Ultrasn0w iOS 5 Unlock Released

The infamous iPhone Dev Team has updated the iPhone unlock tool Ultrasn0w to add iOS 5 compatibility. Ultrasn0w 1.2.4, now available in Cydia, doesn’t add support for any new basebands.

In other words, the latest Ultrasn0w only applies to users who have already employed the help of Ultrasn0w and now want to venture in uncharted waters, or less-metaphorically speaking, iOS 5.

The team confirms in a blog post that Ultrasn0w remains backwards compatible, meaning “you should be able to use it no matter what firmware you have”.

As usual, the news comes with a healthy dose of warnings on the team’s behalf. For example, the hackers urge users to remember that “the only way to get to iOS5 while preserving your ultrasn0w-compatible baseband is by using a custom IPSW.”

To create one, users can employ Redsn0w, the popular jailbreak app that got updated last week for Mac OS X. Windows PC users will be getting support soon, says the Team.

The team adds that “The majority of people who use ultrasn0w at iOS5 right now will probably be those with old-bootrom iPhone3GS devices, since they already have an untethered jailbreak via redsn0w.”

“For everyone else, the iOS5 jailbreak is currently tethered and you need to ‘Just boot’ tethered with redsn0w every time your phone reboots.”

A “special trick” that iPhone 3GS owners need iOS 5 is detailed. The Team basically instructs jailbreakers to disable location services when iOS 5 prompts

“Later on in the setup, you’ll have the chance to turn on Location Services again when asked if you want to use ‘Find my iPhone’, says the Team.

As usual, unlockers are advised to steer clear of stock iOS 5 IPSWs. Updating will also update their baseband, which may or may not be available to unlock with ultrasn0w in the future.

“Unlockers should never go near stock IPSWs,” says the team.