How to Enable EDGE/APN Editing on Jailbroken iPhone

by Simon Ng on September 7, 2009



iPhone - Cellular Data Network SettingSince the release of iPhone 2.0, you’re allowed to edit APN settings for the cellular data network connection of your iPhone. Normally, you can access this setting by tapping Settings -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network. However, as I know, not everyone can edit the APN setting, no matter you’re using EDGE or 3G. Apple provides a configuration tool for carriers and lets them to determine if they want the users to edit the APN settings. Some carriers prefer to preset the APN setting for its users but disallow the editing by disabling the option.

It’s not a problem if you bought your iPhone from the official carrier. But if you’re using an unlocked iPhone with other carriers, you’ll need to edit the APN setting for connecting to the Internet.

So, what if you can’t find this option after jailbreaking & unlocking your iPhone? Here is the solution. [Thanks to altfx2 for sharing the tip!]

Before diving deep into the solution, make sure you know how to use SSH to transfer file between iPhone and your computer. You’ll need to copy a file from iPhone to your PC/Mac for editing and then transfer it back to iPhone. You can refer to this guide if you’re not very familiar with SSH:

Let’s get started

1. First, connect to your iPhone using WinSCP for Windows or Cyberduck for Mac. Navigate to /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/.bundle. Here, refers to the carrier you’re using. Say, for me, I’m using Hutchison Hong Kong. is “Hutchison_HK”.

2. Copy the “carrier.plist” file from iPhone to your computer.

For Mac User
3. You can simply double-click on the “carrier.plist” to open it. Check the “AllowEDGEEditing” checkbox to enable it.

Edit plist file on Mac

For Windows User
3. Download Property List Editor and use it to open “carrier.plist”. Add the following code:

<key>AllowEDGEEditing</key>
<true/>

Property List Editor - Enable APN Setting

4. Save the change and transfer the file back to iPhone. Put the file back to the same folder you use in step 1.

5. Once done, restart your iPhone. You should be able to edit APN setting by tapping Setting -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network

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{ 3 trackbacks }

Anonymous
November 5, 2009 at 12:12 am
Anonymous
November 7, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Anonymous
December 8, 2009 at 5:42 am

{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }

1 VISH September 7, 2009 at 10:02 pm

nice post .. helped a lot

Reply

2 iphone September 13, 2009 at 3:57 am

wonderful post, considering APN Editing is down in Cydia.

Will click on a few ads for you. :)

Reply

3 Tim September 20, 2009 at 10:03 am

So I’ve found this same information posted on numerous different sites and was hoping that it would help me get Visual Voicemail working on my iPhone again. Unfortunately, having followed this information to a T, I’m unable to get the Cellular Data Network button to appear. Everything else appears to be working properly on my phone.

I have a Jailbroken 3GS running 3.0.1. I’ve tried carrier profiles and numerous other tweaks. And not that I’d really use this feature much, I just hate having features disabled by service providers like AT&T.

Any ideas why this might not be working for me?

Reply

4 George September 21, 2009 at 7:47 pm

Hey, what application are you using for editing the .plist like that on the Mac ? Mine opens it in a strange encoding in textedit, and i got to open it with textwrangler the same way the windows one looks, but i don’t have the code there, i think i need to add it manually.
thanks

Reply

5 Simon Ng September 21, 2009 at 9:17 pm

@George, you can open the file with Property List Editor.

Reply

6 George September 21, 2009 at 9:38 pm

Thanks, it worked perfectly.

Reply

7 gamezz October 22, 2009 at 10:31 am

i cant seems to find the EDGE tag?? anyone know why that is??

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8 Daniel November 5, 2009 at 1:50 am

Is there an Property List Editor for Windows XP?

Thank you.

Reply

9 ttllkk November 14, 2009 at 5:56 pm

On 3.1.2 – I was able to get it fixed only after modifying the carrier file on var/mobile/library/Carrier in addition to the file in /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/ mentioned in this post (maybe the first one is even enough).
I want to use the opportunity to thank Simon for this amazing blog. Thanks.

Reply

10 Daniel December 12, 2009 at 1:43 am

ttllkk – great tip!
my carrier has updated the settings, and I’ve been sweating this out for the past few hours!

Reply

11 CLJ December 30, 2009 at 10:02 pm

ttllkk. Unfortunately I still cannot edit the apn settings. The only thing I am able to change is carrier. I have downloaded the app open SSH in cydia and I have followed all of these steps with SSH Transfer. Reboot the phone and still no apn tab in network settings. This is driving me crazy…..

Reply

12 jo January 16, 2010 at 7:31 pm

Great and fantastic! Keep up the great work! Share knowledge!

Reply

13 todd January 18, 2010 at 9:13 pm

so there is no Edge option?? so i added it? still nothing??
a screen just pops up and says “could not activate cellular data network”? you are not subscribed to a cellular data service? and i am??.. i did the 3.1.2 upgrade jailbroke with AT&T everything works but the internet? please help!!

Reply

14 Mukesh Tyagi January 30, 2010 at 9:07 pm

Facing the same problem. The carrier.plist doesn’t show any of the stuff shown in the picture above. I am using etisalat SIM card (UAE). I urgently want to solve my problem as I also get the same error messages like : “could not activate cellular data network”; “you are not subscribed to a cellular data service”…… but my credit balance is constantly deducting. Help!!

Reply

15 Andrés February 10, 2010 at 2:45 am

Con dobleclick no se abre el archivo para editarlo. Cómo debo hacer?

Reply

16 Andrés February 10, 2010 at 2:46 am

Trabajo en una mac.

Reply

17 John February 15, 2010 at 4:37 am

I followed the article and could not see the Cellular Data Network options…I had to edit another carrier.plist file located in var/mobile/library/Carrier as user “ttllkk” mentioned. This should help all…trust me.

Reply

18 joshuaclear March 14, 2010 at 1:20 pm

John February 15, 2010 at 4:37 am
“”I followed the article and could not see the Cellular Data Network options…I had to edit another carrier.plist file located in var/mobile/library/Carrier as user “ttllkk” mentioned. This should help all…trust me.”"

ok, what did you edit there? what did you do? just add the string AllowEDGEEditing

or check box on mac

be specific, wut did u edit and wut those edits were

Reply

19 konner March 6, 2010 at 9:36 am

I did this, sucessfully got the thing to show up with AT&T but i get message failed to send.

Reply

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