With Cydia currently not giving new users the ability to save their SHSH blobs it seemed like a good time to go over how to save your SHS blobs with an alternative, TinyUmbrella. An SHSH blob or ECID SHSH is basically a unique signature which is checked against Apple servers whenever you decide to restore the firmware on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Once a new firmware is released, Apple stops signing the older firmware, hence making it impossible to restore back to the older firmware from iTunes. So, YOU MUST SAVE YOUR SHSH WHILE APPLE IS CURRENTLY SIGNING THEM.
Now to “why is it important to save your SHSH blobs”: The creator of Cydia has setup a new server which basically mimics Apple’s verification server and can save your older signature (SHSH blob) so that you can downgrade or restore back to the older firmware. This is important because if you don’t have your SHSH blob saved, and accidently update to new firmware, you’ll loose your jailbreak and furthermore, you wont be able to downgrade back to older firmware to re-jailbreak your device.
Now while Cydia will probably once again start letting you save your SHSH blobs on the server automatically by using the "Make my life easier" button, a utility has been released which allows for both saving blobs on the server and locally and also for restoring older firmware via iTunes. You can also use TinyUmbrella to save your SHSH without being Jailbroken and for the currently signed firmware even if your iDevice is using a lower firmware. You can download it here: TinyUmbrella Look for version you need on right hand column.
Instructions for saving your SHSH
- Download and run TinyUmbrella and make sure your iDevice is detected.
- Check "Advanced Options."
- Under "Device / Version," select the firmware version you want to Save (You can only restore to versions that have SHSH saved).
- Click on "Save my SHSH."
- Repeat to save other firmware hashes if you wish.
- Now, click on "Display SHSHs." It should listed all hashes you have saved on your computer for all your iDevices.
Instructions for restoring:
(Make sure you have saved your SHSH blob locally using method above. If not, repeat the method above for the firmware you wish to restore to.)
- Backup iDevice in iTunes and then close iTunes.
- Open TinyUmbrella and make sure you dont get any errors on startup or else you will need to make sure that port 80 is open and that your host file is not set to Read-Only.
- Click on Start "TSS server,"
- Download firmware you wish to restore to from here: iPhone/iPodTouch
- Open Itunes and use the Shift/Option + Restore method to choose the firmware file you wish to restore to (Upgrade button cannot be used)
- After your firmware is restored you might get a 1004 error. Not to worry, simply click "Kick Device out of Recovery" if you get it.
- Restore Settings from Backup in iTunes and sync.
Done! If you have any questions or need any help, head on over to our Jailbreak Forum.
by Farbod
