iOS 4.2.1 jailbreak Available Now

Apple released iOS 4.2.1 just a couple of days ago. It didn’t take jailbreakers too long to release a jailbreak solution for this release. The iPhone Dev Team has managed to take advantage of past hacks (pwnage2, arm7_go, 24kpwn, and limera1n) to bring a jailbreak solution for those of you who have updated your iDevice to iOS 4.2.1. By taking advantage of this jailbreak, users should be able to run unapproved apps and other software no their iDevices.

Those of you who own an old iDevice are going to have an easier time jailbreaking your device:

The best news of all is for owners of iPhone3G, older iPhone3GS, and non-MC iPod touch 2G.  Due to a combination of our original pwnage2 exploit, the arm7_go exploit, 24kpwn, and limera1n, your device is “just as jailbreakable as ever.”  You reap the full benefit of an untethered 4.2.1 jailbreak.

Newer devices such as Apple iPad can be jailbroken in tethered mode only at this point. That means you will have to connect your device to your computer to boot into it if you run out of battery or reboot it for some reason. Here is how the iPhone Dev Team explained this:

The bad news is that right now, the 4.2.1 jailbreak is *tethered* on all of these recent devices.  A tethered jailbreak means that each time your device loses battery power or needs to be rebooted, you must attach it to a PC or Mac to boot into the jailbroken state …. Tethered” does not mean you cannot boot at all without PC/Mac assistance…. However, jailbreak programs like Cydia won’t work (and Cydia may still have a white icon).  Also, certain built-in apps that had to be moved by Cydia will fail (Safari being the most noticeable example).

This is a bit inconvenient, but if you are addicted to cydia apps or are dying for a chance to try them, it should not be that big of a deal. Apple has gone out of its way to make life difficult for the jailbreak community. The company would stop all jailbreaks if it could. So far it has not succeeded. With iPhone coming to Verizon, Apple could step up its efforts in this regard.