Luckily, just when I needed to jailbreak a new iPod Touch 4G with iOS 5.0, I found that the iPhone devteam had released a version of RedSn0w (version 0.9.10b3) that would jailbreak the latest iOS 5.0.1 operating system. And better yet, this version would allow untethered usage (thanks to @pod2g!) which means that it is possible to reboot the iPod Touch without having to connect the device (“tether”) and re-running the jailbreak software. You can read up on the details at Dev-Team Blog – Untethered holidays.
You can download RedSn0w 0.9.10b3 from the Dev-Team Blog link above. I downloaded the version for Mac OS X, which worked perfectly on my Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard macbook. This new version of RedSn0w did not prompt me for the iOS 5.0.1 IPSW firmware image so you don’t need to download that (previous RedSn0w versions would require the correct IPSW image file).
Before running redSn0w, I used iTunes to upgrade the iPod Touch 4G to the latest iOS 5.0.1 version. When that was completed (about 10 minutes), I installed and ran RedSn0w. I noticed that on launch, RedSn0w now quits iTunes automatically; this is nice because in the past, I had to manually quit iTunes in order to avoid popup messages from iTunes during the jailbreak.
I followed the instructions like so:
- I selected “Jailbreak and install Cydia”.
- I shutdown the iPod Touch as instructed. (Leave the iPod Touch connected to the computer by USB cable.)
- The next screen provides instructions to get the device into DFU mode: press power 3 seconds, press both power and home for 10 seconds, press home for 15 seconds.
- The number of seconds were very generous but I still followed them regardless. In the second stage, the screen shut off after the power and home were held for 6 seconds. In the third stage, the device entered DFU mode after the home button was held for 5 seconds.
- When I was jailbreaking a second iPod Touch, I didn’t follow the instructions closely and ended up putting the device into recovery mode, instead of DFU mode. There are several utilities to exit a device from recovery mode and I ended up using TinyUmbrella. Though I had to reboot the iPod Touch a couple of times with TinyUmbrella running before TinyUmbrella would recognized the device and enabled the “Exit recovery mode” button.
- RedSn0w will recognized when the device enters DFU mode and will start the jailbreak process.
- After about 20 seconds, RedSn0w will offer some options. I just kept the default “Install Cydia” and “Enable battery percentage” options checked. The “Enable battery percentage” is very useful (to tell when it is fully charged) and I’m surprised Apple doesn’t provide it by default.
- RedSn0w ends after a minute or two and the iPod Touch continues the jailbreak process for another few minutes. The iPod Touch’s screen will show a pineapple logo with a progress bar.
- The second iPod Touch froze during the jailbreak; I think I moved the USB connector and interrupted the process. If that happens to you, just quit RedSn0w and shutdown the device so you can start over. You can force a shutdown by holding both the Power and the Home button for 5-10 seconds until the screen turns off. If the device goes into recovery mode, RedSn0w will complain about it and you can use TinyUmbrella (like above) to exit recovery mode.
Once the iPod Touch has completed the jailbreak and started successfully, I recommend doing the following on the device:
- Enable battery percentage by going to Settings->General->Usage and turning On the “Battery Percentage” option.
- Install the “Installous 4” application by doing the following:
- Run Cydia and select a User profile (or any other profile). Wait for Cydia to update itself; you can watch the spinning icon near the top. This will take about 30 seconds.
- Go to Manage->Sources->Edit->Add, input “http://cydia.hackulo.us”, hit Add Source, and hit Add Anyway. Once the data is reloaded (10-20 seconds), tap on “Return to Cydia” near the bottom.
- Go to Search, tap on the input field at the top, and input “Installous”. Tap on “Installous 4” in the search results, hit Install and Confirm. After the install completes (about 30 seconds), tap on “Restart SpringBoard” and you will be placed back into the normal unlock screen.
- You should now see an Installous application icon next to the Cydia icon.
Thanks to RedSn0w, the jailbreak process has never been easier. Good luck with your jailbreak.