Jailbreaking my iPod Touch running iOS4

Google Fodder: Tonight I tried to jailbreak my iPod Touch which has been running stock iOS4 for a few weeks now. I was disappointed by iOS4 as the only visible thing it brings to an iPod Touch is folders. No multi-tasking. No wallpapers. No ability to customise anything. I was better off on v3.1.2 jailbroken.

So time to do the nasty to iOS4. Steve Jobs, I need more.

I tried the www.jailbreakme.com web-based jailbreak several times and it failed repeatedly, stuck on the purple background and displaying no error messages.

The only way I know it failed was a message saying the installer had crashed and I should try again. To see that message I had to power off the iPod Touch off and power it back on, then go into Safari and reload the jailbreak.com page.

As it is a web-based solution, I thought it may be something wrong in Safari's settings. So I tried a few things and they didn't work until I did it this way. The pop-up setting may be irrelevant, but the rest seemed to make the difference,as well as powering off and back on BEFORE attempting to jailbreak again.

1. Go into Settings -> Safari
2. Under Accept Cookies set it to "Always"
3. I set Block Pop-ups to OFF
4. I cleared History, Cache and Cookies.
5. Press Home and then power the iPod Touch off. 
6. Power it back on and go into Safari
7. Go to www.jailbreakme.com and "Slide to Jailbreak"

At the point, a "Downloading" window came up and the jailbreak process began and completed successfully. Now I'm working on what I need to download and install to get multi-tasking going and allow me to customise the look of this ugly thing.  I've grown used to Android's built-in ability to customise the user interface or replace it completely....as it's just another app.

My iPod's an iPad

I've had my iPod Touch 8GB for over a year and I have used it a lot. But I have never had a reason to jailbreak it. I did try once, just for fun, but the instructions were not very good and it didn't work....and I couldn't be bothered.

But the launch of the Apple iPad changed that. I looked at the list of features and they are virtually identical to my iPod Touch 8GB. Ok, the Touch doesn't have 3G data, but my Android phone does and I frequently Wi-Fi tether my iPod Touch to the phone for Internet access from anywhere.

Today, I saw this video showing anyone how to convert their iPod Touch / iPhone into an iPad.



I was entranced. What a cool idea! But I would have to jail break the iPod Touch to install the apps that would enable me to make the needed cosmetic changes. Even better - I get multi-tasking, too, thanks to ProSwitcher and a couple of other apps ....and multi-tasking is something the iPad can't do.

First I downloaded, George Hotz's "BlackRa1n" (RC3) which enables a one-click jailbreak of iPhone OS 3.1.2 and several previous versions.

Blackra1n didn't work the first few times as the instructions erroneously told me to run the app in WinXP compatibility mode on Windows Vista. Each time I tried, it put the iPod Touch into recovery mode...and wiped it....and that was that. Each time that happened, I had to start iTunes and restore the firmware, then restore my iPod Touch from the latest backup. No harm done. Just time wasted.

In the end, these instructions, from here, worked perfectly:

Chilos

# 12 Oct 2009 Monday 1:07 pm

IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS CHECK THIS IT WORKS FOR ME:

1- copy Blackra1n to your hard drive. Run it WITHOUT compability mode, and instead "Run as Administrator".

2- kill iTunesHelper using Task Manager

3- turn off your Iphone / iPod

4- open Blackra1n as administrator (Vista or Win 7) and click "Make it Rain".

5- push HOME button and POWER same time until apple logo appear.- then release power button (actually - connecting the iPod to the USB cable will turn it on). 

6- keep push home button until george's face appears

This worked perfectly for me and Blackra1n did its thing. It took about 3 minutes to do the deed and re-boot.

Once the iPod re-booted at the end of the process, I touched the "Blackra1n" icon on the Springboard and away I went, installing the "Cydia" alternative app market onto the iPod Touch. .

After that, I followed the instructions in the video to make the iPod Touch look like an iPad. I did have to buy one app - Shrink - for US$0.99 and paid for via my PayPal account.


Here are a photo and a screenshot of my new mini-"iPad". Click on either or both to see them full size. They aren't identical as they were taken about 2 hours apart.

My iPod Touch and a real iPad aren't quite the same, of course.

Mine can multi-task.  ;-)