Untethered iOS 5.0.1 jailbreak makes it into the wild

It's been a busy week in the realm of iPhone hackery. Earlier today there was the release of an unofficial port of Siri for older iPhones, and now that's joined by an untethered jailbreak for users on Apple's iOS 5.0.1.

The software tweak, which was announced as working by hacker @pod2g earlier this month, works on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (both GSM and CDMA), iPad 1, and third- and fourth-generation iPod Touch devices, allowing users to jailbreak their phones. That means users could install third-party applications from places outside of Apple's own App Store, including software that can gain access to deep hardware features.

The trick in this case is that the tweak sticks around, even if users have to reboot for any reason. Previous solutions on earlier versions of Apple's software required having to redo the process each time the phone was reset.

Not included on the compatibility list are Apple's iPad 2 or iPhone 4S--the two latest iOS devices, and the ones that run on the company's newer A5 processor. In a post today by the iPhone Dev Team (a group of hackers that targets Apple devices, not to be confused with Apple's own group that designs the iOS software), the group said that's because the current untethering exploit isn't working with these devices, but also that hack creator @pod2g is working on a solution. In the meantime, the group says that the new exploit can be found built into its two in-house jailbreaking tools, as well as in package form on third-party app repository Cydia.

It's worth pointing out that Apple is expected to release another iOS 5 update in the near future, with testing on iOS 5.1 being done with developers ahead of the holidays. That software, or another interim release, is set to further address battery life issues affecting some users and is likely to end up breaking compatibility with these new hacking tools.