Jailbreak iOS 4.2.1 on iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch untethered

Apple alien its long-awaited iOS 4.2.1 amend for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, which was the aboriginal above advancement for the iPad back its barrage beforehand this year. Finally, iPad users accept admission to appearance like multitasking, app folders, threaded messaging and a Unified Inbox, acknowledgment to this update. It additionally delivered fresh appearance alleged AirPrint and AirPlay to all iOS devices, the above for press from adaptable accessories and the closing for alive amid adaptable accessories and Apple TV or added AirPlay-enabled hardware.

But for iPhone jailbreakers, there's only one question that comes to mind when a new upgrade is released: can you jailbreak it?

The answer this time is yes you can - and there's no waiting to do so! However, iPhone users may want to hold off on this one. Here's why:
Although the 4.2.1 software can be jailbroken using the iPhone Dev Team's redsn0w hacking tool, this time around it's what's known as a "tethered" jailbreak, at least on newer Apple devices. What that means is that if your phone ever loses power or you need to reboot your device, you have to connect it to your computer (i.e. "tether" it) in order to keep the device jailbroken. Failure to do so will result in the device resetting to an un-jailbroken state. If, for some reason, you aren't able to reboot the device while tethered, you can still recover your jailbreak by connecting it again to your computer and then booting it using redsn0w.

Simply put, it's a huge pain.

So unless you really need 4.2.1's AirPlay or AirPrint features, we would suggest iPhone users hold off on this one, as an untethered (read: "normal") jailbreak is in the works now. Being "tethered" is less of a hassle on iPod Touch and iPad, however, as maintaining a jailbreak isn't as mission-critical on these devices. Nor are these devices as likely to be completely drained of battery juice like the iPhone is, especially if you make a lot of phone calls. In other words, it's up to you on this one - jailbreak if you must or wait to upgrade.

The good news is that you can still upgrade your iPad to iOS 4.2.1 to take advantage of all the new features but not have to install the same software on your iPhone. iTunes will prompt you when you connect an iPad to your computer to upgrade and you can proceed normally. When you connect your iPhone, you can just say "no" to the same prompt with no harm done. You can continue using your iPhone as usual, syncing files, etc., while still maintaining the jailbreak you already have.