How to Enable Push Notifications on Unlocked/Hacktivated iPhone with iOS 4 using Push Doctor

By now you must have read our guide on how to jailbreak and unlock iPhone 3G. If you haven’t then you should. Not only does this let you install iOS 4 on your iPhone 3G, it lets you use it with any carrier as well as enable multitasking and backgrounds. One thing that still needs fixing after all this is the Push Notifications which don’t work on hacktivated/unlocked iPhones. Luckily, there’s a free fix for that called Push Doctor.

Follow these simple steps to enable Push Notifications on your unlocked iPhone:

  1. Make sure you’ve jailbroken and unlocked your iPhone 3G with iOS 4.
  2. This is best and easily done on a fresh install of the firmware. Open up Cydia, and add this address to the sources: http://cmdshft.ipwn.me/apt as shown below:How to Enable Push Notifications on Unlocked/Hacktivated iPhone with iOS 4 using Push Doctor
  3. Once Cydia is done updating, go to the search field and type in Push Doctor. Tap it, and then press install on the top right.How to Enable Push Notifications on Unlocked/Hacktivated iPhone with iOS 4 using Push Doctor
  4. This takes some time to download and install. Once this is done, restart your iPhone. This is done by holding the power button until the ‘slide to turn off’ message appears. Turn it off and then turn it on again.
  5. Now you need to add any app from the App Store that uses Push Notifications. Install free apps like Facebook, Meebo, Boxcar etc. When you run them, they’ll tell you that Push Notifications are disabled. Go to settings and enable them. Use the app and allow them to send you Push Notifications when they ask.

That’s it. You should now receive Push Notifications normally. You can test this by using Meebo, the instant messaging app. Send someone a message to send you one back and quickly exit the app. You should get the notification instantly.

Enjoy!

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below. I’ll be glad to help you out!

About the Author

Technology enthusiast, Internet addict, photography fan, movie buff, music aficionado.

74 comments

  1. does the “old” Push Doctor version work with iOS 4? no version update from the Push Doctor developer?

    1. Hi. I’m on 3GS IOS4.1, jb & unlocked with pwanage tool and update to ipad baseband.. my push isn’t working. i have installed push doctor and its the same. nothing happened. any idea how to fix this?

  2. first time trying a jailbreak/unlock.
    the redsn0w app is stuck at uploading ramdisk & the Iphone shows Downloading Jailbreak data.. and it's been like that for ~20mins or so. is this normal? maybe i'm being impatient (since i'm nervous)

    the “downloading jailbreak data..” on the ihone with the image just went away too as i was typing this.. but the app still says 'uploading ramdisk'

  3. ok — macbookpro – 10.6.4
    itunes 9.2

    backed up iphone
    installed ios 4.0

    ran redsn0w
    rebooted
    iphone jailbroken ;-)
    installed ultrasn0w from cydia
    rebooted
    iphone unlocked ;-)
    installed push doctor
    rebooted
    installed push doctor
    installed facebook

    everything works as expected! ;-)

    thanks so much!!

  4. Push Doctor was working fine for me on iOS 3.1.*. After I upgraded to iOS 4.0, when I try to install Push Doctor, Cydia gives me the error message: “Error: Running. Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)”

    What to do?

  5. Works like a charm on iOS4!! Didn't expect it since PushFix didn't work for me either…. Thanks again!!

  6. It's not working for me either- notifications are definitely enabled and I even tried reinstalling the apps with notifications.

  7. I got exactly the same problem, have to push the Okay button but the message doesn't go away…
    What to do now?

  8. After reboot, removing Push Doctor and installing it again I'm receiving the following error:
    subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1…

  9. After removing it again and reinstalling it no error message came up!
    Now going to see if everything works… Will let you know!

  10. Edit- Got it working! There was a few things- apparently this update, at least in iOS 4, is not compatible with Rock.

    I uninstalled Push Doctor and all other applications it installed, deleted all apps that used Push Notifications, restarted the phone, and installed Push Doctor again in Cydia, and then all Push Notification Apps.

    I then still had to wait a few hours for notifications to become available, I guess to be registered in Apple's servers.

  11. Ah, I figured it out. When I tried to reinstall it, after force-quitting Cydia, it said at the bottom of Cydia's scrolling installation screen that Push Doctor was out of certificates. I kept trying about every hour and finally got lucky. You should cross your fingers and do the same.

  12. Trying to get notifications on my iPhone 3G now running iOS4. When I go to install “Push Doctor” on the confirm screen it says “Note: The requested modifications cannot be applied due to require dependencies or conflitcs that cannot be automatically found or fixed.”

    Any ideas? Any other ways that people have got push notifications running?
    Thanks for all your help.

  13. i can't install push doctor and i can't add either apt.saurik.com/cydia-3.7 or cmdshft.ipwn.me/apt/. what is happening? and suddenly an icon named terminal shows up in the home screen. what should i do? help me please Imran. Thanks

  14. but the terminal is not working at all. so, can i remove it? will it affect the push notification? and what happened to MMS? help please. thanks

  15. hey Imran. do you know what is happening to MMS? iBooks is totally cool. But MMS is not working. what happened? is there anything i can do to fix it? thanks

  16. “Error: Running. Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)”
    I have the same erro message as alyshahb.

    iOS 4
    Fresh install (=> no other app installed)
    Firmware 05.11.07

    What is wrong?

  17. still having problems with facebook push notifications.. my meebo seems working fine.. any tip?? i'm on 3gs running on JB iOS4..

  18. If you're getting push notifications fine with Meebo then the issue must be at Facebook's end. Check settings if push notifications are enabled for Facebook

  19. Im think Facebook hasn't updated to iOS 4 yet… my Beejive wasnt working but they just recently updated and now PUSH works fine.

  20. Installed it & rebooted, but then I went into the app store, and it never loaded. Was this affected by Push Doctor?

  21. thanks for the info…it finally WORKED but…u REALLY should tell people that after i tried three or four diff fixes(that all seemed to just sit there at the point of downloading for minutes that tuned into hours) turn off your phone, and continue back at the point of looking for pushfix in search(i'm sure it was there after the first time i downloaded and it just sat there….)in cydia and coninuing. THIS info would help ALOT of people that i saw gave up like i almost did…Thanks shane

  22. I have Iphone 2G which i jailbreaked with 3.1.2 , I follow the above procedure and its working fine for me.

    Thanks for post

  23. Same error here… =/
    at the end i think i can read it saying something went wrong, maybe server is down or push fix certs ran out…

    let me kno if u find a soution plz

  24. wow! finally! It has saved my life. Don’t forget to reboot your device!!!

    Also, by this source, you can find a fix for youtube.app if it’s not working on your iphone. S, in my case, solved 2 big troubles!
    Thank you guys!

  25. After installing I have a new icon on my springboard called ‘terminal’. What is it and can I delete it?

  26. What are all the programs that comes with pushdoctor?? I wanna delete them but I don’t know Wich ones came with the app.

  27. I hacktivated using limeRa!n. Used push doctor and did every reboot i can. My push won’t work. Don’t know what else to do..heelp please!

  28. I installed pushdoctor as explained above. For a short time push notifications worked for me. Now it is not working again. I have a jailbreaked 3g running on 4.1 and Baseband 06.15.00. I dont get push notifications either from Facebook, nor from Skype, nor from Whatsapp.
    Can anyone help me?
    Tanx!
    R.

    1. Its weird that push notifications would stop working suddenly. Tried restarting your iPhone? Did you install any Cydia app after which notifications stopped working?

  29. Added Push Doctor, restarted the iPhone and downloaded Facebook again but I’m still not receiving the push notifications. Any idea why?

  30. Hi Everyone,

    I have an iPhone 3g with firmware 4.1 and baseband 6.15.00 but dont know whether my push notification is working properly or not because sometime my phone shows i got mail when i have locked my phone and sometime it doesn’t but on behalf of any application which has a push notification facility i haven’t received any msg when the application is closed.

    So can anyone tell me whether i should install push doctor or not, i am confused..

    Please HELP…

  31. Hi there,

    I am using Hactivated Iphone 3GS BB6.15 and I am unable to install Push Doctor…. I keep getting install errors, I read on other threads that its due to no Certificates available? Guys us there any hope for me here? when will these certificates become available again? and is the prob due to this?

    thanks in advance

    1. I also have a 3GS with the 6.15.00 BB hactivated for T-Mobile and I am not able to install Push Doctor, it always gives an error, no matter how many times you try, waiting hours and days in between.

  32. i installed push doctor it working BUT my foursquer cant login AND my when i turn off and on the phone my whatsapp also not working.. what to do??? helppp

  33. i used jailbroken 3Gs OS 4.2. Push notification works normaly for Skype & WhatsApp BEFORE i installed Push Doctor. but other apps dont. then i installed Push Doctor, at first it says downloading over 1MB files total including Push Doctor it self. but something wrong while downloadin & installing, it says something about ‘certificate’, ‘server may be busy’.. so i revert to clear the last install. but then i try to re-installed and it says only a few KB total (Contains only Push Doctor). then same thing happened again (certificate failed). but after i reboot, it seems like exactly following the point no 5. But still no notifications on Facebook, echofon, etc.

    This notification issue on jailbreak OS 4 is driving me crazy. been searching all over the net n try numerous tips n tricks still wont help,,

    I was wondering if it only workson FREE apps on Apple AppStore or what?

    I’m glad to share this. hope anyone can solve the issue :)

  34. I have installed Push Doctor but nothing has happened after installing.. Puch notificactions stopped working few days back

  35. FYI: this is very outdated (2010), and nothing works (no solution) to fix the push notifications for the phones that have been jailbroken with Modem Firmware 06.15.00 (BaseBand)…. furthermore, victims suffer from excessive battery consumption, and sometimes phone signal resolution difficulties..

    just thought this info would help someone in the future to not waste time on finding a solution

    cheerz,
    amjo

  36. Hi,
       Thanks for sharing such a wonderful blog article post. I will share it on social network sites. 

  37. first when i installed push doctor it downloaded 19 something mb and got stuck at the end while installing with a msg in red saying subprocess post installation script returned error exit status 1  — and sub process/usr/bin/pkg returned error…then i forcibly cleared and removed push doctor from cydia…now when i try to download it again it only says its 1.5kb and gives the same errors….any ideas ?

Leave a comment