During the weekend, I received an iPhone 4 so that I could run some tests and upgrade from 4.3 to 5.0.1. The phone itself seemed to be sluggish while on 4.3, I did notice that iOS 5.0 improved graphics experience and motion sense when I upgraded my 3Gs from 4.2.1 to 5.0 a few months ago. The jailbreak process is so simple, that I was able to jailbreak while I was waiting for a IPSW file to be downloaded.
I did checked a few online tools, including the so-called famous Redsn0w but I had to download iOS 5.0 in order to complete the jailbreak. Please note I tried this on Friday, just hours before the latest Redsn0w was released. The latest Redsn0w 0.9.9b9b has the ability to jailbreak without requiring iOS 5.0.1.
That could have saved some time but I'm glad I was able to use other tools. I'm sometimes skeptical when using tools not developed by the traditional developers. The tool I used and is so famous now, is called Ac1dSn0w, you can download it here.
Once you have downloaded Ac1dsn0w, follow this instructions (Mac Only):
1. Open Ac1dSn0w and you will get to this screen:
2. Click both "Show Console" and "Show Assistant" so that you get an idea of what's happening.
3. Connect the device to your Mac. The device should be on and plugged into the computer. According to the Ac1dSn0w instructions, you should turn the device off and use the DFU mode assistant. It did not work in my case, if it works in yours feel free to do it that way, I think that's unnecessary, so just continue to step 4.
4. Place your device in DFU mode. To enter in DFU mode, your device should be plugged in and on. Then press and hold both power/lock and home button for 10 clock seconds. On 11th second, release the power/lock button without releasing the home button. The device screen should be blank and the device will be found as in "recovery mode". That's DFU.
5. Once in DFU, hit the Jailbreak Button from Ac1dSn0w. It will take a few minutes, the device will reboot. Once it reboots you won't see Cydia installed, that's OK. Continue to step 6.
6. Place your device in DFU mode again, and hit the Tethered Boot button from Ac1dSn0w. Your device will reboot and Cydia will be installed (blank logo).
7. Cydia will cache all files and restart itself. Wait for it to do everything itself, don't do anything but to wait.
8. Once Cydia has completed, you will be taken to the lock screen, go back and re-open Cydia. Then update all essential updates (not complete updates).
9. Once everything is updated, go to Sources and add this source: http://thebigboss.org/semitether as a repository. If you get an error, remove the repository and add it again.
10. Search for a package called "Semitether" in Cydia, and install it.
After all this, you should be all set running your device in iOS 5.0.1. If you are required to reboot your device you will be able to do so. However, you won't be able to use jailbroken required apps, Mail, Safari, or Cydia. If you accidentally reboot your device, you will need to DFU and booth tethered using Ac1dsn0w so that you can use these apps.
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