How to jailbreak the iPad 2

iPad 2 owners have been left out of the jailbreaking party for quite some time now. It only had one jailbreak, which was during a brief window last summer (before Apple patched comex’s jailbreakme) but that didn’t last long.

That dry spell, however, is finally over. Owners of the iPad 2 can now get a full, untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1 (the latest version of iOS). This uses the same Absinthe tool that the iPhone dev team released for the iPhone 4S (see our iPhone 4S jailbreak instructions here). The method is able to beat out the protection Apple put around the A5 chip that powers both the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S. It’s an untethered jailbreak, so there is no annoying requirement of tethering to a PC when you reboot.

Note: If you’re using an older iOS device, you can check out our post for jailbreaking A4 devices on iOS 5.0.1.

And now, instructions on how to hack Apple’s latest tablet…

1. Download the jailbreak tool

The first thing you’ll want to do is get the Absinthe jailbreak tool. It can be downloaded from here for Mac. (The Windows version is coming soon).

The package comes in a zip file, so you’ll want to unzip it before proceeding.

2. Backup your iPad 2

This isn’t necessary, but it’s a good idea to back everything up before ever doing any kind of hacking on your device. You can backup locally using iTunes or to iCloud, but the former is faster.

3. Run the jailbreak tool

First, connect your iPad 2 to your PC via USB,. Then open the Absinthe jailbreak tool. It should detect your device and show a “jailbreak” button. Click that button.

You’ll then be guided through several steps (this takes some time). You can see the process in the screenshots below:

The next stage of the process will show a “restoring device” screen on your iPad. This is normal.

Your device will start to reboot. Again, this is normal.

After rebooting, you will see that it’s “sending payload data”:

Finally, you’ll see “almost done”:

It then tells you to look for a “jailbreak” icon on your device’s home screen. The icon is actually called Absinthe:

Your device will then reboot, and return with a Cydia icon in its place. You’re jailbroken!

* If you get an error when opening Absinthe, it’s because the Greenp0ison servers are down. You can do the following workaround: turn on the “jailbreak” VPN by going to Settings>General>Network>VPN. After turning on VPN, choose the option called “jailbreak.” This shouldn’t, however, be necessary anymore.

via pod2g