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How to jailbreak your iOS device on 5.1.1

Rejoice! Jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1 is upon us! Here's how to jailbreak your iDevice right now.

Jason Cipriani
Jason Cipriani
Jason Cipriani Contributing Writer, ZDNet
Jason Cipriani is based out of beautiful Colorado and has been covering mobile technology news and reviewing the latest gadgets for the last six years. His work can also be found on sister site CNET in the How To section, as well as across several more online publications.
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Jason Cipriani
2 min read

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Watch this: Jailbreak your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

Absinthe 2.0 has been released, bringing with it an untethered jailbreak for iOS devices running iOS 5.1.1. The jailbreak is compatible with almost every iOS device, with the lone exception being the revised $399 iPad 2 with 32nm A5 chip. A solution for the "new" iPad 2 will be released at a later date.

Before you begin, it's my job to remind you that jailbreaking your device is something you do at your own risk. Things are bound to go wrong when you're messing with settings Apple never intended for users to mess with. The good news is, you really can't break your device. If something goes wrong, put your device in DFU mode and reload the OS.

The jailbreak process using Absinthe 2.0 couldn't be easier. In fact, the developers of the jailbreak claim "it's so easy, your grandma could do it." If your device isn't currently jailbroken, then follow the instructions below:

  1. To start, you'll need to head on over to the Greenpois0n Web site to download Absinthe 2.0 for your respective operating system.

    2. Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

  2. With your device connected to your PC, open iTunes and right-click on the device you want to jailbreak. Select Back Up from the menu. Wait for the backup to finish and then close iTunes.

    3. Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

  3. On your iOS device, go into Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.

    4. Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

  4. Open Absinthe 2.0 on your PC, verify that the correct iOS device has been detected, and then click Jailbreak. The jailbreak process will only take a few minutes.

    5. Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

  5. Once the jailbreak is complete, close Absinthe 2.0 and launch iTunes again. Right-click on your device name, but this time select "Restore from Backup." Select the backup you just made. Let your device restore and finish syncing before disconnecting.

Once the restore is complete, you'll have a jailbroken device, complete with all of your apps and information as it was before you began.

I had been trying to get the jailbreak to work on my Verizon iPhone 4S all morning, with no luck. Then I took my experience to Twitter, and was sent a link to this post on Reddit. If you're having issues with the instructions above, give the Reddit link a try. It worked for me.

If you were using a tethered iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak, open Cydia and search for "Rocky Racoon 5.1.1 Untether" and install it.