Redsn0w Updated: How To Downgrade iOS 5.1.1 To 5.1, 5.0.1 On iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPad 3 Using Redsn0w 0.9.11b1

iPhone Dev Team member MuscleNerd has just announced the public release of the latest version of the popular jailbreak tool Redsn0w with support for downgrading from iOS 5.1.1 to iOS 5.1 and iOS 5.0.1 firmware on iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPhone 4S.

Just a couple of days ago, MuscleNerd announced via Twitter that he was working on a new version of Redsn0w that would allow users to downgrade their iOS firmware in case they updated their devices to iOS 5.1.1. On Friday, the hacker once again took to his Twitter page, but this time, it was to share the good news of the tool's availability.

Lost your jailbreak on an A5 device? redsn0w 0.9.11b1 can now downgrade iPad2/3 and 4S, MuscleNerd tweeted.

The release of Redsn0w 0.9.11b1 is definitely a great reason to cheer for those users who have their iPhone 4S, iPad 2 or iPad 3 stuck with the iOS 5.1.1 or iOS 5.1. But the tool could still be useless if they don't have the SHSH blobs saved for the iOS firmware version they want to downgrade to.

As noted by Jailbreak Untethered, if you are not sure whether you've saved these blobs before you update your iDevice, you can check Cydia as it usually backs up and saves the SHSH blob files automatically.

Here's what the iPhone Dev Team wants the users to know about using of Redsn0w 0.9.11b1 to downgrade iOS 5.1.1 to 5.1, 5.0.1 on iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and iPad 3:

You cannot downgrade without the personalized SHSH blobs for your device at that lower firmware. You need to have fetched those blobs while the signing window was open, using either Cydia's built-in TSS@Home feature, or with TinyUmbrella. The new Restore screen of redsn0w lets you choose either the remote blobs or local ones (for the earlier firmware). If you don't know where TinyUmbrella put your blobs, TinyUmbrella has a button that will show you (copy them out of that folder and feed them to redsn0w).
The A5 downgrade method actually updates to the latest firmware before downgrading to the earlier one. This process updates your baseband to whatever is newest. DO NOT USE THIS METHOD IF YOU RELY ON UNOFFICIAL UNLOCKS of your iPhone 4S. Those who used the temporary SAM technique to unlock their iPhones to specific SIMs shouldn't be affected by this baseband update.
This method can be fixed by Apple with a firmware update. It's a (pleasant) mystery why they haven't fixed it yet, because reverse-engineering of the restore ramdisk indicates they do know about it. It's possibly too niche to bother fixing it right now.
The least-tested devices with this method are the iPad2,3 and iPad3,2 (because we don't have those models). If you do and you feel like experimenting, please let us know how it turns out in the comment section below!
This update involves a bunch of new redsn0w code. We recommend sticking to the previous version 0.9.10b8b unless you're specifically using this new feature, until all the bugs are worked out! (Note: If redsn0w gets stuck at the Waiting for device stage for more than 30 seconds, you've hit a pesky GUI bug...that will be fixed in an upcoming version!)

Download Redsn0w 0.9.11b1:

Redsn0w 0.9.11b1 for Mac OS X

Redsn0w 0.9.11b1 for Windows (must run in Administrator mode)

How to use Redsn0w 0.9.11b1

Step 1: Launch the new Redsn0w 0.9.11b1

Step 2: Connect the device to the PC or Mac using the 30-pin USB cable.

Step 3: Click on Extras.

Step 4: After being taken to a new screen, click on Even More.

Step 5: Now, click on Restore.

Step 6: You'll get three different options on the screen; IPSW, Local and Remote. Click on IPSW, and point Redsn0w to the firmware file to which you want to downgrade to.

Step 7: This step can be divided into two parts.

a. If your SHSH blobs are saved locally, then simply click on Local and point Redsn0w to the .plist file containing the SHSH blobs for your device. If your blobs are not saved locally, move on to option b.

b. If your SHSH blobs are saved on Cydia, then put your device in DFU mode. Once in DFU mode, the Remote option will become active, click on it.

Redsn0w will now fetch the required files from Cydia's servers.

Step 8: Click on Next.

Step 9: Now, Redsn0w will automatically stitch the SHSH blobs to the IPSW firmware file, which you provided. After that it will automatically restore to it.

The process might take some time depending on your PC or Mac.

[Source: Redmond Pie]

For starters, the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 can be jailbroken untethered using Absinthe. Follow our step-by-step guides: Linux, Windows, Mac.

On the other hand, there's no jailbreak available yet for the new third generation iPad. However, if you had saved your SHSH blobs + APTicket for iOS 5.1, you are recommended to downgrade and wait for an untethered jailbreak to be released.

Pod2g announced on Thursday that he had managed to jailbreak his iPad untethered on iOS 5.1. If everything goes well, a public release of the untethered jailbreak is expected within a few weeks.

Must Read Articles: