One of the big annoyances of the jailbreaking process is downloading the right IPSW file for your jailbreak program of choice to crack. Not only are IPSW files — being mirrors of a particular iOS image — pretty huge, but Apple doesn’t distribute anything but the most recent one, which means that if you’re trying to jailbreak an older version of iOS (one, say, that still has a particular vulnerability to exploit), you need to dig around torrent sites and the like.
Fooey. Luckily, the latest version of jailbreak utility Redsno0w 0.9.9b1 gets rid of that whole IPSW business, and handles downloading them for itself.
The latest version of Redsn0w jailbreaks iOS 5 Beta (tethered), iOS 4.3.5 and iOS 4.3.3 for every iOS device except the iPad 2, which still hasn’t been cracked by a non-userland exploit. It downloads all the files it needs right from Apple’s servers, then caches them for future use.
Well, it will unless you’re trying to jailbreak iOS 5. If you want to crack open Apple’s latest and great version of its mobile operating system, you’ll need to grab the IPSW file either from some digital house of ill repute, or alternatively, Apple’s own developer center, if you’ve got clearance.
If you want to try out the new, simpler, more streamlined version of Redsn0w, you can grab it in either PC or Mac flavors here.
