Jailbreaking

A tethered jailbreak requires the iOS device to be plugged into a computer when turned on. If the iPhone is not plugged into a computer and booted with special software the device will not enter a jailbroken state.

Untethered jailbreaks do not require a computer. Everything required to enter the jailbroken state is contained on the iPhone. Rebooting away from a computer does not affect the jailbreak. iOS 4.3.3 and older jailbreaks including PwnageTool, limera1n, greenpois0n and sn0wbreeze are untethered solutions.

Tethering with iOS 5 and redsn0w 0.9.9b7

So you've jailbroken your iPhone and have all these great apps and tweaks running. What if something happens and you need to restore? How can you back up your jailbroken apps?

Cydia and iTunes will not back up your jailbreak apps. Try these two solutions to make the process of reloading all of those packages from different sources a little bit easier.

Once you have jailbroken your iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS MC model with redsn0w you must boot the device tethered for Cydia to work and the device to operate in a jailbroken state. To boot your iPhone tethered follow these steps:

1. Plug your iPhone into your computer.
2. Turn off the iPhone.
3. Follow these instructions to put the iPhone in DFU mode.
4. Run the redsn0w program on your computer.

You may be wondering if your iPhone is an MC model. Redsn0w 0.9.6b4 will jailbreak all iOS 4 devices, however if you have an MC model (new bootrom) the jailbreak is tethered in its current version. This means that any reboot to a jailbroken state requires your iPhone to be connected to a computer.

All iPhone 4 hardware requires a tethered jailbreak, while all iPhone 3G models can be jailbroken untethered. iPhone 3GS comes in MB and MC models.

Cydia makes for a great place to download jailbreak apps, but sometimes it's really slow. Especially on an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 3G. Try this hack to speed up Cydia. The trade off is that Cydia will no longer display ads or app screenshots.

1. SSH into your iPhone and navigate to /private/var/stash/Applications/Cydia.app

2. Copy package.js to a backup file.

3. Edit package.js and navigate to line 196. Find the following code and rewrite it to match the following:

var depiction = package.depiction;
if ((!commercial) && (depiction == null || true))