How to use Subscriber Artificial Module (SAM) to activate your ultrasn0w 1.2 unlocked iOS 4.x iPhone 3G/3GS with Apple

December 4, 2010 by James

Subscriber Artificial Module (SAM) released by iPhone hacker @sbingner is a super awesome hack (available in Cydia) that allows you to activate your ultrasn0w 1.2 unlocked iOS 4.0x/iOS 4.1/iOS 4.2.1 iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS with Apple’s servers.

This solves a huge problem, as usually owners of unlocked iPhones rely on “hacktivation” to activate their device and since hacktivation does not register your iPhone with Apple, there’s major issues with push apps and battery time on hacktivated unlocked iPhones. Subscriber Artificial Module (SAM) solves this problem as it creates an authentic activation ticket for your iPhone on Apple’s servers, which certainly beats hacktivation and bypasses all the problems hacktivating entails.

Here is a how to install SAM on your iPhone (this assumes that you have a jailbreaked iOS 4.x iPhone 3G/3GS device with Cydia installed: use redsn0w 0.9.6b6 to do that if you didn’t jailbreak your iPhone yet and see our video guide for more details):

#1 – In your iPhone, launch Cydia
#2 – In sources, add http://repo.bingner.com as a repo in Cydia
#3 – Inside Cydia, search for and install “SAM” and “SAMPrefs”
#4 – Run redsn0w 0.9.6b6 and select the “Deactivate” option
#5 – In your iPhone go to Settings > SAM and select “De-Activate iPhone”
#6 – Connect your iPhone to your computer and select to activate it through iTunes.

Note #1: This guide only works with iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS running iOS 4.x. It WON’T work on your iPhone 4. It also won’t work with firmware 3.x.
Note #2: If iTunes states that you’re using an invalid SIM card, you will need to manually select the appropriate carrier under one of the methods besides “Automatic” and click on a SIMID.

After following these instructions you’ll have a properly activated iPhone 3G or 3GS. iPhone push apps should work fine now and your battery usage should decrease.

Tags: activation, battery, Cydia, download, firmware, hack, hacktivation, iOS, iOS 4, iOS 4.0, iOS 4.1, iOS 4.2, iOS 4.2.1, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iTunes, redsn0w, redsn0w 0.9.6b6, SAM, SIM card, Subscriber Artificial Module, Ultrasn0w, Ultrasn0w 1.2, unlock

Article by James

My name is James Farlow, I'm 23 years of age, attending university in computers engineering and apart of that I enjoy blogging here and now for a few sites. The phone that I currently use is a custom modded white iPhone 4 but am really looking forward to iPhone 5.

SIMMU_GHALE

SHOULD SAM BE INSTALLED AFTER JAILBREAK AND BEFORE UNLOCK OR AFTER UNLOCK.
P.S. DOES IT WORK ONLY ON REDSNOW 0.9.6B6 JAILBROKEN IPHONE OR WILL IT WORK ON 0.9.6BETA5JAILBROKEN IPHONE.?
ThankfulDude

Yeah, like Simmu_Ghale, I do have a bunch of questions with this installation. First, does this mean I shouldn’t (or don’t have to) unlock with ultrasn0w before installing the SAM packages? Second, when I install SAM, it installs SAMPrefs automatically; is that fine? Third, when I run redsn0w 0.9.6b6 the second time (the one with “Deactivation”,) should I check only Deactivation options, or should I include all of my previous options (including iPad broadband?)
ThankfulDude

Alright, just updating. (Mine: iPhone 3G, iOS 4.1, Windows 7, run redsn0w 0.9.6b6 as Administrator with compatibility of XP-SP2) I did like I indicated I did: I jailbroke and fully unlocked it first (worked – love it), installed SAM, which automatically installed SamPrefs (but I did modify -> re-install, for both, just in case,) re-run redsn0w with all settings plus deactivation, and then it turns out I didn’t need to unlock it a second time, as it seemeed to be still unlocked and my non-official carrier SIM works just fine.
Then I did the settings->SAM->Deactivate, and went to iTunes. iTunes (mine is 10.1.1.4) gave two options: restore or set up as new, and I chose set up as new; it just asked name and sync options, and now it looks like it’s working great! Thanks a lot, and I’ll post if there’s any problem.
stillThankfulDude

Ok, back again: This is what happened:
1. Unlock was perfect; called a local number with non-official SIM, all just fine.
2. iTunes worked fine after SAM procedures. I downloadded apps (iBooks and messenger) and synced music and PDF, all worked fine.
3. I’m not sure what I did; but there was a springboard error (happened earlier when installing SAM), and now the iPhone doesn’t accept the SIM anymore (saying “Invalid SIM” instead.) As it is, everything’s back to pre-jailbreak functionalities, save for my lovely custom logos and wallpapers. I’ll try reinstalling things.
stillThankfulDude

Back for the last time.
Alright.
“Invalid SIM” seems to happen whenever I sync with iTunes or move the SIM to a different cellphone or something like that, and whenever that happens, I simply re-install Ultrasn0w in Cydia, and everything works perfectly fine.
So, I got my a-ok iPhone working totally, and I thank the developer teams and everyone else in this project. You’ve made this n00b’s day.
Jimninus

Hi, Im from Manila, The Philippines. I have an iphone 3gs 4.0 (8A293) BB 05.13.04 unlocked using ultras0w 0.93. How to I get redsn0w 0.9.6b6? and do I need to update my baseband or my version for me to use it?

Thanks,

Jim
Pradeep Karmacharya

timi nepali?
aa

Thank you thank you thank you!
frac

After successful activated, can I remove the SAM, SAMprefs ?
Thanks,
Theprosam1

ok so i finaly got sam to work right 2 minuets ago. ive been trying for quite some time now, since the day it came out. what nobody tells you is that when u have to choose an option other than auto detect, YOU HAVE TO PICK THE CARRIER YOUR PHONE IS SUPPOSED TO BE ON ! NOT THE SIM CARD YOU HAVE IN YOUR PHONE! a very simple misunderstanding.
Stuartgallafant

I followed the instructions exactly and when I came to step 6 iTunes did not give me the option to ‘Activate’ the iPhone, only to restore or update, so stupidly I chose restore and wiped the whole lot! Idiot…
What would of happened if I had chosen ‘Update?’
Stuartgallafant

Can anyone help with my post? I jailbroke the iPhone then deactivated it and installed SAM and SAMprefs but iTunes wouldnt give me the option to Activate, what am I doing wrong? I have a 3G by the way
Garcianeno

you are supposed to….
1. Jailbreak your iphone
2. Install SAM
3. Run redsn0w and select deactivate

Make sure to install SAM before you deactivate, you did it backwards