March has been traditional month when Apple starts unwrapping its new generation of products and operating systems. Days before March, they revealed MacBook Pros and Mac OS X Lion. Now, are going to reveal iPad 2 and iOS 5.0 on 2nd March. We have already talked about potential solutions to Jailbreak iPad 2. Now is the time to discuss whether we will be able to Jailbreak 5.0. Before debating 5.0 jailbreak, we will give you a sneak peak at previous jailbreak tools.
Why Even Jailbreak?
Isn’t Apple’s iOS and rules suitable enough for its devices? Apple has really come a long way to develop its OS and may be they understand more about their products. However, Apple is considered to be extra genitive about its products. In most cases, users have to buy a locked iPhone on contract and cannot be used on another carrier. Unlocking iPhone has been concern of many users and it seems to be largest reason behind jailbreak.
Apple is also overbearing in terms of apps’ approval in its app store. Their terms have always been a criticized by developers. Cydia came forward to provide an alternative and let users install apps of own choice. You need to jailbreak to get access to Cydia. Tethering and visual customizations are also some major reasons behind jailbreaking iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
Nature of a Jailbreak:
A Jailbreak may be tethered or untethered, tethered will require to connect iOS device with PC/MAC to get into jailbroken state at every restart .There are also two categories of jailbreak depending upon type of vulnerabilities, one is userland and other is bootrom. Userland jailbreaks are untethered while bootrom based jailbreaks can be tethered and untethered. If there is a tethered bootrom exploit, it will required userland vulnerability to get untethered.
Jailbreak Tools in Past Year:
We saw plenty of tools to jailbreak iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Actually, we also witnessed a new type of jailbreak tools which exploited userland vulnerabilities. These jailbreak tools work on all iOS devices irrespective of bootrom. After Limera1n exploit, we got tools which used the bootrom exploit and iOS loophole to deliver untethered jailbreak. Limera1n itself is tethered but have enabled to jailbreak iPhone 4/3GS, iPad, and iPod Touch for life. Let’s take a look at tools.
Year 2010 began with Spirit Jailbreak which was also the first tool to jailbreak iPad. It supported to jailbreak iPhone and iPod Touch on iOS 3.1.3 and iPad on iOS 3.2.
Another userland jailbreak which was kind of special as it could be used by just browsing jailbreakme.com on your devices. It was first tool to jailbreak iPhone 4 as well. It worked on iPhone and iPod Touch running iOS 4.0/4.0.1 while iPad running iOS 3.2.1.
Geohot decided to quit jailbreak scene but released his last tool Limera1n which was also a bootrom exploit. It was compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch on iOS 4.1 while iPad on iOS 3.2.2.
Chronic Dev Team released Greenpois0n tool which delivered jailbreak for iOS 4.2.1 on all devices like iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
Besides, these major jailbreak tools other tools like redsn0w, sn0wbreeze, and PwnageTool were also released to aid in tethered jailbreak and custom firmware based jailbreak. Currently, we are waiting for to jailbreak 4.3 and Antid?0te may be the tool to accomplish iOS 4.3 jailbreak.
iOS 5.0 may Contain?
- iOS 5.0 may improve support for Multitasking.
- iOS 5.0 may get multi gestures support which was previewed in iOS 4.3 beta.
- iOS 5.0 will reportedly get revamped notifications systems.
We will list all features once iOS 5.0 is previewed by Apple.
Why Jailbreak 5.0 Firmware?
- Tethering was one of the major reasons which pressed users to jailbreak iOS device. It has been kind of eliminated as Apple has started support Personal HotSpot feature from iOS 4.3.However, MyWi on Demand is far superior that native support.
- 3rd party apps which offer many useful tweaks and aren’t approved by Apple will still be a major reason to Jailbreak 5.0.
- Many users would still pirated apps by installing installous which will require jailbreaking.
- Flash is still not supported by Apple and users would jailbreak to get it on iOS devices.
How, when, and who will Jailbreak 5.0?
Due to Limera1n exploit, all new devices like iPhone 4 [GSM and CDMA]/3GS, iPad, and iPod Touch 4G/3G are now tethered jailbroken for life. It seems that we will be able to jailbreak 5.0 on above listed device soon after the firmware is available. If the tool incorporates iOS vulnerability, it will be untethered jailbreak. SHSH Blobs may also enable untethered jailbreak for old devices.
The question arises about iOS 5.0 on iPad 2 and iPhone 5 as Limera1n will be surely fixed in these devices. Chronic Dev Team has a bootrom exploit named “SHAtter” which can make iPad 2, iPhone 5, and iPod Touch 5G “Pwned for Life”. However, there has been a controversy about SHAtter leak. If SHAtter didn’t reach Apple, the chances are bright that iPad 2 and iPhone 5 can also be jailbroken for life. It would become clear with launch of iPad 2.
If SHAtter gets repaired then we will have to wait for a new bootrom exploit for a long term jailbreak. In the meantime, we may get userland tools to jailbreak iPad 2 and iPhone 5 on iOS 5.0.
The hopes to iPad 2 and iPhone 5 are higher as GeoHot indicated a return with iPhone 5 Jailbreak.
Stay tuned through Facebook or Twitter to get updates on 5.0 Jailbreak.
