Used iPad, any chance of a break?

[GroovyGrass]

I've been working with Windows computers for years and can pull off all kinds of crazy stuff but this apple crap has me pulling my hair out! It seems that in the jailbreaking world, you have to jump on it right away or you're left behind since eveything has to get signed.

So far, I've done nothing except backup. I've got an iPad2 A1396 GSM 16GB running iOS 5.0. Is there any chance of jailbreaking this thing or should I just update it to 7 and call it done? I've been on the web for hours now and I'm not really getting anywhere. I'm just completely lost. Can I jailbreak it at 5.0, get blobs and create a custom firmware to get it at 6.1.2 or am I just way off here?

Sorry for being such a newb. Any help is greatly appreciated! I've spent literally 12 hours reading so far and I'm just drained.

 

[willerz2]

Hi, welcome to iPadForums.

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On iOS 5.0, unfortunately not. There is an untethered jailbreak for 5.0.1 and 5.1.1 on Mac/Windows/Linux, and an untethered for 5.1 on Linux only. 5.0 did not receive any jailbreak releases for the iPad 2.

Since the device is used, more than likely you won't have blobs for the device unless the previous owner has saved them over the periods of time during the signing periods of the iOS. With regards to iOS 6, regardless of whether you have valid blobs and APTickets or not, you cannot restore to iOS 6 because there is no method to do so for iOS 6 because the stronger emphasis of APTickets on iOS 6 compared to iOS 5, where you could use the iOS 4 blobs to bridge a downgrade to iOS 5 for the iPad 2.

There are two things to be weary about in upgrading to iOS 7

1) iOS 7.0.3 is extremely buggy. Putting jailbreaking aside, the stock 7.0.3 iOS is basically the "worst decision I've ever made on my iOS device" for 9 out of 10 users because of problems flying around here and there.

2) Depending on what Apple does with 7.0.4/7.1, the exploits/vulnerabilities may have the chance to get patched as did all of the previous versions of iOS releases and jailbreak exploits.

So you find yourself in a fork in the road. You either stay on an unjailbreakable but usable version of iOS right now, upgrade to 7.0.3 and see if you get the same issues a lot of other users are getting and possibly live with that for the next few months, or, see what iOS 7.0.4/7.1 brings in terms of security changes.

 

[Mickey330]

What willerz2 said.

Except - I'll add my own opinion of iOS 7.0.3, which is to say that it worked great for me on an iPad3 and it's working wonderfully on my iPad Air.

While I acknowledge there are some issues with iOS 7, I can't say that I've run across anything that makes me regret going to iOS 7. And, I gave up my iOS 6 jail break on the iPad 3 (and iPhone 5) to go to iOS 7.

That's not to say that I won't immediately jailbreak the iPad Air, once I can...

Just wanted to give you another data point for your decision to stay at 5.0 or come on up to join us at iOS 7.

Marilyn

 

[willerz2]

What willerz2 said.

Except - I'll add my own opinion of iOS 7.0.3, which is to say that it worked great for me on an iPad3 and it's working wonderfully on my iPad Air.

While I acknowledge there are some issues with iOS 7, I can't say that I've run across anything that makes me regret going to iOS 7. And, I gave up my iOS 6 jail break on the iPad 3 (and iPhone 5) to go to iOS 7.

That's not to say that I won't immediately jailbreak the iPad Air, once I can...

Just wanted to give you another data point for your decision to stay at 5.0 or come on up to join us at iOS 7.

Marilyn

Agreed. I personally don't have issues on 7.0.3, but there's a fair chunk of users that are extremely disgruntled with it. Better to put it out there though I've never had much issues with stock OS

iOS 7 is quite a step up from the "original" iOS UI and designs and such. Quite a few features are extremely attractive on iOS 7, namely control center (like SBSettings/NCSettings that a lot of users use), Keychain on iOS 7.0.3+ (much like PasswordPilot or other Password/User input safes), fresh new look (always nice considering years of the same UI), and other features as well of course.

 

[GroovyGrass]

I was hoping that wasn't the case but I saw it coming.

Thank you so much everyone for your very detailed info. I suppose I'm going to make the jump to iOS 7 then since this isn't going to be used very often or relied on in any way for anything important. My main rig is a 3.6GHz Phenom II, 4GB of 1T RAM, an RE4 Enterprise Hard Drive, a secondary 1TB 7200 Hitachi, and a Geforce GTX 460 and it runs stable for over 6 months at a time. This iPad will just be a toy for me.

Again, thanks for the clear advice. I'll double check on app compatibility for the things I use most.