Aight . . . how to FAKE it that you have firmware 3.1.3, & why

Ok, now what is all this talk about updating to firmware 3.1.3 on your iPhone/iPod Touch devices? Well, for one thing, 3.1.3 does not really do what it claims to do: better battery management, i.e. lifespan, capacity and what not.


And what about trying to download, install and/or update certain apps which require the latest firmware 3.1.3?


Well, now for all the folks who have been clever and patient enough to not update either by choice, intelligence or luck, I will now show you how you can 'Fake It' and fool iTunes into thinking you now have the latest firmware 3.1.3 and you are free to download and install apps which require this 3.1.3 protraction of the iPhone OS.


Let us begin!


Step 1
Your device (iPhone or iPod Touch) must be jailbroken. If it has not been, you may find resources other than here to do this.


Your device firmware should be the iPhone OS 3.1.2.


Step 2
Click on Cydia, and make sure you have the SOS iPhone Cydia source. If you do not have it, install it via Cydia > Manage Sources > Edit > Add and type in http://cy.sosiphone.com/

Step 3
Now, let Cydia download and install this source, reload and return to Cydia > Manage > and look for the new source you have added which is 'SOS iPhone Cydia'.

Click on the new source and look for 'Fake 3.1.3'.

Click on Install > Confirm.


Step 4
After the installation has completed, exit Cydia and go to Settings > General > About. Under 'Version', you should now see that your device firmware now reports as 3.1.3 (7E18)! However, your 'Modem Firmware' or baseband as it is often referred to remains at 05.11.07. This is of interest to people who have iPhones which are 'locked' to a particular telco, as this older baseband can still be unlocked, whilst the newer baseband which accompanies the installation of firmware 3.1.3 cannot be unlocked at the time of this posting.

Next post might be pretty lengthy. I might have to make a post about how to downgrade from 3.1.3 to 3.1.2 after all. Seems like many people have installed the new update by accident. This can happen even if you choose to 'Download Only' but not install the software update when prompted by iTunes. Apparently, the next time iTunes is started, certain user settings actually allow iTunes to proceed with the update when the iPhone is connected, all without user action! So, be careful!