iOS 5 untethered jailbreak shown on video, one step closer to release

Apple’s iOS 5 has enough new features that I haven’t really missed jailbreaking my iPhone, but for those who miss tweaking their phone or downloading jailbroken apps, it looks like a completely untethered iOS 5 jailbreak is on the horizon.

The above video, released by iPhone hacker pod2g, demonstrates the untethered jailbreak — so-called because the jailbreak hack is retained even after you reboot your phone. A tethered iOS 5 jailbreak has been out since June, but that’s far more inconvenient than an untethered jailbreak since it requires hacking your phone upon every reboot. A jailbreak for the iPhone 4S was demonstrated in October, but it’s also tethered.

Casual iPhone tweakers, like this reporter, typically wait for untethered jailbreaks because the tethered alternative is far more trouble than it’s worth. This time around I’ve been less anxious to jailbreak my phone since iOS 5 includes many features formerly only available to jailbreakers, like its drop-down notifications interface. One jailbreak developer has even taken issue with how closely Apple’s notifications resemble his own design.