Jailbreak iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Last week we reported that the well-known hacker Geohot might call his next jailbreak tool rubyra1n. Now guts from Dev Team hit that they know something about Geohot’s effort to bring a proper untethered jailbreak to iOS 4.2.1.

A recent tweet from MuscleNerd confirms the rumors: “I hear geohot does have an untether actually! Though not for all devices”.

May be soon we will jailbreak our devices with a new tool from George Hotz (better known as Geohot) called Rubyra1n. On March 27, 2010 George Hotz registered two domains limera1n.com and blackra1n.com, another jailbreak tool Hotz released last year. The new rubyra1n, however, doesn’t share the same data with limera1n.com — an app released in October to jailbreak iOS 4.1. Geohot doesn’t comment these rumors anyhow, but we, obviously, wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him coming out with his own iOS 4.2.1 jailbreak for all devices.

The iPhone Dev team has just released the second beta of their untethered RedSn0w jailbreak (the first beta has been released few hours ago and has more bugs).

New jailbreak is called “Jailbreak Monte”, as it uses new “backup method”. The iPhone Dev Team warns that their beta-version is not a general release and you should back up all your media before using it. There are also other limitations and bugs:

• The beta is limited to iPod touch 4G, iPad and iPhone4;
• The team asks not to participate in testing if you rely on the ultrasn0w carrier unlock;
• The bluetooth functionality is disabled due to sandbox problem;
• iPod player works only on iPod touch 4G;

To use this version of jailbreak Cydia should have your 4.2b3 SHSH blobs saved on file and following:

“You must already have the usbmuxd software installed and running on your Mac (this requirement will eventually go away too). The correct invocation of the relay is just as that page says: “./tcprelay.py -t 22:2222”.  If the relay isn’t installed or running correctly by the time the redsn0w ramdisk has started, you’ll need to restore to stock FW again to try it again. Please test it beforehand to save yourself some time!”

Now, if you’re ready to apply this version of jailbreak, upi can download redsn0w 0.9.7 beta here.

After downloading and applying just select “Jailbreak Monte” to try out the untether.

The iPhone Dev team asks to test it after a fresh restore in order to keep track of the variables involved. Be careful!

By the way, iPodUplink has posted a video where you can see how to jailbreak your device with the latest version of redsn0w:

MuscleNerd from iPhone DevTeam tweeted that an untethered jailbreak solution for iOS 4.2.1 will be released soon, probably next week.

scotty6kids78: @MuscleNerd are we any closer to the unteathered #jailbreak for the new #ios4.2 on #iphone4 ?

MuscleNerd: @scotty6kids78 it’ll be here by Xmas (not because we’re sitting waiting for Xmas, but because it’s achievable deadline)

This untethered solution will be applicable to all current iOS 4.2.1 devices, including iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad, Apple TV 2G and iPod touch 4G. We will keep you updated.

This week Google has released a new version of its client app for Android Market, which will work on any smartphone running Android OS 1.6 or higher.

The company aims to facilitate the process of discovering new software and its purchase. That’s why new Android Market will have a Cover Flow-like style of app listings and include new categories like Widgets and Live Wallpapers, as currently the catalog is filled pretty much with these kinds of software. Besides that, app pages will now have more info and links to related content.

Some changes were made to the policy of software returns. If earlier user could take his money back in case he didn’t like the app he bought within 24 hours, now this time is shortened to 15 minutes.

As the number of Android devices continues to grow and it becomes hard for developers to make their apps hardware compatible with as many existing handsets as possible, Google presents its new solution:

“To make it easier for developers to distribute and manage their products, we will introduce support for device targeting based on screen sizes and densities, as well as on GL texture compression formats.”

Another important feature of new Android Market is a new limitation of app file size, which is now extended to 50 MB (earlier it was 25 MB). This is still 40 times smaller than the current limitation for iOS apps (2GB). This can be explained by the fact that iOS apps can be downloaded not only via its mobile client (like apps for Android), but also via iTunes, that can be connected to the Internet in any possible way and thus capable to download such amounts of information. Nevertheless, some developers pass this limitation by offering tiny apps for Android that can download necessary files (like music, textures, video) of any size after its purchase.

However, Google’s attempts to create a rival to an App Store still are not successful as they can be. AppleInsider has studied the subject and revealed that the Android’s openness has led to a number of cases when popular titles like Radiant were cracked to be used as illegal copies by “97% of players in Asia, 70% in Europe and 43% in North America”. That’s why most of developers like Rovio (which created Angry Birds) offer free versions of their apps to earn money from showing the ads. But that kind of income is not as profitable as offering paid apps, which makes iOS more attractive for developers than Android.

It was also noted that Android Market offers poor security for users, though this situation can be changed by cleaning up the store. At least, that was what the developer of DoubleTwist Jon Lech Johansen advised Google more than a half a year ago, but the company has not still made any steps in that direction.

Apple has reportedly disabled its jailbreak detection API through iOS 4.2 software update. The API helped third-party mobile device management (MDM) applications to check for unauthorized modifications of system files. Apple’s jailbreak detection API provided MDM applications direct access to iOS system information and was able to ask the operating system directly if it had been jailbroken. Jailbreak exploits typically change a number of operating system files, and exploit one or another low-level OS features to let users directly load their own or third-party applications.

“We used it when it was available, but as an adjunct,” says Joe Owen, vice president of engineering at Sybase, which offers the Afaria device management software. “I’m not sure what motivated their removing that….”

Currently iOS 4.2.1 jailbreak for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS new bootrom, iPad, iPod 3G/4G is a tethered jailbreak. That means if you have to reboot your device, it will show a “connect to itunes” logo until you run the jailbreak software again. Musclenerd from iPhone DevTeam has announced that untethered jailbreak for iPhone iOS 4.2.1 is ready. Unfortunately this will be only for those who saved 4.2b3 SHSH keys via Cydia or tinyumbrella.

Got “backup plan” for untethered 4.2.1 JB working (video coming up). Uses mysterious 4.2b3 hashes Cydia kept for you.

“Backup plan” because hacker comex is working on a more extensible jailbreak. We’ll keep you up to date with more information as it develops. For now you can watch the proof video:

Graviboard is an upcoming interesting iOS jailbreak application, which will be soon available in the Cydia Store for $2.99. The application allows iDevice owners to set their icons free by abolishing the gravity that holds them on their places on the Springboard. You may drag these “floating” icons around the screen, and there still might open the apps by touching.

Everybody knows that the iPhone Springboard can’t be turned in landscape mode. Apple wants you to hold the device in portrait mode only. But some apps, like Mail, support the horizontal orientation. So, Cydia developers offer us the alternative solution, a new hack available in Cydia called “SBRotator” ($1.99). If you change your iPhone’s orientation, using the app, the Springboard will just follow it. But Springboard orientation change requires a proper layout change too. SBRotator puts an extra tab which enables you find the configuration that best suits your needs. Moreover, the program allows you to resize icons for landscape mode.

UPDATE: Please think first, before you do something.

UPDATE2: If you have 05.13 baseband or lower – do not update to 4.2.1, use PwnageTool to create custom firmware!

This is step-by-step instructions on how to jailbreak and unlock your iPhone 3GS on iOS 4.2.1 firmware using RedSn0w 0.9.6b5 for Windows.

For iPhone 3G use this tutorial.

If you have an iPhone 3GS with the new bootrom you will only be able to perform a tethered jailbreak at this time. This means you will need Redsn0w’s assistance to boot into your jailbroken device.

IMPORTANT FOR UNLOCKERS
During this process you can update your baseband to the 06.15 version. If you are on 05.14 or 05.15 or higher you will need to do this to unlock. You do not need to do this for jailbreak only. Please read the following very carefully before deciding whether to do this.

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