What’s old is new again!
Jailbreakers with devices that pre-date the iPad2 will always be able to downgrade (with SHSH blobs) to previous firmware versions due to geohot’s limera1n exploit, which allows us to bypass the restrictions that Apple places on restores. But until now, that ability has been limited to those older devices (if you have an older device and don’t know how to do that, check the popular tutorial sites or ask in the comments below).
Starting with redsn0w version 0.9.11b1, those with newer devices (iPad2, iPad3, and iPhone4S) can join the downgrade fun too! In a radical departure from previous versions of redsn0w, it now directly supports restoring IPSWs to your device. The first use of this new feature implements a hack that allows A5 downgrades without a bootrom-level exploit.
Some important points:
Of course all eyes are on @pod2g for his upcoming 5.1 untethered jailbreak. Watch his blog or twitter feed for the latest updates about that, but in the meantime if you accidentally updated your jailbroken A5 device to something later than 5.0.1, feel free to try this new A5 firmware downgrade feature of redsn0w!
Update #1: We accidentally left out one of the two flavors (“9A406”) of 5.0.1 for iPhone4S. It’ll be in the next update, but in the meantime check if Cydia or TU saved your blobs for the other 5.0.1 for iPhone4S (“9A405”). Version 0.9.11b2 adds support for that second “9A406” flavor of 5.0.1 for the iPhone4S.
Update #2: Version 0.9.11b3 should fix the spurious “Restore failed” messages people were sometimes getting, and it behaves better with nearby devices that have wifi syncing enabled!
Update #3: Version 0.9.11b4 completes the tethered JB support for 5.1.1 on A4 devices and earlier, including proper “Stitching” and “Custom” creation of NO_BB IPSWs.
Here are the redns0w download links:
Despite the awkward name Apple announced last week for the new iPad (we’ll continue to call it iPad3!), by all signs it’s going to be another big hit. We suspect many of you are lined up at this very minute, and so it’s a good time to give you some info for maximizing your chance to eventually jailbreak the iPad3.
There are a few bits of good news already.
That’s three different angles, and we’re not even including the continuous work @pod2g makes towards a new jailbreak! As always, keep in mind this is very preliminary progress, and it’s impossible to predict how or when these things turn out. The only thing you need to remember is the golden rule:
Don’t update your new iPad3 past whatever iOS it comes shipped with
By the way, it’s rare but entirely possible that some of you may find your iPad3 comes with an iOS version that’s not quite 5.1. If you do, be sure to let us know in the comments below!
Update #1: It turns out that all three of the jailbreak methods mentioned above have had great success today! We’re off to a good start (but remember there’s still lots of work to do)!
As the whole tech world waits for today’s Apple Event, it seems like a good time to remind both veteran and amateur jailbreakers about the fundamental rule of jailbreaking: Avoid firmware updates!
In all likelihood we’ll see the GM “gold master” version of 5.1 this week. DO NOT UPDATE TO 5.1, because you may lose your jailbreak! The rest of this post details the subtleties with this rule, but if there’s only one message to take home, it’s the overall “do not update” message! Now for the nitty gritty exceptions:
As you can see, it really is a nuanced landscape so it’s sometimes hard to drive the message home to new jailbreakers. But the basic rule is the simplest (and it’s better to be safe than sorry!): If you update to 5.1 you’ll very likely lose your jailbreak, so don’t do it! Exceptions are noted above.
Now let’s see what Apple unveils today!
Here’s a quick breakdown of how many A5 owners have jailbroken their devices since Friday morning. The numbers as of Monday afternoon are:
Total: 953,232 new A5 jailbreaks in a little over 3 days
The reason these numbers can be so precise is that one of the housekeeping activities that happens when you launch Cydia is a query to @saurik’s server for the list of available SHSH blobs. (Even if you have none on file, the query is still made).
Welcome to the jailbreak family!
P.S. Remember the cardinal rule of jailbreaking: never update your firmware until a new jailbreak is available. This is especially true for A5 owners, who currently have no way of restoring to 5.0.1 once the 5.0.1 SHSH blob signing window is closed.
Ever since the December release of @pod2g’s “corona” untether for iOS 5.x on A4 and earlier devices, all eyes have been on the attempts to extend it to the A5 devices: the iPhone4S and iPad2. Due to the combined efforts of @pod2g and members of the iPhone Dev Team and Chronic Dev Team, we’re nearly ready for a general release! All technical hurdles dealing with the underlying technique have been overcome, and it’s now all about making the jailbreak as bug free as possible.
On his blog, @pod2g playfully nicknamed the combined effort a “dream team”. It’s an ironic name, because the past few weeks have left everyone involved with very little sleep and the opportunity to dream :) But we’re now near the final stages of testing the public version of the jailbreak. Please allow time to clean up any remaining bugs in the jailbreak clients.
Jailbreak programs:
To be as flexible as possible, the A5 version of the corona jailbreak will take multiple forms:
Paypal Contributions:
Because there were so many different people and teams involved in the A5 corona release, we all felt the most equitable approach to any Paypal contributions should involve a single shared account. If you do feel the desire to contribute to the “dream team” Paypal account, it will be distributed to the members according to internally agreed-upon proportions :) (Please refer to this blog post for that specific http://is.gd/39YMWg link, to avoid frauds!) The same link will be on both the Chronic Dev and iPhone Dev versions of the GUI. This method seemed like the fairest to everyone involved!
Firmware:
The supported firmware versions will be:
iPhone4S owners looking to maximize their chances of achieving an eventual software-based carrier unlock should be staying at 5.0. Everyone else should be at 5.0.1. If you’re an iPhone4S owner who already updated to 5.0.1, it’s too late to go back down to 5.0, but if you’re on 9A406 it is possible to downgrade the BB by going to the 9A405 version of 5.0.1 while the window is still open.
Support:
The overall flow used by the GUI and CLI to inject the A5 corona jailbreak has never been done before, and there may be unforeseen problems once it’s released to the public. It’s very important for you to sync your data, photos, and music before attempting any version of this jailbreak. We’ll be watching the comments section below for signs of any widespread problems, but please be aware that you jailbreak at your own risk!
When:
As mentioned at the start of this post: when testing has shown most of the bugs have been fixed!
Updates: