If you currently have an iPhone and a mac, and you can’t wait until June 24th for your iOS 4 update, you can get a hold of the gold master release version of the update and have it installed in about 30 minutes. The gold master build of iOS 4 is a beta release available to developers, but downloads are available in several locations on the internet, with several sites outlining step-by-step instructions on how to perform the installation.
This gold master build of iOS 4 has reportedly been successfully working because it is currently not using the iPhone’s 40-digit unique device identifier (UDID) to verify that the iPhone is an authorized developer device.
Windows users are currently not able to perform the installation because iTunes 9.2 is required and is currently only available on Mac.
While there are widely reported stories of iPhone owners who are successfully getting this build of iOS 4 installed successfully on their iPhones, it is still a gamble. Apple does have the power to shut down accessibility to the network at any point and could begin taking steps at any time to disable customer’s devices if they determine an installation has been performed illegally. In other words, we don’t know how long this “sneak preview” will last, so try it at your own risk. Also, make sure all files are backed up, as the installation will wipe out everything currently installed on your device before installing iOS 4.
You can try this hack out on your own device if you have an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G or a second or third generation iPod Touch. Don’t get your hopes up on being able to access all the new features of iOS 4 quite yet, however. The new iBooks release is not yet accessible, and other features may also be disabled or simply non-functional since this is not yet a final version of the OS.
