iPhone/iPod OS Update Error 3014 SOLUTION

Update: If you are getting a 3014 error updating to iPhone OS 3.1, or any other version, or even an iPod Touch instead, this fix will work as well.

I attempted to install the iPhone OS 3.0.1 update for my iPhone today with great disappointment. For the past few hours my iPhone has been a useless brick. The update started normally until iTunes tried to verify my iPhone with Apple. It failed displaying a "3014" error and taking me to a generic "somethings gone wrong" page.

I took a hint that while it doesn't make total sense, it must have something to do with my network, as I have the latest version of iTunes (6.2.1) and it's what everyone keeps tlaking about. I fiddled with my ADSL modem, router, firewalls, everything, with no success.

The Solution
I almost resorted to using iRecovery, an application that goes into your iPhone and changes something so I could go back to using my phone with plain 3.0, but I don't like the idea of having non-Apple software stuff around with my iPhone. Luckily I discovered an easy painless solution: Use another network!

I couldn't really use another network at home, so I downloaded AnchorFree's Hotspot Shield that lets me use their VPN network free of charge, tunnelled through my own internet connection. It worked, I installed Hotspot Shield, started up iTunes and away it went, no problems at all.

What is Hotspot Shield?
Hotspot shield is a piece of software that tunnels your network traffic through Anchor Free's network and back out to the internet, encrypting all the data sent between your computer and their network. This type of technology is called a VPN, or Virtual Private Network, and is primarily used to ensure the data between you and a work network or public wifi connection is secure. In this case however we are taking advantage of the fact that being connected through a VPN is like being connected to a different ISP or network all together. For those of us who have ISPs that are incompatible with Apple's servers, it is the perfect solution.

95 comments:

Steve said...

Thanks alot for this solution, worked a charm :D

Julien said...

Oh my god! Thank you so much!!
Currently updating as i type this.

Anonymous said...

Well done--I am usually scared when I am not sure why things work or don't work but it worked and I thank you--when your ipod is your phone you have to have it working. Bad engineering on AAPL's part I paid good money for this phone.

Troy S-G said...

Doesn't seem to be network specific - same thing here - for the second time!! Another update that has killed my phone and for some reason, made it unrestorable? Solution last time was to return to the seller and get new SIM?

simonk said...

I don't even understand what Hotspot Shield does but it worked, so thanks heaps.

Leigh McCulloch said...

@simonk: I've added some details on Hotspot Shield above. I always recommend knowing what software does that is installed on your computer.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Whatever this thing does it works! My phone is getting restored, at last.

I will think twice next time I decide to upgrade iPhone software as soon as it comes us. This is BS.

thoeni said...

Thanks from Italy! It worked also on my iPhone 3GS... I think that the problem was actually the connection, since I also couldn't open the apple.com website... then with the shield I could!

Ok, thanks again, now my iPhone is back again!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Crazy I was a little sceptical, but it's working, my iphone is restoring right now. Thanks a heap mate.

J said...

You're a genius! I googled "iphone 3.0.1 update error 3014", your post came up first. I was updating ~50 seconds later. Bless you.

Evan Thomas Paul said...

Thanks! That worked for me as well. I had a brick until this.

Anonymous said...

Great job! Finally I'm using 3.0.1 :-)

justin said...

thank u soooooo much, i thought i had brinked my phone or something but i havent jail broken my phone so i had no idea what was goin on, it work perfectly thanks!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot from France!!
Got back my iphone as the way it was before this crazy update...

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot from France (bis): was a network problem, so, good to know.

Felicity said...

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU... This worked and was all done within 15 mins, thanks to apple i wasted a morning stressing out about not having a phone,

Tiffany said...

Woohoo!!! Thankyou so much!!!

Seems like an unlikely solution but after trying all of apple's generic fixit steps to no avail I thought I may as well give it a go.

I hope everyone who is having problems finds this page...

Anonymous said...

Hey mate,

Just wanted to extend my gratitude for your efforts!!

You just saved me so much dam hassle with hot spot shield!

You're a legend!!!

Chris198 said...

Great!!
First I searched in German but I did not find any good tip, after searching in English I found this site and it helped! Now I can use my iphone again! Many thanks from Switzerland, Chris

Anonymous said...

you a smart fellow .thanks

Gibbo said...

Mate, you're a legend.

Worked a treat.

Silly Apple.

Kennith said...

Thanks McCulloch,

Been looking for 16hrs trying to find a solution - You're a genious finding or knowing about this application.

It allowed me to fix my iPhone 3GS

I have a few friends who have the iPhone 3G and I will kindly pass on your website.

Mate - Great job

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much from Spain.
You're the number one!!!

Carlos

Anonymous said...

Oh man, THANK YOU SO MUCH. What a ridiculous work-around. I don't get it but I like it.

Kelly said...

thanks for the help..but the phone going out first thing monday morning is kinda bad...i also will ythink twice before installing updates

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable...

Was skeptical, connected up to my company VPN and away she went :-)

So my home connection to iiNet didn't work but the VPN to work then through Amnet did ...

Federico Moretto said...

Thanks for the solution, it works great!
This is the first update for my new IPhone 3GS, hopefully the future ones will be easier to manage...

Anonymous said...

I join everyone else in thanking you for this solution.. Only a genius could work out the connect between the error and the solution.. I bow down to you...

Anonymous said...

Worked perfectly! Thank you for unbricking my iPhone while traveling and no access to an Apple Store or phone support!

Isaac said...

Great fix - I can vouch for this on my iMac - worked like a charm.

Shame on you Apple, for releasing updates that still have major issues!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic! I was trying to restore my iPhone when it gave me that horrid "3014" error. Found your post from Google, downloaded the Shield and my iPhone is restoring as I type this. Thank you so much!!

catherine said...

Thank you very much! I was getting very frustrated with my brand new iphone which I couldn't use and was displaying error code 3014 until I downloaded Hotspot Shield. I don't really know what it does but my iphone is working now. Cheers.

Brian said...

Omg, THankyou very much this worked like a charm, really helped me get pass that stupid 3014 error. once again thanks alot.

Anonymous said...

Thank you...great work!

Anonymous said...

wow... an absolute life saver... tried it in Slovakia and worked too... I would be lost without your article... great job... thanks

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot.......do not know what this hotshield does but it got my iphone restoring again.

Anonymous said...

Was skeptical just like the many others above because I tried a zillion ways and seriously, how could it have been as simple as just changing networks??

But it worked perfectly - thanks so much for this article!!

Anonymous said...

thank you so much, it works!!

Gedas said...

Bless you! it really helps!!! thank you thank you thank you!!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much this worked perfectly

G said...

Mate... you're good... installing now.. pretty sure it'll be okay. You just save me from staying awake all night :)

Konus Auryus Sadou said...

Thanks soooo much!!!! :D. Life saver!

gate said...

Thanks my saver!!!Now I can go back to my grapes!!Happy wine harvest to all of you!!!

Haris said...

OMG, my iPod Touch 2g can't be updated to OS 3.1 & i got "error 3014", good thing i found your blog, download Hotspot Shield, basically follow your instructions & it worked, thanx a lot :)

Matthew said...

I am gonna try this when i am home. But i saw some of the solution that we could switch off the firewall... is that right?

Leigh McCulloch said...

You might be able to resolve the issue by turning off your firewall, but not everyone will be able to resolve the issue that way unfortunately, because the incompatibility with Apple servers may not be in your own network configuration but in your ISP's network configuration. When I turned off my firewall on my home network it did not resolve the issue, however it has resolved the issue for some.

Matthew said...

Thanks a lot mate, i will try then, really! Thx so much =] Have a nice day.

andrew said...

Thank you, saved a trip to an apple store to update the software on the Iphone..
It's all magic to me, it just works, it's always risky downloading free software but there are no alerts about HotSpotShield on the web.
All Good:))

Anonymous said...

many many thanks from sydney :)

Anonymous said...

It worked!!! goodness. cant believe it.. Many thanks. From as far as Singapore..

Anonymous said...

Worked easily. Great work.

Anonymous said...

You're genius !! Thanks :D I'm thinking about giving up till I found you ;)

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much, worked a treat.

KENNY said...

AWESOME. THANK S A LOT MAN, i was about to jump out of the window, with my new ipod touch because of failed jailbreak..

Thanks!!

Anonymous said...

No Mames!!!! Si Funciono despues de 1 hora en el telefono con los pendejos de Apple y nada!

Mil Gracias!!!!!

Karuna said...

Didnt work.

Inet said...

I tried to restore my iPod Touch 64Gb 3G a couple of times with error (3014). I deleted the "Cookies.plist" file in this path of my WinXP: "C:\Documents and Settings\[Your_logon_or)user_name]\Application Data\Apple Computer\Cookies". Then I was able to restore it back to the way it was. Once everything completed "Cookies.plist" file was replaced with the new one. Something you could try quickly and easily within 5-6 minutes of restoring process. ;)

Anonymous said...

Great Job - thanks so much. Works here in Thailand too!!! Cheers mate.

raymon said...

Just had this Error 3014 today. Could not restore at home, so I did it here at work. Different network worked.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this solution... you;re genius!!!

Greetings and Gratitude from Dumaguete City, Philippines....

Jyoti said...

hi! I am still getting this error can you help me in more detail. After downloading hotspot -- its says error the application not found. Please help. i need to get my itouch working. Thanks Jo

Leigh McCulloch said...

@jyoti: Sounds like you're having an issue installing the AnchorFree's software. You'll need to contact them, I'm sure their support will be able to help you out.

San said...

Thanks so much! That thing really solved the problem for me.

Emily said...

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU SOO MUCH!

Anonymous said...

Oh u r like a god man!!! Thanks so much for sharing this!!!

Anonymous said...

This also works with iPod -- Mine was experiencing this error and I said "What the heck, I'll give it a try.."

It works -- just download program and it does the rest. After it's connected, try to update your iphone /ipod again. It's really that simple!

Excessive J said...

Thanks.. It worked for me :)

Guilherme said...

u saved me, thx dude

Anonymous said...

you are a god.

Anonymous said...

Thankyou so so so much :)

Anonymous said...

Brilliant! Thank you so much for this. iPod Touch failed to update and wouldn't restore either - end of world!!! Tried everything, a whole afternoon wasted - much doom and gloom and gnashing of teeth - blundered into your blog. Didn't really expect it to work, but it did.

Emma said...

ITS NOT WORKING FOR ME!!!! im so scared right now. help!

Anonymous said...

Worked like a charm ... another success ... from Thailand!!!

Anonymous said...

ty it works great!!!!! i love youuuu

Anonymous said...

An alternative fix to this issue is to simply use a different code at the end of your hosts file "74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com" worked for me! Unlike "74.208.10.249 gs.apple.com". I did try the Hotspot Shield approach first but that didn't work for me. To be fair, editing the hosts file is much easier than having to play around with your network settings anyway.

aquilono@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

It's finally working...Big thank you for yr help..

Anonymous said...

is there a problem with saurik's server? cos using 74.208.105.171 is saying that 'Apple server cannot be connected to right now" and 74.208.10.249 is giving me error 3014 :(
any help?
Thanks.

Leigh McCulloch said...

I wouldn't use that specific IP to access their servers, it won't necessarily guarantee to fix your issue as the issue could be in between you and the server, and the servers that Apple use for activation change depending on your location and ISP (smart routing to closer servers). Stick with using a VPN like HotSpot Shield, or you could try a paid VPN like Strong VPN. I use the latter now.

P.S. I don't think either of those IPs are Apple, so they are probably un-trustworthy. Apple's gs.apple.com IP is 17.151.36.30.

Ryan said...

I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I installed Hotspot Shield, and yet continue to receive "error 3014." Any suggestions?

I'm amazed that there have been 79 comments, and it's worked for 100% of everyone.

Leigh McCulloch said...

Hey Ryan,

After installing the Hotspot Sheild, you need to connect to the Hotspot Sheild network. You should be able to do that by running the Hotspot Sheild, and if you're on a Mac there will be a little icon up in the top menu bar that looks like a red shield. Click it, and select Connect. Once you're connected (shield will turn green) then you can try again.

I'm not sure what Hotspot Shield looks like on a Windows PC, but it shouldn't be too different.

Cheers,
Leigh

Anonymous said...

Brilliant solution! worked for ios4

Anonymous said...

worked like a charm. and btw. any VPN woorks. thank you

Anonymous said...

iPhone 4 update to 4.0.1 also gave me the 3014 error. Hotspot Shield worked incredibly well. Thank you

Ailoan said...

Does this work with downgrading as well? It keeps giving me a 3194/3014 error code when I try to downgrade it to 3.1.2 or 3.1.3 :/

Leigh McCulloch said...

Hi Ailoan,
This should work with downgrading as well, although I haven't tried it. Please let us all know if it works or not!
Leigh

donutsafterdark said...

MASSIVE FAILURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS METHOD DID NOT WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Working like a charm using the Hotspot Shield

Didn't help for me to delete the cache file.

Anonymous said...

Just tried updating to 4.0.1 while pointing at Saurik's Server since we can no longer go to 4.0.1 legitimately. I was getting the 3014 error. Used Hotspot Shield and it worked like a charm. I did NOT try a different network though.

Anonymous said...

NOT WORKING DON'T READ ALL THAT CR*P COMMENTS,I HAVE GREEN LIGHT ON CONNECTED AND ALL AND STILL ERROR 3014

K.C.T. said...

I've been looking for a solution for the problem that my iTouch had for a couple of days now. I've tried everything under the sun. The problem was that my iTouch won't complete the restore process. It kept getting stuck in one of the steps and it's different steps that it's getting stuck on each time. Then one of the forums suggested this. And it finally completed the restore process. It's brilliant. Thanks alot!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Not bad, not bad at all. All I want to do is downgrade from 4.0.2 to 4.0 and with massive success too! thank you man, helped me out allot. ;-)

mim said...

Is it working for downgrade form 4.0.2 to 4.0.1 without SHSH?

Anonymous said...

thanks pal... this solution worked !! :)

FinnyD said...

Weird. Not working at all for me. Can you tell me what type of restore you all are doing and from where did you download the 4.0.1 firmware?

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