![The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Jailbreaking Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad [iOS 5.1.1]](/media/2012/05/25/the-always-up-to-date-guide-to-jailbreaking-your-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-ios-5-1-1-0-54.jpg "The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Jailbreaking Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad [iOS 5.1.1]")
![The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Jailbreaking Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad [iOS 5.1.1]](/media/2012/05/25/the-always-up-to-date-guide-to-jailbreaking-your-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-ios-5-1-1-1-54.jpg "The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Jailbreaking Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad [iOS 5.1.1]")
Jailbreaking is a process that changes little by little with each iOS upgrade. Rather than always publishing new guides, we're simply going to keep this one up to date. If you want to jailbreak your iOS device, you've come to the right page.
NOTE: If you already have a tethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1, just search Cydia for "Rocky Racoon 5.1.1 Untether" and install it. There's no need to re-jailbreak.
Current iOS Version: iOS 5.1.1
iOS 5.1.1 is the current version and is jailbroken, untethered. You're good to go!
Current Untethered Jailbreak: iOS 5.1.1
For additional jailbreak options for older versions of iOS, please see the list at the bottom of this page. As this guide is updated, previous versions of the guide will be archived there as well.
Current Tethered Jailbreak: iOS 5.1.1
We do not recommend tethered jailbreaking, as it requires you to connect your iDevice to your computer to boot it every time. This is especially bad with new operating system releases, as they tend to freeze up a bit more. You probably don't want your device freezing up and becoming unusable while you're out and about, so you really should wait until an untethered jailbreak is available for iOS 5.1.1. That said, if you're jailbreaking for development purposes or carry a laptop with you everywhere, this post will show you can do it.
Not sure if you should jailbreak?
We love jailbreaking our iDevices, but it's not for everybody. If you're not sure, you should read both our reasons not to jailbreak and why jailbreaking is awesome.
How to Jailbreak
1
The greenpois0n absinthe method is pretty simple, but there are some things you need to do first. Make sure you've updated to iOS 5.1.1 and that your device is compatible with this version of the jailbreak. Most recent devices are supported, but you can find the entire list here. When you're ready to get started, download Absynthe and extract the app to your desktop. This should happen for OS X users automatically, but Windows users will need to extract the folder from the ZIP file first. Now plug in your device (there's no need to enter DFU mode or even turn it off), open the Absynthe app, quit iTunes (if Absnythe doesn't do it for you), and click the jailbreak button.
2
Wait for a while. Your device will go into a fake restore session and reboot. When it reboots, DO NOT TOUCH IT OR UNPLUG IT. The jailbreak process isn't over yet. You will be notified on-screen when absinthe has finished its work. When it's done, you can unplug your device from your computer.
3
On your device, located Cydia and open it up to get started with your jailbreak! Not sure what to install first? Check out our jailbreaking tag page for some ideas.
Jailbreaking Options for Older iOS Devices
- Jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1
- Jailbreak for iOS 4.3.3 (the faster, easier, JailbreakMe Method)
- Jailbreak for iOS 4.3.3 (the old-fashioned, redsn0w method)
- Jailbreak for iOS 4.3.2
- Jailbreak for iOS 4.3.1
- Jailbreak for iOS 4.2.1
- Jailbreak for Apple TV 2G
- Jailbreak for iOS 4.1
- Jailbreak for iOS 4.0 and 4.0.1
- Jailbreak for iOS 3.1.3 and 3.1.5
- Jailbreak for iOS 3.1.2
- Jailbreak for iOS 2.2.1
- Jailbreak for iOS 1.1.4
You can contact Adam Dachis, the author of this post, at adachis@lifehacker.com. You can also follow him on
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The default YouTube app on iPhone hasn't received an update since it was originally released. In turn, the mobile version of YouTube is more feature-rich and usually faster than its app counterpart. If you're sick of your iPhone always opening up the app instead of the mobile page, Mac OS X Hints has a simple way to stop it from happening.
iOS: The Chronic Dev Team has just released its new jailbreak too, Absinthe 2.0. The jailbreak works with the new iPad, iPhone 4S, and all previous models running iOS 5.1.1.
