Thursday 29 December 2011

iPhone 4, iOS5.0.1 Untethered Jailbreak

 So they finally did it! a fully working iOS5 untethered Jailbreak.

For those of you doesn't know what this means here is a basic explanation:

When Apple release a new update (like when they released iOS5 with its new features) everyone wants to get their hands on it, including those who have already jailbroken their iDevice.

Jailbreak - Its a form of a hack that changes certain files on the iOS firmware so that it is no longer locked to Apple. The benefit is that you can now tweak the iDevice to how you like it - not how Apple say it should be. Also there are loads of developers out there that create tweaks and apps for the iDevices but don't get accepted by Apple into the App Store which can be found once the Jailbreak has been applied.

Tethered Jailbreak -  This form of jailbreak is commonly around after a new update has been released on the iOS from Apple. Its a temporary Jailbreak that gets released to the public for those people that desperately want to upgrade to the latest update but also have a jailbroken iDevice. The hack however only works when certain files are applied while the iDevice boots up and so to turn on a tethered Jailbroken iDevice you need access to a computer. 
This is not practical at all as your iPhone or iPod could be drained of battery while you are out, far away from a computer and simply charging the device won't switch it back on. You would need to connect it back to a computer that already has the software on it to boot up your jailbroken iDevice and run that software so that it can apply those files again to turn it back on in jailbreak state.

Untethered Jailbreak -  This is the fully hacked Jailbreak that works like a normal iDevice would. The boot files are hacked so that now there are no extra files that need to be loaded into the iDevice which means a reboot is as easy as switching it off and back on again without the need of a computer. The only problem with the untethered Jailbreaks are that they are much harder to create and so in some cases (like the iOS5 in particular) it can take months before the untethered jailbreak is released.


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Now as I was eager to get access to the iCloud service that came on iOS5 I went ahead and did the iOS5 upgrade and went along with the tethered jailbreak hoping that the untethered version would be out shortly after. I always keep my iPhone charged up as I have a charger at home, in the car, at work and a spare one with the laptop that always travels with me. Also since I pretty much always have my laptop with me I couldn't see it being an issue as I could just boot up the iPhone from that should it die on me.

At first it was fine and I set the iPhone up the way I wanted it, just like it had been before I had done the iOS upgrade. But then after a few days of making final tweaks and constantly having to reboot the phone with the silly process of putting the phone into recovery mode every time, I started regretting doing the upgrade. 

There was this one time however when I was out, far away from my car to charge up the iPhone, far away from the laptop to reboot the tethered iPhone... and that day I really needed to reboot it.
For some reason as I came out of the underground station my reception did not lock back onto the 3G signal and so I did not have any Internet connection on the iPhone. Unfortunately the only way to fix it was to reboot it but if I tried to do that without my laptop the phone would freeze on booting state and leave me with a very expensive brick, at least without rebooting it I had a phone that I could call and text with.
But I was desperate to get the Internet whilst I was on the move so I searched the local high street I was on for a phone repair shop... surely they could reboot the iPhone for me, and luck just had it that I did find a mobile phone and laptop repair shop that knew all about the iPhone jailbreaks and very nicely rebooted my iPhone for me in a matter of minutes.


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But finally the clever hackers out there found the way to liberate the iPhone 4 running iOS 5.1 with the untethered Jailbreak. Truly a happy moment for not having to be stuck with the constant thought of needing the laptop with me should the device need rebooting, no feeling of chains around me as I was freed from the burden of tethered apple software (note to self - never do a tethered jailbreak ever again!)


So I backed up the iPhone and all the Jailbreak tweaks that I had installed and then did a custom restore using the new untethered jailbreak iOS. It took a few hours restoring the settings and setting up the tweaks the way I liked them but once I was done the iPhone was working perfectly! It didn't even seem like I had changed anything as everything was running smooth, only now I can reboot the iPhone whenever i need to without the need to connecting it to a laptop.
Oh Happy days!


Update... The geeks have now fully hacked the iPhone 4s and iPad 2 with an Untethered Jailbreak. If anyone wants me to do this jailbreak for them just contact me on Support@ashnet-it.co.uk