Redsn0w Update Brings Downgrade Firmware Option For iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and iPad 3 [How To]

As promised by Musclenerd just a few days ago, The iPhone Dev Team have released an update to Redsn0w, which brings the highly sought after downgrading feature. Either by accident or out of necessity, restoring your device happens. If you had to restore to iOS 5.1 on your iPhone 4S or iPad 2, you lost your jailbreak. There is not even a tethered jailbreak for these devices on iOS 5.1, at the moment. Downgrading your firmware to iOS 5.0.1 will allow you to use Greenpois0n’s Absinthe untethered jailbreak.

If you had your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 previously jailbroken on iOS 5.0.1, and your SHSH blobs are saved in Cydia, you can now downgrade from iOS 5.1, or iOS 5.1.1 to iOS 5.0.1, and re-jailbreak. This will also work for the new iPad, but there is no jailbreak available for this device yet.

The process is pretty straight forward. As we said earlier, you need to have your SHSH blobs saved locally or in Cydia, for whatever firmware you are downgrading to. You will also need local copies of whatever firmware your device is currently on, and whatever firmware you are downgrading to.

  1. When you launch the new Redsn0w, you will click Extras > Even More > Restore.
  2. Then click the IPSW button. You need to select the firmware you are downgrading to, first.
  3. Once you have selected that, Redsn0w will ask you to locate your current firmware.
  4. Once Redsn0w has successfully identified your firmwares, it will give you a warning that this will upgrade your baseband. If you rely on an official unlock for your iPhone 4S, stop here. (If you used the SAM unlock, and are using the same SIM, you’ll be okay). If you continue past this warning, and your device is plugged in already, Redsn0w will send your device into recovery mode.
  5. Next, you want to select where Redsn0w should look for your SHSH blobs. Select “Local” if you used TinyUmbrella to save your blobs to your computer. Select “Remote” if you know Cydia has your blobs.
  6. Once Redsn0w finds your SHSH blobs, it will begin the restore process. Redsn0w does all the work itself, and doesn’t even need iTunes for the restore. This will take some time, so be patient and don’t unplug or mess with the device.
  7. That’s it. If successful, you can now use the Absinthe jailbreak to get your untethered jailbreak back.

This should tide us over until pod2g can release his new untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1/5.1.1.  If you’re patient, maybe you’ll just want to wait, but for those of us who can’t live without a jailbreak, this saves the day.

Let us know in the comments below if you have success with this, or if you didn’t, what issues did you face.

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