Hackers say the beta activates without developer registration, seems “final”

Jan 27, 2013 10:50 GMT  ·  By

iOS 6.1 Beta 5 is now in the hands of registered Apple developers worldwide. Testers are signaling a strange thing about the beta – it installs on supported devices without requiring a developer registration.

Reverse engineer and iOS hacker @winocm shares his impression about the new beta on Twitter: “Looks like iOS 6.1b5 isn't a beta, it activates without developer registration and has no ReleaseType lockdown keys.”

MuscleNerd, the well-known iPhone Dev Team leader, chimes in to say, “Despite the odd beta naming, as @winocm discovered, this is actually releaseable as public 6.1 at Apple's will.”

Registered developers can download the beta from Apple's Developer site.

As a regular user, you won’t be able to download the beta for your device. You might, however, be able to install it if you find a way to obtain the IPSW and feed it to your device through iTunes.

However, it is not advisable, considering Apple has not released iOS 6.1 to the public yet.

According to the release notes accompanying iOS 6.1 Beta 5, “This is a pre-release version of iOS 6.1 beta for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Devices updated to iOS 6.1 beta 5 can not be restored to earlier versions of iOS."

iOS 6.1 is rapidly approaching its final (public) release delivering new Maps APIs for better integration of Apple’s Maps with third-party apps, new Siri capabilities (such as ordering of movie tickets by voice), improved iPod controls (on-screen), and much more.

Jailbreakers are waiting for the public release with their fingers crossed.

The infamous iOS hackers – Cyril (@pod2g), David Wang (@planetbeing), Nikias Bassen (@pimskeks), and @MuscleNerd – have already promised to have an untethered jailbreak ready as soon as Apple rolls out the final version of iOS 6.1 to the public.

But not a second before, according to David Wang (@planetbeing) who is known to have a jailbroken iPhone 5 running iOS. “There will certainly be no jailbreak release from us until 6.1 is out,” Wang said.

iOS 6.1 continues to be compatible with iPhone 3GS devices and newer. For iPod touch users, the fourth-generation model is the starting point. On the tablet front, iOS 6.1 installs on the iPad 2 and newer models.