over used. Stupid.

Just shut up and don't post anymore and btw the iPhone does run doom which I could care less about. You suck and your doom comments do too.

[Bee Hatch @ Sep 1st 2007 4:42PM]

Will you play Doom with me?

[peter @ Sep 1st 2007 12:05AM]

i can't wait im purchasing a refurbished iphone on apple.com the day the software comes out from iphonesimfree i have faith that they will continue to allow the iphone to stay unlocked after multiple updates while other companys may drop it after they put the software out their i need a company that will keep updating their unlocking software

[peter @ Sep 1st 2007 12:16AM]

id rather pay for a quality like somethin that doesn't fail after a couple updattes iphonesimfree will keep wokring i think...

[akijikan @ Sep 1st 2007 7:25AM]

and what is your empirical data to support that...

[Mark C. Langston @ Sep 1st 2007 12:33AM]

Fake. Way to go, engadget.

[TK @ Sep 1st 2007 1:04AM]

by what makes this fake?

[dj-kenpo @ Sep 1st 2007 1:59AM]

re: fake cuz it's photoshopped till proven innocent type deal.

fake until it's out and downloaded and proved working.

[Bee Hatch @ Sep 1st 2007 4:43PM]

Fake until my mom can use it.

[Otacon91 @ Sep 1st 2007 3:58AM]

Have to agree. While I have my 4 gig in hand PRAYING for when I can use my T-mobile account and get back on my My-Faves, I don't see this happening anytime soon. LAST week it was announced that someone would unleash this already and here we are in September, still waiting like a bunch of putzes, hoping that all these magic lil companies will throw us a bone. Until I have the software in hand, all this crap is fake and Engaget needs to stop reporting about this crap already untill it's OUT! How many morons went giving out their information because it was reported here?

[Hypenotist @ Sep 1st 2007 3:30AM]

Just buy a damned laptop with a evdo card people. Unlocked garbage is still unlocked garbage even if it has wifi. The PSP is much more useful and homebrewed to the max. Would I buy an apple product? Yeah the aapl stock is good buy. Would I use outdated tech with a fancy feature that is useless for anything but a 30 second finger jam to impress my friend who could
give a crap about multi touch device whatever NO.
The iPhone is a tech demo to see how much morons are willing to pay and be socially engineered into iwhateverdom. You are iNsane to pay 600 for a any video phone and one that is att slaveware no less.

[Martin Bogomolni @ Sep 1st 2007 3:29AM]

Looks like The Friendly Society distribution group is nothing but a scam. The admin of the forum "Lawrence" claimed that the iphoneunlock.rar password was somewhere on the forum itself. After many delays, they put up a download page that claims to have been hacked by the "Ir0nH0rse Krew."

So, seems like it's someone's idea of a practical joke.

The funny thing is .. if someone DID have a software unlock, and charged .. oh .. $1 for each download .. they would be quite rich by the end of the day.

Go fig.

[Rizzon @ Sep 2nd 2007 7:18AM]

Hey.
The iPhone fans in Europe are looking forward for stuff like this.
Come on! Give us our iPhones!!! :)

Best regards,
Rizzon
http://www.hdtvmania.pl

[Martin Bogomolni @ Sep 1st 2007 7:34AM]

AHA!

It's Dave Teatro, of Bananaphone fame. It's not just a hoax ..

... its a full blown prank.

[jilie @ Sep 1st 2007 9:16AM]

congrats engadget, another scam found!

[Constable Odo @ Sep 1st 2007 12:12PM]

For those that want an unlocked phone, please buy one that is already unlocked. I'm sure there must be plenty of good unlocked cellphones that have many more features and don't cost as much. I honestly think it will save you a lot of headaches and heartaches. Otherwise just content yourself with a standard locked iPhone or move to a country where it will be tied to another carrier. All this griping will get you nowhere at all.

[jim s. @ Sep 1st 2007 12:29PM]

I managed to get a copy of this from the site before it went down. I got the password from a member of Deathcorp/The Friend Society after many hours of begging and IT WORKS. MY PHONE IS UNLOCKED. The password is what engadget says (don't contact me you can just scroll up) and I had no problem whatsoever.

[djdied @ Sep 1st 2007 5:42PM]

hi jim s can you sell me this software contact me on [e-mail] thank you

[Sam @ Sep 1st 2007 5:31PM]

Hey Jim,
Please send the unlock to me, I'm DYING HERE!
I'll even pay you for it, if it works!
Great work downloading it before it was taken down!

Sam

[mazl @ Sep 1st 2007 2:52PM]

They posted the file on another server but with a different password
http://files.filefront.com/iphoneun...;/fileinfo.html
can anybody crack that one??
Jim please upload your file somewere! You know we are all waiting for the unlock!

[Christian @ Sep 1st 2007 2:58PM]

Hei jim s. still have the software? does it really work?

If so, contact me on [e-mail] I have a huge dedicated server waiting, so I could offer to host the distribution site. Traffic is no probblem, I can handle a lot. Just contact ma on inkongruent (at) gmail.com.

Chris

[Martin Bogomolni @ Sep 1st 2007 3:33PM]

Chris,

I'm sorry to say it, but this was a complete hoax by a known prankster. The forum was removed from the TFS website, and I'm sure they are having a good laugh.

Patience young grasshopper ... since we know the iPhoneSIMFree lock works, and the hardware unlock works, the iPhone dev team can't be that far behind in finding a way to reflash the GSM modem firmware via software.

[Michael @ Sep 1st 2007 7:35PM]

If anyone here claims the software unlock for the Iphone from deathcorp aka the friend society works, they are lying. I brute forced the .rar file plenty of times, I have the original .rar file. It is empty. There is nothing inside. I stayed up 8 hours on that stupid website for a bogus .rar file

They even banned me from their website, my user name was imadefire

[Marek R @ Sep 1st 2007 8:03PM]

Brute forcing may not work on it, especially if the password is using alternate characters and symbols.

[Michael @ Sep 2nd 2007 3:30AM]

No, there no password. Just a corrupt file.

[jim s. @ Sep 1st 2007 10:29PM]

http://www.thefriendsociety.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3593
password ^^^

[acito5 @ Sep 1st 2007 11:06PM]

Hey guys pls pls pls pls pls if any one can help with the software as jim s have it pls contact me

[e-mail]

Thanx alot :)

[Michael @ Sep 2nd 2007 3:36AM]

I already told you the file is corrupt yet you still ask for a password for a corrupt file. When your computer is filled with virii, only then in hindsight will you realize you never even needed an iphone to begin with. The only thing in the .rar is stupid corrupt game development files. Nothing else. Use your energy on something more productive. ie: help your wife cook, help kids with homework, help old lady across the street.

[Michael @ Sep 2nd 2007 3:37AM]

If anyone is willing to pay for this software, which I may add doesn't have the unlock, and the password to open the .rar file just so you know there is no unlock, type i

[Greg @ Sep 2nd 2007 5:44AM]

Hi All...like many other's above, I thought the above was a hoax in in its entirety. But after 7 hours of going thru 20 pages (downloaded as text before the site shutdown) of forum banter (TheFriendSociety.com), I finally found a word that could open the iphoneunlock.rar file. However, after re-booting into Windows to read the .exe files, This is what I found (5 files) contained in the 1.4MB .rar file:

exe Text document 18KB
crack File 158 KB
hack1 Snes9XW 1.69 MB
hackgib Snes9XW 1.69 MB
readme Snes9XW 1.69 MB

I scanned for viruses (AntiVir) before attempting to open the folder and the result was clean. Can anyone advise how to run these files to achieve the "unlock". Or perhaps these files are bogus as well? NOTE: The Snes9XW files have a gamepad icon?!?!?!

[Michael @ Sep 2nd 2007 10:38AM]

Please read the forum before posting, I already told you all the files are bogus. No wonder these pranksters can get away with this. Everyone is so ignorant, including me. There is no software unlock from these feeble minded fools.

[Greg @ Sep 2nd 2007 5:44AM]

Hi...there one more file I left out:-

Valid.Ext EXT File 1KB

[Greg @ Sep 2nd 2007 6:04AM]

Nevermind...I just read the response from "Michael @ Sep 2nd 2007 3:37AM". I apologize if I gave anyone a glimmer of hope.

Back to waiting...(again!)

[@r @ Sep 2nd 2007 10:14AM]

dear engadget

ok fellas

the password is -ni**erz where **=gg (all lowercase) - an offensive racial name give to black ppl
i didnt make it just heard about it
its all a SCAM!!!!!!!! only a snes emulator..
Lawrence from thefriendsociety is to blame - NOOB

-ar

[ivan @ Sep 3rd 2007 8:33PM]

hahaha some took this a little to seriously

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5VPR6O98NYs

[PABLO @ Sep 4th 2007 10:03AM]

HEYY ENGADGET!! UNIQUEPHONES ARE PUSSY´S THE REMOVE ALREADY THE IPHONE LINK, I THINK THEY ABANDON THE IPHONE UNBLOCK PROJECT. AND IPHONESIMFREE, KEEPS DELAYING WITH NO REASON THE RELEASE, THE HAVE NO WORD, THEY TOLD US 5 DAYS AGO, "THE SOFTWARE WOULD BE RELEASED IN 48-72 HRS". THEY ARE SCARED????