Help me recover my iphone 3g

[+unabatedshagie Subscriber¹]

I had successfully jailbroken my iphone, everything was fine for a day or two until I tried to install a theme.

My phone froze, I couldn't interact with the screen in any way. I couldn't turn the phone off or do anything with it. I left the phone overnight the next day it was still frozen.

I restored my phone through itunes and everything seemed to go fine (what I didn't realize at the time was that some applications that I had put into the categories app were missing) so I re-jailbroke my phone.

The jailbreaking process went fine but this is when I noticed that the installer app and cydia were nowhere to be found. This is when I also realized that every app that I had put into a category was missing.

Since cydia and installer are not showing up I cant install the categories app to try and solve this problem.

I'm new to the whole jailbreaking process so I'm kinda stumped as to what I can do to solve this issue.

Anyone have any ideas on how I can get my apps back?

[crazzyyfool]

Are the missing apps JB apps or official App Store apps?

[Pajter]

I think you'll need to do another jailbreak, and make sure that you're installing Cydia and Installer with it. AFAIK that's the only way to install Cydia or Installer, unless maybe through OpenSSH.

[HeartsOfWar]

I don't own an iPhone, but I remember reading somewhere that once you pay for and download an app, you can re-download for free through the store.

Just look for the app, and click to buy it again and it will recognize that you previously paid for it and let you download.

[Kami-]

*EDIT* Nevermind -.-

Edited October 6, 2008 by F7S

[crazzyyfool]

So you circumvent the security on your phone, and require assistance with restoring something you broke whilst doing it.

Sorry, that's a no go according to forum rules :/

JB isn't against forum rules. It's not illegal.

[Rob Veteran]

Ok I know what's going on here. I think you probably installed Categories which works by hiding the default applications from Springboard (your home screen) and then slotting them into its own little folders. If Categories dies then your applications are still hidden.

Quickest way to solve it is literally just to restore the phone to the stock firmware, then re-jailbreak, but don't restore a backup - just sync everything over again.

[+unabatedshagie Subscriber¹]

Ok I know what's going on here. I think you probably installed Categories which works by hiding the default applications from Springboard (your home screen) and then slotting them into its own little folders. If Categories dies then your applications are still hidden.

Quickest way to solve it is literally just to restore the phone to the stock firmware, then re-jailbreak, but don't restore a backup - just sync everything over again.

Yeah that's where the problem came from.

So how would I restore the stock firmware? With itunes?

If I don't restore the backup will I have lost all my text messages etc?

[Rob Veteran]

Yeah that's where the problem came from.

So how would I restore the stock firmware? With itunes?

If I don't restore the backup will I have lost all my text messages etc?

Yes just use iTunes and restore the firmware. And yes, you will lose your text messages.