The untethered Absinthe jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 is now available

The Chronic Dev Team has announced that its latest tool, the Absinthe A5 jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 devices, is now available. The tool is designed to perform an untethered jailbreak on those A5-equipped devices.

Jailbreaking is the process by which an iOS devices’ software is altered to allow the installation of third-party applications un-approved by Apple. Some popular examples of these include data tethering applications that are not dependent on carrier support, themes and skins that alter the appearance of a device and various utilities that extend the capabilities of iOS.

The road has been relatively long, with several roadblocks along the way preventing the team from getting the jailbreak out sooner, many of them having to do with the A5 processor in Apple’s newer devices. A veritable ‘who’s who’ of iOs device jailbreakers worked on this jailbreak with the Chronic Dev Team including saurik & MuscleNerd, both core members of iPhone Dev Team and hackers pod2G and planetbeing.

We finally admitted that the escalated obstacles presented by Apple’s new A5 processor would not likely be overcome by one individual or team – but all together, we should be more than able to conquer any challenges encountered. As such, a diverse group of iOS hackers all decided to set aside our personal goals & egos, relax our die-hard team loyalties, and pool our respective skill-sets, talents & exploits to form an iOS Super-Hacking “Dream Team.”

This jailbreak is untethered, which means that you don’t have to have your device plugged in to a computer to reboot. It is intended for the following devices running Apple’s A5 processor:

• iPhone 4S on iOS 5.0 build 9A334
• iPhone 4S on iOS 5.0.1, both the 9A405 and 9A406builds.
• iPad 2 on iOS 5.0.1 build 9A405.

You can download the jailbreak from the Greenpois0n site here. If you’re unfamiliar with the jailbreak process, please do note that jailbreaking voids your warranty although, if done properly, it is normally a reversible process.

I must note that the jailbreak process, while normally benign, is not for people that want a ‘fuss free’ iOS experience. Simply put: If you jailbreak your device, you open yourself up to a variety of issues in usability, with a tradeoff of extended customizability. Many ‘real’ official apps for iOS may have issues related to the jailbreak itself or various tweaks that you install from the jailbreak app store Cydia.

That being said, if you’re looking for a nice jailbreak tutorial, head over to iDownloadblog here.