The Today in iOS / iPhone Podcast

Wed, 6 April 2011

Jailbreak - Untethered - iOS 4.3.1 using RedSn0W

Update: Make sure to read the comments at the end of trouble shoot help.

This is for Jailbreaking - NOT for unlocking. If you want to take your iPhone to another carrier (unlock) then this is not the tutorial for you.

Note: This tutorial works for iOS 4.3.1 for the iPhone 4 (GSM), iPhone 3GS, iPad1, iPod Touch 4th Gen, iPod Touch 3rd Gen. If your iOS devices is not listed it is not supported with this tutorial.

There are some very good articles on how to jailbreak but many miss a couple of steps that new jailbreakers need to know especially when it comes to using Cydia - the resource for finding and installing jailbroken apps. This tutorial tries to help those first time jailbreakers by covering both the jailbreak process step by step and also how to use cydia to install an app.

Do not try to jailbreak if you don't like when things go to (expletive). If you need your device for your business and being without it for any period of time will cause you to loose your job - stop now. If you get mad at your significant other at how they fold towels or put the toilet paper on a roll - Jailbreaking is probably not for your personality. Sometimes things break and your device will likely crash more often then if it was not jailbroken. Apple "claims" jailbreak voids your warranty if that is an issue stop now. Squaretrade still covers jailbreaking.

If your iOS device is already jailbroken - then check out this video tutorial on how to back up your jailbroken iOS device. (Thanks Brian for putting this together.)

Step 0 - Before you start make sure you update your iOS device to iOS 4.3.1 if you have not done so already. If you do not know how to update your iOS device jailbreaking may not be for you.

Step 1 - Close out iTunes and Turn off your iOS Device (make sure your iOS device is connected to your computer)

Step 2 - Create a folder called "jailbreak431" on your desktop.

Step 3 - Download Redsn0w from the following links

Redsn0w 0.9.6rc9:

Mac

Windows

Step 4 - Extract from the zip file (by double clicking) and drag the folder into Jailbreak431 Folder on your desk top.

Step 5 - Download the IPSW file for your iOS Device. (This will take some time as it is a big file - Over 600 MB)

IPSW (Firmware)

Step 6 - Move IPSW file into your Jailbreak431 folder.

Step 7 - Open the Jailbreak431 folder and then the Redsn0w folder and launch the Redsn0w App.

Step 8 - Click the browse button and find the Jailbreak431 folder and choose the IPSW file (Firmware).

Step 9 - Click the "Next" button once the firmware has been successfully identified

Step 10 - You will then be taken to a screen on the Redsn0w app that asks you to "select your options" - Instal Cydia will already be selected. For most users that is all you want selected - then click "Next"

Step 11 - You need to make sure your iOS Device is both turned off and connected to your computer. Do not connect via a USB hub or Keyboard or monitor port - Connect directly from the Computer USB port to the iOS device.

Note: If you connect your turned off iOS device to the computer at this stage - it will likely turn on your iOS device. If so after it boots up - hold down the power button and slide to turn it off again.

Once you confirm you are connected directly to your computer and the iOS device is turned off - you can click "Next" - Note this next step will take some good timing and following of directions.

Step 12 - As soon as you click Next - you will need to hold down the power button for 3 seconds

Step 13 - Then you will need to continue to hold the power button while you hold down the home button for 10 seconds

Step 14 - Then you will release just the power button while continuing to hold down the home button for 15 seconds.

If you / when you mess this step up by releasing the wrong button(s) you can click the back button and try again.

Step 15 - You will see a message saying Waiting for reboot.

Then one that says "done" Do NOT click on Finish yet.

On your iOS device you will see a bunch of activity including some code - Do not remove the iOS device from the computer. After a minute or so you will see a Pineapple with legs and a message Moving Applications. At this point just be patient the jailbreak process is finishing up. It will take a few minutes for the process to finish and for your iOS device to reboot. If it has been more than 10 or 15 minutes and the iOS device screen is all black - tap the home button one time - chances are it finished and you missed it. If it shows the slide to unlock screen you can then click "Finish" in the Redsn0w App.

That is it - you are jailbroken.

Step 16 - You can now find the Cydia App on your iOS device. It is a brown icon and labeled as "Cydia". Note some reports say right after the jailbreak - the Cydia App is showing up as all white - but after a reboot of the iOS device it returns to its normal brown icon.

Step 17 - Tap on the Cydia App to launch it. The program will do some maintenance the first time you open it.

Step 18 - Once it is done it will open up and you should see a screen that look like that below.

One App almost everyone will want and that works on the iPhone's, iPod Touch's and the iPad is the app Backgrounder. This app allows true multitasking on your device and it is free. To install this app Tap on "Search" in the bottom row of Cydia and then in the search box type "backgrounder"

Next Tap on "Backgrounder from BigBoss" the second one - not the one that says "(2.x only)"

Then Tap on "Install" in the upper Right corner

Then Tap on "Confirm" in the upper Right corner

At this point you have installed your first jailbroken App. It is recommended you open up Backgrounder and adjust some of the settings.

First tap on "Global". After you make your donation that is.

Set all the switches to "ON". Then go Tap "Back" and then Tap "Control"

Finally scroll through and select how you want to be able to enable and disable backgrounding for apps. Personally I like the "Short Hold" of the Sleep Button. It makes it very easy to enable and is not likely going to be enabled by accident.

Thats it you are now jailbroken and have your first real jailbroken app running on your device.

Please understand sometimes installs of apps are interrupted - in which case you need to try and re-install. Things are not as stable when you jailbreak - expect some additional crashes and conflicts between apps.

Note: If you have an iPad - do not - repeat - do not - install Five icon dock - it will really mess up your iPad and you will need to restore it. However that app works great on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Update: Make sure to read the comments at the end of trouble shoot help.

Category:breaking news -- posted at: 6:38pm EDT

Comments[23]

Rob, Maybe I'm wrong, but you never talked about Cydia sources. Please, can you name some for us?
posted by: MarcoB on 2012-07-02 04:40:18
i jailbreck it but when i do i don't see any icon ... what do i do
posted by: becky on 2012-02-14 00:32:20
hi i did it but there is no cydia or whatever icon on it ... what do i do
posted by: becky on 2012-02-13 23:15:23
my pineapple screen thing is not loading does it take a few mintentes or what ?
posted by: becky on 2012-02-13 23:12:32
OH Fudge!!!!!! I forgot to back up the jailbroken apps!!!! You warned me :). Thanks for the tutorial.
posted by: Edgar Perez on 2011-05-13 18:40:39
Thanks Rob. Huge fan. Links for RedSn0w have changed because of new release candidates. It may be best to redirect people here: http://www.quickpwn.com/redsn0w
posted by: Flaviu on 2011-04-28 16:32:06
I have a 3G iphone and want to upgrade to iOS 4.3.1. Are you aware of any untethered JB for my device? I'm currently using iOS 3.1.3 (JB w/jailbreakme.com) and are having problems with phone running slow (opening and exiting apps, safari, etc.) and want to know if I should restore to original settings and then JB or just connect to itunes and restore to my last backup? Additionally, i'm having problems updating all my apps in itunes on iphone any suggestions?
posted by: anxiously waiting iphone 5 on 2011-04-26 00:46:56
Hey Rob, Love your show, recommend it to everyone I know. Have an iPhone 4 running 4.2.1 and I've jailbroken it many times and that's the point. It takes time to get your phone just like you like it. I have my folders, themes, voice activator, springtomize, weather, dock etc. set up exactly like I like it. Unless I brick my phone, why mess with it? If I upgrade, I loose everything and will have to rebuild the phone back again. That takes time, patience and you never get your phone back exactly like it is now. Why do I or don't I really need to upgrade? What's the big advantage? What do I gain? In other words, what's in it for me? Are there really that many new improvements and bug fixes? Keep up the great job you do. Loyal Fan, Kagey
posted by: Kagey on 2011-04-16 18:33:55
@Dan: I downloaded the FakeOperator app from Cydia and that does the job. Note that this app won't add an app icon, but is reached via the preferences app. Cheers, Sebastian
posted by: Sebastian on 2011-04-15 21:11:04
I have a 3rd generation Ipos touch, I have never done a jailbreak on it, but I am considering it, but here is my question. i have a pair of motorola stereo bluetooth headphones, with mic. In my unbroken ipod touch when I run skype it says there is no mic. Is this apple's way of not letting us use skype with bluetooth mics and if so will jailbreaking fix this. thanks and I also learn from your show
posted by: Michael G on 2011-04-14 22:37:03
Hey Rob, love the show/App Just did JB and with the last JB as well as this one I cannot seem to change the Carrier name like i used to with "Erica" labeled App titled MIM or Make it mine. I have reinstalled the App and still no go. Any suggestions from you & or my fellow faithful Tii followers? Dan
posted by: Dan on 2011-04-13 14:27:34
Great tutorial! Upgraded my iPad from 3.2 or something to the latest version. Just having an issue with Cydia not displaying any details for some apps. The details screen just stays gray, e.g. on the Backgrounder app. So you can't read the details about an app and that may be dangerous if the app isn't suited for the iPad and the details say so. That's only an issue for some and the details show fine on others. Not sure if that may be a Cydia server glitch or something? My iPhone4 had a non jailbreak related issue - it was on 4.1 and iTunes (on a Mac) failed to update it to 4.3.1 . It came up with the 1013 error shown here: http://www.newsden.net/fix-iphone-4-error-code-1013-ios-4-2-1-upgrade-4932/ The steps given there fixed the iTunes issue for me and I could perform the jailbreak.
posted by: Sebastian on 2011-04-11 16:27:34
Thank you for making this tutorial. I was getting bored but now I hack games(only a few) and they are awesome. Not only that but even though the battery % didnt show up(does anybody know why?) this tutorial helped me enough and a lot.
posted by: Darren Park on 2011-04-11 02:27:47
I am confused on what is considered untethered, before this jail break it was never having to use the usb cable at all (remember jailbreakme.com) but there are steps in this one that requires you to use the cable to a pc or mac?
posted by: Thomas on 2011-04-09 11:50:21
You are so genus man i appreciate it, thank you.
posted by: Mike on 2011-04-09 04:45:07
will this jailbreak delete my music and videos
posted by: bryan on 2011-04-09 04:44:48
I've tried literally about for 12 hours to run redsnow on a windows 7 machine to no avail. It always locks up during the first few seconds. I've tried running it as administrator and from safe mode. Nothing works! Any ideas?
posted by: Kevin on 2011-04-08 20:48:02
The restore file iPhone3,1_4.3.1_84g_Restore.ipsw would not work on my phone. To make a long story short I had to search my computer and find my file in my Itunes folder iPhone2,1_4.3.1_84G4.ipsw and it work perfectly. This is due to the phone being made in week 40 which is identified by the serial numbers 4th and 5th digits. When I tried to use the one downloaded from your site first I had to figure out the the file extension had to be changed back to ipsw because in Windows 7 it downloads as a zip file. Then when I tried to jailbreak the phone with Red Snow everything was fine until it was suppose to load the files to the phone it just stayed on the first screen. John London
posted by: John London on 2011-04-08 07:15:05
Hello Rob! First off love the show! My experience is first I got an error (1013) when upgrading my jailbroken 4.2.1 iPhone 4, finally got it upgraded after changing to another PC. I'm thinking it might be a problem that I did install something in the registry to point to cydia servers instead of apples that was needed for some earlier jailbreak. Apparently Apple changed something in this update. After getting the devices installed with 4.3.1 Redsn0w kept getting stuck showing an icon on the iPhone for downloading jailbreak data, nothing more happened. After several attempts and searching around on forums I tried to run Redsn0w in Windows XP service pack 3 compatible mode on my Windows 7 64-bit PC and now it installed just fine. Took a few days before I got my Cydia apps installed, guessing servers were overloaded. All in all not as simple as previous Greenpois0n jailbreak. Well everything is running fine now and I'm waiting for a Jailbreak for my new iPad 2 (yes I was in line here in Sweden for about 1.5 hours and got my white iPad 2 32GB with 3G). FYI I have a twin simcard that cost med about 6 USD extra per month that let's me use the same dataplan I have available on my iPhone 4. I had the iPad 1 earlier and if for nothing else but just the feel of handling the iPad 2 was worth updating to the new one. Much more comfortable when I lounge on my sofa :-) Ps. Thanks to the nice little app in Cydia called Display Out I can actually watch movies rented in US iTunes store on my 50" plasma at home using some little HDMI adapter I found on Ebay. It's not the the same as the new adapter from Apple, but I guess ios device sees it as the VGA adapter and then the adater outputs the image and sound through HDMI. I wonder if anyone has used the Dispaly Out app on the new adapter from Apple? Could you watch rented movies from iTunes? The Display Out app also fixes so you can strecth the image to fit 16:9 or 16:10 screen ratios. I hope there will be some little simple airsharing device that simply plugs in to HDMI on tv and let's you stream games, videos etc. directly from ios device without need for a complete wifi network. A similar receiver that you could plug into your audiosystem at home to stream audio only would be nice to. Keep up the good work! Best regrards, Johan from Sweden
posted by: Johan Otterstrom on 2011-04-08 07:01:56
Hi rob justed wanted to let you know tganks for your jailbreak tutorial for 4.3.1. I have jailbroken before. I dont like to update alot a had 4.1 ipod before i did yge new update The step by step is very helpful for first time jailbreakers it help my friend out i send jim your tutorial and is know a tii app listeners 2. I saw you recommended backgrounder for first time jailbreakers. I would like to recomnend cydelete gor first time kailbreakers. This is if they add an app in the cydia store they can delete like a regular itunes app. Ok thanks and keep up the good work. Mario
posted by: Mario on 2011-04-08 06:56:32
Hi Rob, I was excited to hear about the latest untethered jailbreak. I have an iPhone 3GS. As soon as I got home from work, I proceeded with the restore to IOS 4.3.1. After 9000000 attempts failing (the restore would get stuck about halfway through, I Googled my problem and, whamo! The recommendation was to uninstall WiFi Sync. I did that and retried my restore - BINGO - worked perfectly! Just thought I'd pass this along! Janet L Rockton, IL
posted by: Janet L on 2011-04-08 06:50:03
Thank you for this rob. You're awesome.
posted by: Jonathan M on 2011-04-08 03:46:48
Hi, thanks for the informative step by step guide to an untethered jailbreak of 4.3.1 so soon. I'm just having an issue with redsnow, I do the steps to get it to waiting for reboot, it begins to load the data (the iPod screen shows a HDD and "Download jailbreak data") then redsnow crashes leaving the iPod hanging. Any ideas? Running redsnow on windows, it's failed three times. Thanks, the guide is much appreciated.
posted by: Thomas Knight on 2011-04-07 20:06:49

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