notcom has released the latest version of TinyUmbrella a few days ago. Everyone who's using iDevices such as iPhone, iPod, iPad and the latest, AppleTV should be aware of the importance of this little application. TinyUmbrealla is a very very useful application if you ask me. In very short, it makes you eligible to downgrade to a previous firmware version on your iDevice (conditions apply) In this tutorial, I will show how to backup SHSH using TinyUmbrealla Version 4.1.12 for future use. Let's start.
Imagine you've got an iPhone (or any other iDevice for that matter). You love it as much as I do ( and I love it so much). You like to Jailbreak and Unlock it because you want to make your iPhone more powerful as it should be with third-party Cydia apps like SBSettings, Cydget, LockInfo etc. You want to make it look fabulous then the old school SpringBoard look by applying some themes and, the official carrier in your country sucks. Great ha?
One day Apple releases a 'latest' firmware which does nothing but patches the holes used in Jailbreak and Unlock. You don't know that (because you don't ask, because you think you know everything) and hit that 'Update' button in iTunes. Great! You've 'Upgraded' to the 'latest' firmware. Then you come to know that you've lost Jailbreak and Unlock on your device. And then you bang your head in the wall cursing yourself for being over-smart. What to do now? How to get back to the firmware which is Jailbreakable? But the only way to get back to that firmware is to have your device's SHSH backed-up. But you haven't. So, you're stuck. Welcome aboard. You've got entry in the long queue of people like you, waiting for Jailbreak release and shouting to Jailbreak developers for not releasing it soon.
This is the time, when you may want to go to the past, and change your future by saving your SHSH. That's when the TinyUmbrella comes in.
What is TinyUmbrella?
As said above, it's an application which backs-up your device's SHSH and makes you able to 'downgrade' to the previous firmware after an 'upgrade'.
What the hell is SHSH?
SHSH is a secure signature hash. Basically its a unique key as said by notcom. Firmwares are signed by Apple. And you can downgrade to the firmware only if you've made Apple sign it. If not, you can not downgrade (or say restore). If Apple stops signing firmware (which happens after some time after release of a new firmware), you can not sign it and thus, you looses chance to restore to that firmware in future.
Will I really need them?
Well answer is Yes, and No. Yes, because if you think you may want to downgrade to a firmware which is more proper for your device (ex: iOS >4.0 does not work well on iPhone 3G), or you Jailbreak/Unlock your device and there's no Jailbreak/Unlock available for your upgraded firmware yet, then you will want to downgrade. And if you've not saved SHSH, you have no luck for downgrading.
If you don't want to Jailbreak/Unlock your device or you don't care loosing them, or you don't care downgrading to previous firmware, then the answer is no for you (and so, you can stop reading this article now).
How to use TinyUmbrella version 4.1.12 to backup SHSH?
TinyUmbrella is really easy to use. Let's start.
Things you need
TinyUmbrella 4.1.12 (Download link is at the end)
USB cable of your device.
Working internet connection.
Things used in this tutorial
TinyUmbrella 4.1.12
iPhone 3GS on 3.1.3 with baseband 5.13.04 (Downgraded from iOS 4.0.1, you don't have to)
Windows 7 x86
Steps of using TinyUmbrella 4.1.12
Step 1
Connect your device using the USB cable to you PC.
Run tinyumbrella-4.1.12
The home screen look like this.
TinyUmbrella will identify your device now. To see information of youe decie, click on your device name in the left panel. It will show all the information about your device as shown below.
Step 2 (This step is not necessary. You can skip this)
Click "Advanced" tab to see and modify setting. It is also helpful to know where your SHSH files will be saved. To see or modify this click the browse button and browse to a location you want to save your SHSH to.
Step 3
Click Save SHSH button in above right area. The process will start now.
After the process finishes, it will list SHSH you've saved under "General" tab.
If you didn't modify settings in "Advanced" tab, it will save all SHSH available for your device. For example, you've got brand new iPhone 3GS on iOS 4.0.1, it will save SHSH for iOS 4.0.1, 4.0.2 and 4.1. But as signing of firmwares < 4.1 has stopped, it will only save SHSH for iOS 4.1. The great thing about TinyUmbrella is that you don'te have to be at a particular iOS to save SHSH for that. If you've Jailbroken your device before, SHSH are already saved for that iOS by Cydia automatically. (And for all iOS released after Jailbreak too). So nice of Cydia and Saurik eh! Now you can disconnect your device and close TinyUmbrella as the process is over. You may want to keep SHSH files backed-up by TinyUmbrella to somewhere safe. Browse to the folder where you've saved them and copy these files somewhere else. When you run TinyUmbrella again in the future on the same computer, it will show which SHSH you've saved already. Now the tutorial is over. Go and backup your SHSH and be able to downgrade in future. Best of luck!
Download TinyUmbrella
Download TinyUmbrella 4.1.12 for Windows
Download TinyUmbrella 4.1.12 for Mac OSX
Download TinyUmbrella 4.1.12 for Linux
