Jailbreaking Apple's iOS 5.1.1 proves not to be an easy task, you might run into trouble.

I've owned an iPhone 3G when it came out and after my experience with it, I will be never going to buy any iThing again: waiting for new exploits for jailbreak, waiting for new unlock solutions, for every and each iOS version. On Android it is much more simple, and on Nexus particularly, everything is done using Google's own software (and the unlock, if needed, can be realized through a simple PIN code). But I'm not going to compare these aspects, because it's clear who is the winner here.

The idea is that two days ago I've updated my brother's iPod Touch 4G to the latest iOS version (was running an antique one), promising that I'll jailbreak it again (he run into trouble when he was not allowed to install apps that were designed for newer versions of iOS).

So, I simply updated it without any problems, but afterwards I found myself into a stupid situation. No matter what I was doing, I couldn't jailbreak that iPod. I tried several applications of this kind, knowing they are supposed to work properly and to do untethered jailbreak on iPod Touch 4G. None of them finished their job, Absinthe for example started the jailbreak and seemed to do everything needed, but just after rebooting the iPod, it kept returning an error saying something went wrong. After a couple of reboots while trying to run it in different ways, it started to crash even before starting. I wasn't luckier at all with redsn0w, which sometimes seemed to start doing the jailbreak but crashed at the end (iPod still untouched), while other times it even refused to start the jailbreak. And I tried everything, even in Recovery Mode or in DFU, but with no avail.

The solution came with sn0wbreeze (I really recommend you trying with this one), which basically downloads the iOS version and modifies it, adding everything required for jailbreak (including Cyadia and everything else). By using iTunes (Shift + click on Restore, and selecting the modified iOS), I was able to jailbreak that iPod. Of course, this happened after having to apply something else first because I ran into another problem (failed to restore with an error code), but I fixed that easily with a search on Google.

I'm not here to criticize Apple or the guys who take care of jailbreak solutions, but I'm saying that everything is way too complicated and the only loser here is exactly Apple, because the fact that there are so many jailbreak options (4 at a first sight), translates into the following: there is a high demand for this kind of solutions, and iOS is more vulnerable than ever.

I'm not going to post here any links, but you can easily find everything you need with a search on Google. Good luck if you are trying to jailbreak an iDevice and...be patient. :)

No Limera1n or GreenPois0n icon on iPhone/iPod/iPad's SpringBoard after Jailbreak? You're just doing it wrong.

For those who didn't know, SpringBoard is the home screen of the iOS, the screen where all of your apps are located. I won't tell very much about Limera1n or GreenPois0n, they are just jailbreaking applications (Limera1n works on Windows and Mac, while GreenPois0n has a version for Linux also). Basically, they are quite the same thing (they're using the same exploit), and they work with any iDevice running 4.0, 4.0.2 or 4.2 firmware.

They are both very easy to use, you just have to download, run, and click "Make it ra1n!", and you'll be told how to put your device in DFU mode in order to start jailbreaking your device. A problem experienced by some of the people who tried jailbreaking their iDevices was that there was no Limera1n/GreenPois0n icon on the SpringBoard after jailbreaking (even though the applications said that jailbreaking succeeded).

The idea is that iTunes (it doesn't matter what version it is, it just needs to recognize your device) must be kept running while jailbreaking. Don't ask me why, I also had that problem, and when I left iTunes running while I used Limera1n, my jailbreak succeeded (when you see that drop rain on your iDevice, it means that jailbreaking succeeded). Probably, there's something in iTunes which allows the device to receive data while in DFU mode.

Who would have thought that there's such an easy fix for this problem?

Limera1n/Greenpois0n and iPad on 3.2.2? Better...not.

If you've got an iPad and you want jailbreak on it, my recommendation is to avoid the update to 3.2.2 (if you haven't done it already). My iPad was bricked today by a an app (it was stuck at boot logo), and I decided that because there was no way of recovering the data I had on it, the best option was to update it to the latest firmware, 3.2.2. But it turned out that it was a bad idea....

Everything went fine, iTunes 10 successfully updated it to 3.2.2, but the problems started when I tried to jailbreak it. Even though it seemed that the jailbreak succeeded, I couldn't find on the home screen the icon/shortcut/logo/app/whatever of the jailbreak tool I tried. I tried both limera1n and greenpois0n, on three different computers. One was running Windows XP, one was on Windows 7, and the other was on Mac OS X. However, on none of the them I got the icon of the jailbreak solution I tried. So, I couldn't get Cydia, so the jailbreak was completely useless.

I really don't know where's the problem, some people reported that both solutions worked fine from the first try on their 3.2.2 iPad, others reported that they tried of few times and than they succeeded, and others reported that they got in the same situation as me. I think that I tried about 25 times to jailbreak that iPad. I really got tired of these iDevices. Unjailbroken, the iPad it is just a bigger iPod, even a much cheaper Android-powered device being able to do much more that an iPad can. But if you jailbreak it (it's legal in case you didn't know, read more here), you'll get a big headache with all the bugs and problems jailbreaking brings.

I ended up by restoring the iPad to 3.2.1 (I had SHSH on file for 3.2.1, so it was quite simple), and I did the jailbreak using jailbreakme.com. If you're still on 3.2.1 (or 3.2) and you want jailbreak, make sure you do it before updating the iPad to 3.2.2, because at that time you can save your iPad's SHSH blobs without any problem.Having SHSH saved on 3.2.1/3.2 (or even on 3.2.2 if you get there with a jailbroken iPad) means that you can anytime downgrade/restore to the version you have that SHSH saved.

Use them on your own responsibility:

Jailbreak by limera1n (Windows, Mac OS X): http://www.limera1n.com/
Jailbreak by greenpois0n (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux): http://www.greenpois0n.com/

Limera1n is available, jailbreaks iOS 4.0-4.1.

Limera1n has been released yesterday evening, and after geohot got angry and pulled the download link (I don't know exactly why), it seems that Limera1n is now available for download again on the official website. This new jailbreak tool promises to jailbreak almost any device running iOS 4.0 or 4.1.

The supported products are iPhone 3Gs/4, iPad, and iPod Touch 3G/4G. For the unmentioned products: iPod Touch 2G support is coming soon, while for the iPhone 3G you must use redsn0w. For the moment, limera1n is available only for Windows, the compatibility for Mac is coming soon.

Theoretically, limera1n does hacktivate your device (allowing you to use it with any carrier), but many people reported problems after hacktivating their iPhones with limera1n, so I don't recommend you doing this yet (limera1n is currently in beta 4).

Hope I don't have to tell you that you're using it on your own responsibility, it is an unstable release so don't expect from it to be bug-free. You might have to restore your device or you may even get a bricked one as a result of using limera1n!

Download from here.

Apple just released iTunes 10.0.1, fixes lots of bugs.

Apple has just released a new version of iTunes, 10.0.1, which brings improvements to Ping (more exactly, it adds a new sidebar for it), and fixes lots of bugs. Here's the changelog of this update:

iTunes 10.0.1 makes it easier to share your favorite music with your friends on Ping. You can now Like or Post about music right from your iTunes library. You can also easily see the recent activity of a selected artist in your library, or of all artists and friends you follow on Ping using the new Ping Sidebar.

This release also provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

• Addresses an issue where the picture quality of a video changes depending on whether the on-screen controls are visible. 

• Resolves an issue where iTunes may unexpectedly quit while interacting with album artwork viewed in a separate window. 

• Fixes a problem that affects the performance of some third-party visualizers. 

• Addresses an issue where the iTunes Library and playlists appear empty. 

• Resolves an issue that created an incompatibility with some third-party shared libraries.

iTunes 10 comes with many new features and improvements, including:

• Introducing Ping. Use Ping to follow your favorite artists and friends or connect with the world’s most passionate music fans. Discover the music everyone is talking about, listening to, and downloading. 

• Rent HD TV episodes for just 99¢ each. Watch them on your Mac or PC, on-the-go with iPhone or iPod touch, or in your living room with the all new Apple TV. 

• Play your favorites on the all new iPod Touch, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, and Apple TV. 

• Play music wirelessly with AirPlay on AirPlay-enabled speakers, home theater receivers, and iPod accessories. 

• Explore many look-and-feel improvements throughout iTunes. 

• Enjoy performance improvements which make iTunes faster and more responsive. 

• Additional voice support with VoiceOver Kit for iPod.

It is not clear if this causes any problems with jailbroken devices, so if you have jailbreak on you iDevice, just stay away from it for now.

You can either get this new version via the Apple Software Update utility (on Mac), or you can manually download it for here (Windows & Mac users).

iOS 4.1 expected today. Jailbreakers must stay away!

Dev Team announced today that all those who need jailbreak and unlock must stay away from iOS 4.1, which is expected to be available today through iTunes. Especially those who need unlock, they should not update in any situation as the update will also update the baseband from the device and there's no way to downgrade or to unlock it.

If you have SHSH saved for any iOS version before 4.1, you will be able to downgrade the iOS, but the baseband will be still blocked. Saving SHSH is highly recommended, because if you got any issues with your current jailbroken iOS and you have to restore when the iOS 4.1 will be available, it will automatically restore your device to iOS 4.1, situation in which you'll be stuck with an firmware which can't be jailbroken (and the saved SHSH allows you to downgrade the firmware).

Apple about to patent a technology that allows them to detect if your iPhone was stolen or jailbroken.

Apple has made something like a....passion from patents. The last thing they want to do is to implement a technology which can detect if your phone has been stolen. This technology should help you in case if your device was stolen by notifying you about this situation and allowing you to remotely find it. However, the situation can stay a little bit different in practice, because Apple might be able to audiovisual spy you, by detecting if somebody with a different voice or face is using the device, and shutting down the device remotely.

But what's really worse, the technology should allow Apple to identify if the device has been jailbroken and unlocked, so they might have the possibility to kill the device remotely. A line in the patent also mentions that cellular carriers could shut down or cripple the device, if it is detected as jailbroken.

That's a good news for the retail, but for the customers, it is definitely something unacceptable.

You can read more on Engadget.

iOS 4.0.1 and 3.2.1 hitting the iPhone and the iPad. Jailbreakers MUST stay away!

Apple launched today two updates, one for the iPhone (4.0.1) and the other one for the iPad (3.2.1). It seems that these updates are patching the exploits used for jailbreak, so the guys who are working on these solutions are telling everybody who need jailbreak and unlock to stay away from these updates.

The only thing that the update does on the iPhone is to fix the signal issues (or at least, this is what Apple says). It is not confirmed if this fixes the issues or not (however, it seems that Apple silently recalled the iPhone, because many people who got their phone replaced are no longer complaining about the signal issues). I didn't find out yet what the update exactly does one the iPad.

I just warned you about what these updates do, but I won't offer you solutions for jailbreak at all. If you need, search on a dedicated website for something like this.

Apple launches iOS 4 today!

Apple is today going to launch their new version of iPhone OS, now named iOS. We are talking here about iOS 4, a new operating system for iPhones/iPods which adds over 100 new features to the iPhone 3GS, compared to the earlier OS version. It's a quite complicated story, because this new OS will be available only for the new iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

However, if you have a 3G iPhone, it has been already shown that the new iOS stresses the device considerably much. I recommend you not to update yet, and wait for some videos on YouTube to see how fast it moves. Apple is always making older devices (this time is 3G's turn) to move slowly with new software, in order to make people buy new devices (3GS or 4). And if you're on 3G, you won't have multitasking and wallpaper image (so there is no real need to update, in my opinion).

What else you need to know is that if you ordered a new 3GS today, it is already being delivered with iOS 4 so if you need to unlock it, there is no jailbreaking solution yet. Don't understand me wrong, iOS 4 has already been jailbroken, but the 3GS and the 4 will surely come with a new boot rom installed so you can't jailbreak them yet.

Anyway, if you need a jailbroken device, do not update yet, as the situation is not clear how to jailbreak iPhone 3G/3GS/4.

iPhone OS 4.0 - what's new?

Apple's new iPhone OS 4.0 has been announced for a while, and a beta version has also been launched, being available for developers only (I know, it's on torrent networks, but don't attempt to download and install it, because it won't work -- it must be activated with Apple's servers). Now I'm going to describe you what is new inside this version.

A new feature which everybody was waiting for and which Apple decided to implement, is multi-tasking. Or at least, this is what Apple says he has implemented. It won't actually be a full multi-tasking. True, applications like those ones used for music will be making multi-tasking, but games, for example, won't. As Steve Jobs showed in the presentation, if you play a game and you want to....browse a website for example, you have to double-click the home button (the game will pause), go to safari, browse, double-click again, and go to the game, and resume playing. So, the game won't be actually making a real multi-tasking.

Apple said that they didn't implemented multi-tasking since now because it consumes more resources and power, and they have found a method which resolves this. The main advantage of this "multi-tasking" is that apps like Skype can now run in the background, so you don't have anymore to stay into Skype to speak with somebody, without having any possibility to do anything else.

Now, iPhone can finally use folders. You can now put apps for games or for weather together, for example, in a singe folder, so you don't need anymore to browse through more screens just to find an application. This is something good.

Also, you can now set wallpapers. I don't know why Apple didn't implement this earlier, but it's good they finally made it. And you now have "unified" mailbox, so all the mails will come at the same time from all your accounts. This has bad and good points, and in my point of view, I think that it's better without this feature.

What really sucks, is that Apple is going to implement iAd. This means that now everything on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is going to have ads. Steve Jobs said that this is a good feature, and it is, for advertisers, but for regular users, it is a disaster.

And, from what is known, there will still be no Flash in iPhone OS 4.0. This is totally stupid. I now think that the iPhone is never going to have Flash.

Apple says that this upgrade will be available only for future generations of iPhone, and for the 3GS. Guys who are working on jailbreak solutions showed clearly that Apple does this just for the people to buy new iPhones. Because they ran the OS 4.0 beta on both 3G and even 2G, without any difficulty.

And, you have to know that this new software was jailbroken in less than 24 hours since it was launched, so, probably, when the new OS will be available for anybody, jailbreaking will be easily done on any iPhone.