ZDima.net

I admit to being pretty spineless when it comes to using unauthorized software on my iDevices, but recent posts regarding the continued value of jailbreaking such devices had me thinking about getting over my fear and making the leap. As if on cue, Jailbreakme.com 2.0 comes around to make it easier than ever to indulge that particular whim.

In case you haven’t heard, jailbreakme.com is the resurrected version of the original website, which allowed you to jailbreak devices running iPhone OS 1.1.1. It’s back again, and this time, it’s ready to take on iOS 4.0 and 4.0.1 on all iPhone and iPod Touch devices, and iOS 3.2.1 on the iPad. It all happens from your device’s Safari browser, without requiring a computer at any stage during the process.

The new jailbreak process comes via comex of the Dev-Team, and I can attest from personal experience that it makes things impossibly simple. I have an iPhone 4 and an iPad, but there’s no way I’m risking the warranty on those two beauties just yet, so I dusted off the old iPod touch 1G that got me started on iOS devices and put that to the task.

On the iPod touch, I booted up Safari and pointed the browser at http://www.jailbreakme.com. You should see a screen that looks like this if you’re in the right place (shot is from my iPhone 4, since it changes after you finish the process):

After that, I followed the directions on-screen and left the house to run some errands. I was probably gone for about an hour, so I’m not sure how long the process took, but it was done by the time I returned. My iPod touch was plugged in at the time just in case, but the battery is quite old. I think it should be fine to leave newer devices unplugged.

After the process is complete, you’ll see a message congratulating you and informing you that the Cydia store app is now on your desktop. Finally, launch Cydia and allow it to update its repositories and sources, then browse for the apps you want to install. Backgrounder, SBSettings, BossPrefs and ProSwitcher are good places to start if you’re not familiar with the jailbreak landscape.

The new jailbreak method uses an exploit in the way iOS handles Adobe PDF files, of all things, so basically you can thank the Flash maker for your newly jailbroken device. If anything goes wrong during the jailbreak process, you can restore using your computer, or by putting the device into DFU mode if all else fails, and try again. Cydia has been running a little slowly the past few days, presumably because so many are using this method, so be patient if you’re experiencing problems post-jailbreak in that area.

Anyone else done it yet, or planning on doing it? What about on newer devices? Still worth it?