Before I go forward...

[IanRobinett]

I figured I'd ask this question for the far smarter than I.

I'm currently on iOS 4.1, on an iPhone 4, and it's currently jailbroken. I want to upgrade to the 4.2 software, only if there's an (as I understand it) untethered jailbreak option available. The problem is, I wouldn't know where to start, or if the 4.2 option is even available. I haven't messed with the carrier, and don't plan on it, I simply am looking for the jailbreak on it.

The only reason I've come here, is because I can't seem to get my head around the various reports I've seen, and so I apologize for being a complete fool with the question. I also ask, though, because my sister is getting an iPhone 4 tomorrow, and she's wanting to jailbreak it as well, and since I don't know what version of the iOS it'll come with.

[Orby]

I figured I'd ask this question for the far smarter than I.

I'm currently on iOS 4.1, on an iPhone 4, and it's currently jailbroken. I want to upgrade to the 4.2 software, only if there's an (as I understand it) untethered jailbreak option available. The problem is, I wouldn't know where to start, or if the 4.2 option is even available. I haven't messed with the carrier, and don't plan on it, I simply am looking for the jailbreak on it.

The only reason I've come here, is because I can't seem to get my head around the various reports I've seen, and so I apologize for being a complete fool with the question. I also ask, though, because my sister is getting an iPhone 4 tomorrow, and she's wanting to jailbreak it as well, and since I don't know what version of the iOS it'll come with.

There's no easy way to upgrade to iOS 4.2.1 on an iPhone 4 and maintain a jailbreak. There's exactly one way I know of to do it (redsn0w 0.9.7b5) that'll keep the phone untethered, however, it requires 4.1 SHSH blobs.

Your sister will almost assuredly get an iPhone with 4.2.1 on it--unless you can get an iPhone with a serial number starting xx048 or lower if the serial number is eleven characters long (or xxxDQ or a earlier-in-the-alphabet fifth letter if the serial number is twelve characters long). For those phones, the only option at the moment is a tethered (must be connected to a computer and run redsn0w to boot) jailbreak via redsn0w 0.9.6rc8.

Both versions of redsn0w can be found here.

[IanRobinett]

Ok so with the release of greenpois0n, I know I can upgrade to 4.2.1, and then jailbreak. My question is, what should I do to backup all of my apps and such, before upgrading to the new OS, and proceeding with the jailbreak? The actual jailbreak process I understand, I just want to know what other procedures I should go with...

[Orby]

iTunes will have a backup of all your music, iTunes-bought applications, etc. installed on your device. There's not an easy way to backup all your Cydia applications, however (PkgBackup is still broken on iOS 4.2.1 to the best of my knowledge).

There's not really any special procedures, other than restoring from your phone's backup in iTunes (which doesn't always go smoothly FYI) and reinstalling everything in Cydia.