14 DAY TRIAL // Jailbreakers have been advised by George Hotz (geohot) to “keep an eye on Spirit.” The iPhone Dev Team has followed with a post offering a similar piece of advice. It also advises members of the jailbreak community to carefully back up their SHSH blobs for vulnerable firmware versions. Softpedia does not encourage jailbreaking.
“At some point after (don’t ask when!) the iPad 3G is actually in customers’ hands, the first ‘userland’ jailbreak since firmware 1.x will be released by @comex. It’s called ‘Spirit’ and was first demonstrated working on an iPad by @MuscleNerd within 24 hours of the iPad’s release on April 3,” the first lines of text from the latest Dev Team update reads.
The Team acknowledges that such jailbreaks are a tad more insecure, which will likely prompt Apple to try to close any holes it may find. It offers a relevant example mentioning the SMS bug uncovered at the Black Hat security conference last summer, pointing out that Apple had addressed the issue within the next 24 hours.
“The Spirit jailbreak is most useful for newer devices: iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, and the iPads,” the infamous team of hackers goes to outline. “Unfortunately those devices are the same ones that Apple can prevent you from downgrading unless you’ve got a backup of your personalized SHSH blobs. Unless you’ve backed up your SHSH blobs for vulnerable firmware versions, you’ll lose the ability to use the current Spirit jailbreak if you accidentally upgrade,” it warns, and advises those who are interested in the Spirit jailbreak to back up their SHSH blobs as soon as possible.
Key features of the Spirit jailbreak are also listed. It is revealed on the Dev Team’s blog that Spirit provides an untethered jailbreak, and that it doesn’t offer a carrier unlock for any device, although it supports all iPhones, iPod touches, and the iPad. The tool also requires an activated/hacktivated device.
Softpedia doesn't encourage jailbreaking / unlocking the iPhone / iPod touch or any other device. This article has a purely informational purpose and doesn't, in any way, suggest that you should hack your Apple device. Using hacks may render your device unusable, or may reduce the quality of your experience employing the respective device. If you choose to download and install jailbreak tools, you will do so at your own risk. Unlocking / jailbreaking your iPhone / iPod touch may violate your warranty or the EULA with Apple and / or your cellular-service provider.