How to Jailbreak the iPod Touch 2G [2.2.1]

Hey guys.

So if you own an iPod Touch 2G (i’ll be lazy and might write touch), never fear, the jailbreak is finally here!

Ok, that’s not strictly true. The jailbreak has been around for awhile, but it was the tethered version, which required you to connect your touch to the computer every time you wanted to reboot.

A few days ago, someone was finally able to crack the final layer and make it such that you don’t need to tether the touch anymore. A few hours later, a program called QuickFreedom was built as a GUI to allow jailbreak.

All you will need is:

-QuickFreedom

-iPod Touch 2.2.1 firmware, which you can download online, through iTunes, or through QuickFreedom itself.

-LIBUSB (which you can install through QuickFreedom)

-an iPod Touch 2G (obviously.)

QuickFreedom works in a 5 step process, it’s actually not too hard to do.

Step 1:

You can download and install all the software you need from QuickFreedom, just make sure to refresh or restart the program when you do that so you can go onward, otherwise you will be stuck here.

Step 2:

Select your options and create a custom firmware. You can save it wherever you want, and you can add a custom bootscreen as well. When I did this, I didn’t use a custom bootscreen, but it should work fine.

Step 3:

This is the pre jailbreak. This was the hardest step for me, I don’t really know why. The whole trick is to get the touch into DFU mode. You can follow the DFU instructions, but it seemed almost impossible to use that, so I just ended up doing the DFU in various ways until I got it. I left iTunes open for the entire process, so you can use it as a check to see if you are doing it properly. It is my guess that QuickFreedom does not detect the DFU perfectly everytime since it told me that I was in DFU but would not let me proceed. Keep at it, you’ll eventually get there.

Here what I finally did at the end. It doesn’t matter if the iPod is on or off.
To do the DFU, hold the Power and Home buttons down for 10 seconds.
After 10 seconds, release the Power button and continue holding the Home button for 8 to 10 more seconds. At some point, iTunes should find an iPod in recovery mode unless you disconnected the iPod. I orginally tried doing this by turning off first, but in the end, I’m not too sure if that really mattered because my touch was in some limbo state between going on and off.

After you DFU, start the pre-jailbreak. WAIT. This is a mistake I almost made and got really lucky on. The log is there to help you, so read it! Do not go onward until you read that the patch was installed correctly. I almost started the next step before the patch was completely installed, this might screw things up, so just be careful.

Step 4:

Using iTunes, install the new software firmware that you built. Hold SHIFT and click Restore in iTunes, and find the custom firmware you built. Let the software install. It might take some time.

Step 5:

You are done! The touch should be jailbroken with Cydia and Installer. Have fun!

Some interesting notes:

I was not able to install more than 9 full pages of apps. I think that’s the limit. At 16 apps per page, thats 144 + 4 (from the dock) to total at 148. I haven’t tested this out, but you can probably use categories from Cydia to put all the apps in folders and get around this. Apps will still be there, but they are hidden away and will only appear if there is some more space (aka deleting old apps).

Thanks to the guys who made QuickFreedom and for http://proudofmylife.net, whose pictures I just copied because I was too lazy to screenshot my own in XP with Jing. If there is a problem, contact us.

Anyway, if you have questions, feel free to ask away! This worked perfectly for me and I’m happy with the results.

Voltaire.