iPhone 5 Jailbreak Almost Complete, Requires Dev Account

Work on an iPhone 5 jailbreak is paying off as Planetbeing reports nearing success on a tethered iPhone 5 jailbreak, with a catch.

Planetbeing is a well known iOS hacker, who worked as part of the team that delivered an iPhone 4S jailbreak, and is working on an iOS 6 jailbreak for the iPhone 5, one that might also work with the iPhone 4S.

This iPhone 5 jailbreak comes with a catch, as it requires an Apple Developer account to use it, something not typically required for a jailbreak.

Planetbeing teases the iPhone 5 jailbreak progress in a Tweet sent October 18th, as tipped by @maddashdan311

Upgraded the #failbreak with a kernel exploit so tweaks actually work on iPhone 5. :D Almost a full tethered JB, though need dev account.

— planetbeing (@planetbeing) October 18, 2012

There are no additional details, about the iPhone 5 jailbreak release timing or specifically about the need for an Apple developer account. The team working on the iPhone 5 jailbreak could choose to keep this tethered jailbreak internal for the time being, to work on an untethered jailbreak. A tethered jailbreak is less desirable because users must plug-in the iPhone to a computer before restarting or lose functionality.

This would be the first jailbreak that requires an Apple Developer account. This is likely needed to run code on the iPhone that a normal iPhone would not accept. Apple sells spots in the developer program for $99, making this potentially the most expensive jailbreak to date.

Before running out to pay Apple $99 to jailbreak the iPhone 5, wait for more information as it may only require users to add their iPhone to a developer account. This is how many users try iOS betas before the official release, and several sites register device UDIDs, a unique device identifier, for as low as $7.

The iPhone 5 jailbreak progress continues.

iPhone 5 jailbreak progress is underway, with famed hacker pod2g claiming a breakthrough could be weeks away, with some luck at a recent conference.

A video surfaced recently claiming to show proof of an iPhone 5 jailbreak with Cydia running on iOS 6. The video below shows jailbreak only apps on iPhone 5 hardware, but there is no further information from the creator. It’s possible the video is using a similar method with a developer account.

Previous iPhone 5 jailbreak success includes a jailbreak by chpwn right after the iPhone 5 release, as shown in the photo below.

Proof of an iPhone 5 jailbreak from September.

There is already an iOS 6 jailbreak for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch, but it does not work on the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 or iPads.

Stay tuned for the latest jailbreak news and updates.