Jailbreak your Ipod

Well, if you are reading this, you probably have gotten yourself one of those cool Iphones.  Thanks to Apple finally giving in, we can now have this awesome phone with a Verizon call plan. That means a lot more of us can finally join in on the fun. So you picked one up from the store, but you really want to know what your new piece of wizardry can do.  Put simply you want more (and cooler) apps.  You've probably heard a few people say they have their Iphone jailbroken and tell you about all the cool things they can do with their phone now.

What is jailbreak?

Well put simply, jailbreaking your Iphone means you get to add a third-party installer called Cydia to your home screen.  Through this wondrous app, you can download all sorts of other apps, themes, and settings not normally available to you. Best of all, a lot of them are free!  This also gives you a great avenue to try some apps before you spend your precious dollars in the App Store.  A lot of developers test their apps here to see how many of you are going to download and try it, so dont feel bad for doing so. We could get into a lot more, but lets keep it simple for the purposes of this blog.



Is this harmful to my Iphone/Ipod?

For all normal extents and purposes, no.  I started with an Ipod and have jailbroken quite a few Apple Ipod and Iphones since.  The worst thing thats going to happen to you (dont quote me on this!), you'll lose your entire memory and you'll have to get those precious songs, photos and jailbroken apps all over again.  While this does suck, if this makes your stomach cringe you may be going into the wrong arena here.  Its always a good practice to back-up your Ipod/Iphone before attempting any of the steps listed here.

Is this legal?

Thanks to new developments, it is now.  We may never know how they quite pulled that off. But that's good news for us, so start to hacking your device without feeling bad.

Jailbreak your Iphone/Ipod:

Things you'll need:

1.  An Apple Iphone/Ipod 2g 3g or 4g
2.  Wireless Internet and
possibly
3.  A computer (Windows or Mac)
4.  Some gumption.

I always suggest jailbreaking your device the moment you get it out the box.  That way, if something does mess up or you do find yourself bricking your Ipod, you haven't loss anything quite yet (except a little bit of time).  For your older Ipod/Iphones (3g or older) the jailbreak process is quit simple. Open your browser on your device and navigate to http://jailbreakme.com.  If you haven't hooked up to Itunes and upgraded to 4.2 firmware, you should be able to slide the bar and Voila!, your done.  Don't worry if your device can't handle it, it will tell you so in advance.  No harm done.

But you have the new Iphone 4 or you've upgraded lately and you're getting the "Your Device is too New" error?  Well don't fret.  It's a little bit more complicated but not hard at all to get your device jailbroken.  First, you want to download a tool called RedSnow to your computer.  This program will allow you to replace the current 4.2 firmware you have with a previous one and will automatically add Cydia to your homescreen.  Once you have downloaded the program, it will ask you to connect your device and place it into DFU mode(it comes with instructions on how to do this) and it pretty much picks it up from there.  However you will need to download a lower version firmware for the RedSnow to pick up.  You can download it from here. Use Itunes (press control and click the Restore button...this will only work in DFU mode) to get your 4.0 firmware into your ipod.  You can't go any lower than that because Itunes will not allow it to be "pushed" into your device.

Another option that is well worth trying is a program called  GreenPois0n.  Pretty straight forward.  Download this program to your computer, hook up your Iphone/Ipod, and it will ask you to place your phone into DFU ode, and it will pick up from there.  You will need to find a lower firmware   .IPSW  file to download.  The idea is this; since you can't break the 4.2 firmware yet (as of this date) use Itunes to push a lower (4.1 or lower) firmware into your Iphone that can be broken.  Here go some other great places to find information I have found to be extremely  on the subject and get you well on your way.


How to Jailbreak your Iphone with JailbreakME
Download RedSnow for Windows
Download GreenPois0n
Download 4.0 Firmware