Jailbreak, Step by Step

by Louis Marquez / June 26, 2010 12:00 AM EDT

Hello iPhone users, in view of the numerous questions and comments generated by users, I have created this tutorial to make this process a little easier, taking into account that for most of you it is the first time you have done this, so let's get started.

Preliminary Considerations.

To ensure a successful jailbreak, it's important to understand that there are two recovery modes for iPhones and iPod Touches: DFU Mode and Recovery Mode. DFU Mode involves pressing and holding the Home and Sleep buttons for 10 seconds. After this time, release the Sleep button while continuing to hold the Home button for approximately 8 seconds. When you open iTunes, it will notify you that a device has been detected in recovery mode. Recovery Mode involves turning off the device and then holding down the Home button while connecting it to your PC/Mac. The screen will display a message to connect to iTunes. This mode works when DFU Mode fails, but we won't go into detail for now; the important thing is to know how to execute DFU Mode correctly.

Compatible Devices.

iPhone 3Gs (Old Boot), iPhone 3G, iPod Touch 2G (Non MC)

Available Programs.

Redsn0w.

It was the first program to allow jailbreaking devices. It's only compatible with the iPhone 3G and the iPod 2G (non-MC). It offers many options, such as enabling the battery meter, installing Cydia, enabling multitasking, and setting wallpapers. In fact, if you notice your device is slow, you can use this tool to disable wallpapers or multitasking, or even both if you wish. Just make sure to uncheck the box indicating you want to install Cydia, since you already installed it. In my experience, wallpapers shouldn't be enabled on these devices, as they are the main cause of slow performance. Multitasking only becomes problematic when more than five applications are running in the background. The steps to jailbreak with redsn0w are: select the downloaded firmware, connect your device to the computer, turn it off, and click "Next" on the program. The program will guide you through the steps to enter DFU mode. This is a completely automatic process, and the device will restart. After this, your device will be jailbroken.

It's important to note that redsn0w is in beta, however, I haven't had any problems jailbreaking it, even when enabling and disabling features. It's compatible with Windows and Mac OS X. No issues have been detected when using YouTube and push notifications, unlike what happened with the release of iOS 3. The only problem found was that some users had trouble downloading books with the iBooks app, but this has been fixed in this version.

Download Links:

Mac OS X:

Windows:

The next post will discuss Pwnage Tool 4, noting for now that it is only compatible with Mac OS X.

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