View Single Post
Old 05-01-2008, 08:06 PM   #1 (permalink)
Lincoln
Super Moderator
 
Lincoln's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 6,425
Thanks: 69
Thanked 260 Times in 200 Posts
Thumbs up What Jailbreaking Is And How To Do It

What is a jailbreak?

Jailbreaking is a process used to allowing installation of Apple-unauthorized applications in your iPhone or iPod touch. It is a very easy procedure. It's also safe: There are no risks in this operation*, as you can easily use iTunes to restore your iPhone or iPod touch to the default factory settings. When you do that, the iPhone will be like new.

Why jailbreak your iPhone or iPod touch from Apple's iron fist?

You should jailbreak your iPhone or iPod if you want to install really cool and useful applications that are not in the iTunes App Store. Many of these apps are a complete must for any iPhone user but are not allowed by Apple in their iTunes App Store.

This is what you can do with a phone that has been jailbroken:

• Use your iPhone as a 3G modem with your laptop (for iPhones with carriers not supporting tethering).
• Record video using Cycorder (for the V1 & iPhone 3G).
• Respond to a text message fron within any app
• Unlock your iPhone installing a simple program, so you can use a pre-paid card when you go out on vacation instead of paying outrageous roaming charges.
• Search websites like Google and YouTube from within Spotlight
• View home screen pages in an Expose-like manner
• Fully theme and customize your iPhone.
• Toggle services like WiFi, 3G, & Location Services from within any app.
• Download files from the internet in Safari
• Play Nintendo Entertainment System games and other emulated classic cames
• And much more

In other words: Do it.

*WARNING* Of course, the usual do this at your own risk and we are not responsible caveats still apply, but this process is really fool proof thanks to Apple's iTunes factory reset. If you are looking to unlock your iPhone now or in the future, DON'T USE THESE INSTRUCTIONS or you won't be able to unlock it. You will need a different process, which we will explain in another How To.
Freeing your iPhone or iPod touch

*Ultimate tip: Take a look at this chart from iClarified; it helps a lot. Thanks to eye-Fone for discovering this.*

Here's the easiest part: Running QuickPwn, PwnageTool, redsn0w, or any other jailbreaking utility. These are all programs that will easily "jailbreak" your iPhone or iPod touch. Jailbreak, as the name says, just means breaking Apple's limitations on accessing your device, allowing you put anything you want in it. This means installing any application you want, and not only the ones that Apple allows you to install.

Step 1. Jailbreak your device. Follow the appropriate link below to a detailed guide on how to jailbreak, depending on what device you own and what firmware version it is running (The latest, which is 3.1.2, is highly recommended.)


iPod touch

iPod touch - 1G or 2G - Mac - OS 3.0

iPod touch - 1G or 2G - Windows - OS 3.0

iPod touch - 1G - Mac - OS 2.0

iPod touch 1G or 2G - Mac - OS 3.1

iPod touch 1G or 2G - Mac - OS 3.1.2

iPod touch 1G or 2G - Windows - OS 3.1

iPod touch 1G or 2G - Windows - OS 3.1.2

iPod touch 3G - Mac - OS 3.1.2 WARNING: This jailbreak is tethered. This means that every time you want to turn on your iPod, you'll have to connect it to your computer and run blackra1n again. Not fun. But it still works.

iPod touch 3G - Windows - OS 3.1.2 WARNING: Same asa above applies; tethered jailbreak.


V1 iPhone & iPhone 3G

V1 iPhone/iPhone 3G - Mac - OS 2.2.1

V1 iPhone/iPhone 3G - Windows - OS 2.0.x

V1 iPhone - Mac - OS 3.0

V1 iPhone - Windows - OS 3.0

iPhone 3G - Mac - OS 3.0

iPhone 3G - Windows - OS 3.0

iPhone 3G - Mac - OS 3.1


iPhone 3GS

iPhone 3GS - Mac - OS 3.0

iPhone 3GS - Windows - OS 3.0

iPhone 3GS - Mac - OS 3.1

iPhone 3GS - Windows - OS 3.1

iPhone 3GS - Mac - OS 3.1.2

iPhone 3GS - Windows - OS 3.1.2

Installing the applications

This is where the fun starts. You will notice one or two new icons on your iPhone or iPod touch's springboard: There will be one called "Cydia", and possibly one called "Icy". These are the main two competing systems for installation of software. It doesn't really matter what you use to install your software - however, Cydia is most widely used and highly reccomended. They all allow to browse through and add a variety of sources/repositories.

• Browsing the catalogs. Whatever system you choose, installing applications is as easy as going through the available catalogs and picking the application you want. NOTE: Icy not pictured. Installer, an old app like Cydia and Icy, was pictured but has been blurred out as it is no longer supported.



• Manually adding applications. There will be times in which you will discover applications on the web which are not in the default catalogs in Cydia or Icy. Fortunately, you can add these by just entering the URL provided by the developer in the web page, a process that is referred to as "Adding a source". Here's how to do it:



• Click on "Manage."
• Click on "Sources."
• Click on "Edit" and then "Add."
• Enter the address in the dialog field.
• Click on "Add source."

Theming your device

One of the big parts of jailbreaking is customizing your device as much as you'd like, something Apple doesn't allow. This is all done via an application available in Cydia, called WinterBoard. WinterBoard is an application that hooks into the device's springboard and CoreUI to theme almost any element of the system you'd like. To start theming, follow the steps below.

Step 1. Download WinterBoard from Cydia. It's available without having to add any additional repositories or sources. After installing, this icon should appear on your home screen:



Step 2. Open WinterBoard. Inside are several items in a list, but they probably won't interest you just yet. You can enable some to test them out by tapping them to select them and then exit the application, but it's recommended you move on to step 3.

Step 3. Open Cydia again, and tap the Sections button at the bottom. Scroll down until you see Themes (SpringBoard) - this section contains over a thousand themes for your iPhone, allowing you to make it look just about any way you want. Download any of these themes, and they'll appear in WinterBoard. Note: An alternative source for iPhone themes, which, in my opinion, are higher quality than several of those found in Cydia, is at MacThemes. Also, check out EverythingiCafe's Cydia Repository for several themes, all which have come from MacThemes.

Step 4. Once you've downloaded a few themes, open WinterBoard again and select them (one at a time, ususally). You'll get many various results, and you can do just about anything with the look of your device. A few examples are below.



And that's it. Now you can install applications from the App Store, Cydia, Installer, and Icy If you have any questions pertaining to the jailbreaking process, applications available on jailbroken devices, or anything else like that, feel free to post them in this thread. Have fun!

------------------------------

*Some content taken from Gizmodo article on jailbreaking - credit goes to Gizmodo here. Also, all the guides I link to in the post are the property of and are written by iClarified - I am not iClarified, I do not own, nor do I have any sort of affiliation with it. Full credit to iClarified for all linked guides.

Last edited by Lincoln; 10-25-2009 at 08:55 AM.. Reason: Added guides for every iDevice configuration possible; removed info about Installer; updated other parts of guide
Lincoln is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following 12 Users Say Thank You to Lincoln For This Useful Post:
budsbava (09-22-2008), callisto9 (08-04-2008), Elbacanazo920 (10-30-2008), eye-Fone (10-16-2008), frizz (08-08-2009), glsda (11-15-2008), iPhoneMonster (05-10-2009), Krunk83 (10-25-2009), raezilla (07-23-2008), smknSRT8 (10-12-2008), sonicwind (07-31-2008), toyotaisme (12-02-2008)