How To Jailbreak Your iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS Or iPod Touch… The Right Way

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After months of waiting, Comex and the iPhone Dev Team have finally released JailbreakMe v3, allowing any iOS device running iOS 4.3.3 to be jailbroken just by visiting a simple web page.

Even though this is as simple as jailbreaks get, though, there’s still stuff that can go wrong, so we’ve put together this handy guide for any would-be jailbreakers. Here’s how to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod Touch… the right way.

Step 1 — Use Tiny Umbrella To Save Your SHSH Blobs

TinyUmbrella is a software app for your PC or Mac that allows you to save your iOS device’s SHSH blobs. Why is that useful? Because if you ever mistakenly update your jailbroken device through iTunes, your stored SHSH blobs will allow you to restore it to a past, jailbreakable version.

Download Tiny Umbrella here. Install it, open the program, highlight your iPhone or iPod Touch in the drop down menu to the left and then click “Save SHSH.” All done!

Step 2 — Make Sure Your Device Is Jailbreakable

JailbreakMe v3 exploits a PDF vulnerability that is present in multiple versions of iOS on the iPhone 3GS, both the Verizon and CDMA iPhone 4, the third and fourth-gen iPod Touch and both iPads (to jailbreak them, see our separate guide here). No other iOS Devices are supported.

To jailbreak your iPhone or iPod Touch, you need to be running one of these versions of iOS.

iPhone3GS: 4.3 through 4.3.3
iPhone4: 4.3 through 4.3.3
iPhone4-CDMA: 4.2.6 through 4.2.8
iPod touch 3g: 4.3, 4.3.2, 4.3.3
iPod touch 4g: 4.3 through 4.3.3

The easiest way as of writing to make sure your iPhone or iPod Touch is jailbreakable with JailbreakMe v3 is to upgrade to the latest version of iOS available for your iPhone or iPod Touch. Just plug your device into iTunes, click on it under Devices in the sidebar, then click “Check For Update” on the Summary tab. If your device isn’t up to date, you’ll be prompted to install the latest update. Do so… and prepare for jailbreak!

Step 3 — Back Up Your Device

Just to be on the safe side, back up your device under iTunes. Just right click your iPhone or iPod Touch in the Devices sidebar under iTunes and select Back Up from the contextual menu.

Step 4 — Open JailbreakMe on Mobile Safari

On your device, open MobileSafari and go to jailbreakme.com. You should see something like this:

All you need to do now is tap the “Free” button once so that it turns into an “Install” button, then tap the Install button again. You should be whisked away to your iPhone or iPod Touch’s home screen, where you should see Cydia installing…

Once Cydia’s done installing, open it up and click “User.”

You should see Cydia’s main homescreen now. It’ll look like this.

Congratulations, you’ve successfully jailbroken your device! But there’s just one more step.

Step 5 — Secure Your Jailbroken Device

JailbreakMe v3 uses a PDF exploit to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod Touch, just like the previous versions. The only problem? While Comex has used that PDF exploit to do something good for your device, other hackers can use it to invisibly compromise your system… and now that the jailbreak is out, they’ll know exactly how.

Luckily, now that your iPhone or iPod Touch is jailbroken, it’s easy enough to patch that PDF Exploit. Load up Cydia to download PDF Patcher 2.

If you haven’t run Cydia before, it’ll ask you what sort of packages you want to see. Just tap “User” and wait for Cydia to download all the packages it needs. Then do a search for “PDF Patcher 2,” tap the search result and click the Install button at the top right. A new window will pop up asking you to confirm. Once that’s done, PDF Patcher 2 will install and Springboard will restart.

Now whenever a web site tries to open a PDF on your device, you’ll be alerted and asked if you really want to continue.

Congratulations! Your iPhone or iPod Touch is now jailbroken and secured against further PDF exploits! Let us know how it’s working out for you in the comments!

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