Jailbreak and unlock the iPhone on 5.1.1 firmware

Posted: June 4, 2012

Who is this guide for?

• iPhone 3G S / 4 / 4S.
• Must already be on 5.1.1 firmware.
• For unlocking options view this page.
• I used OS X 10.7.4.
• I used iTunes 10.6.1.

Thanks again go out to the iPhone Dev Team for providing this amazing, and FREE program for customizing the iPhone. You can visit their blog here. You can read their notes regarding this jailbreak here.

You must already be on 5.1.1 firmware to use this tutorial. How you get there is up to you. If you need to maintain an unlock by preserving vulnerable modem firmware/baseband then use TinyUmbrella, PwnageTool, or Redsn0w to create a custom firmware file that doesn't update your modem.

If you don't need an unlock or have a factory unlock then just use iTunes to restore to stock firmware.

One last thing before we jump in to the tutorial. Please read my disclaimer before proceeding. You've been advised. What you do to your iPhone is your responsibility and no one else's.

Step 1.

Download redsn0w 0.9.12b1 or later here. Decompress the zip file and a folder will appear. Drag the application into your Mac's Applications folder. Overwrite any previous versions.

Step 2.

Launch redsn0w and click Jailbreak.




You'll see many messages as the process continues.




Your iPhone will appear to be restoring from a back up.




A pop up will appear. Click OK. The iPhone will reboot and you can set it up.





When you see the Success! message, click Cancel to close redsn0w.

Step 3.

You'll see the Cydia icon on your home screen. You are now jailbroken! If you launch Cydia it will first prepare the file system on the iPhone and then close. If you need to unlock, then continue on with Step 4.




Launching it again you may notice that it has SHSHs on file. In this example it has four. Yours may also say there is a pending TSS request. SHSHs are used for restoring to older firmwares that Apple is no longer approving for installation. Why would you want to restore older firmware? When you mistakenly update your iPhone to firmware that there is no jailbreak for yet. See this tutorial for more information.

Note: When new jailbreaks are released Cydia is swamped with requests and doesn't work very well. You may want to wait a day or so to minimize issues.

Step 4.

Next, unlocking the iPhone with ultrasn0w. You must of course have a vulnerable modem firmware to do this. Press the Search button. Enter ultrasn in the search box and it will appear. Press it.




Install the program. Reboot when prompted. You are now unlocked.