A new version of Redsn0w has been released by iPhone Dev Team. Redsn0w 0.9.7 has been updated to support untethered jailbreak of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad running on iOS 4.2.1, which allows the iOS devices to be jailbroken (hacked) permanently (until the next firmware update), without the need to connect to computer for re-jailbreaking on every reboot, as required in tethered jailbreak.

The Redsn0w 0.9.7 is released as a beta version, starting from beta 1 (Redsn0w 0.9.7b1), and has since been updated to Redsn0w 0.9.7 beta 3 (Redsn0w 0.9.7b3) in order to fix various bugs, and extends the fix made in beta2 over to the non-GUI programs too (like the daemons that handle media content), in order to make embedded videos in iTunes work. In Redsn0w 0.9.7 beta 2, user was unable to play video in iTunes Store, nor able to hear the sound without connecting headset. But bug fixes are on top of several fixes include in 0.9.7b2, such as crashes of native apps which includes Task switcher.

Redsn0w 0.9.7 is dubbed as “Backup Plan” by iPhone Dev Team. It requires the 4.2b3 IPSW on a Mac machine, and that Cydia has the phone’s 4.2b3 SHSH hashes to perform the untethered jailbreak hack for iOS 4.2.1. In addition, the developer does not encourage people who relies on the Ultrasn0w carrier unlock to use Redsn0w 0.9.7 Beta.

RedSn0w 0.9.7b3

Here’s the warning posted by iPhone Dev Team:

  • This is a beta tester program. It’s not a general release! Things can go very wrong, so please don’t even consider testing if you have pictures or other media on your device that you haven’t backed up!
  • For the same reason, please don’t participate if you rely on the ultrasn0w carrier unlock. Wait for the final version!
  • Until we fix some sandbox issues with bluetooth, the bluetooth functionality is disabled.
  • This very first beta1 is limited to iPhone4, iPad, and iPod touch 4G.
  • Cydia must have your 4.2b3 SHSH blobs saved on file. (As we approach a general release, we’ll provide a way to let you use locally saved hashes too).
  • You must already have the usbmuxd software installed and running on your Mac (this requirement will eventually go away too). The correct invocation of the relay is just as that page says: “./tcprelay.py -t 22:2222”. If the relay isn’t installed or running correctly by the time the redsn0w ramdisk has started, you’ll need to restore to stock FW again to try it again. Please test it beforehand to save yourself some time!

The main feature of Redsn0w version 0.9.7 is ability to perform untethered jailbreak, whereas previous version of Redsn0w 0.9.6 can only perform tethered jailbreak. Users of older iOS devices such as iPhone 3G, old-bootroom iPhone 3GS, and non-MC iPod touch 2G, just continue to use the publicly release Redsn0w 0.9.6b4, which can always untether jailbreak the device.

Download Redsn0w 0.9.7b4: redsn0w_mac_0.9.7b4.zip

Changelog: redsn0w 0.9.7b4 eliminates that need to to install and run a separate program for the usbmuxd process.

Here’s how to jailbreak iPhone, iPod touch or iPad on iOS 4.2.1 with Redsn0w 0.9.7.

Older versions:

Download Redsn0w 0.9.7b3: redsn0w_mac_0.9.7b3.zip

Redsnow 0.9.7b2: redsn0w_mac_0.9.7b2.zip

Note that Redsn0w 0.9.7b3 only supports Mac OS X system. iPhone Dev Team promises that a Windows version of Redsn0w will come with 0.9.7 beta 5 fter the release of Redsn0w 0.9.7 beta 4. The beta still has some issues, as some users reported that the usbmuxd process is not working, which will be incorporated usbmuxd into Redsn0w.