Jailbreak iPhone 5 Running iOS 6.1.2 with Evasi0n on Mac OSX

Released worldwide at the end of 2012 (in some countries it was released exactly on the day the world was supposed to end, according to the Mayan calendar anyway; it seems that the Mayans could have used an iPhone) with the slogan “The biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone“, the iPhone 5 is Apple’s sixth generation iPhone and the successor to the critically acclaimed iPhone 4S. It was in high demand when it was released (so much so that the demand exceeded the available supply when it was released) and had an overall positive reception while also receiving criticism for giving up on Google Maps in favor of Apple’s own Maps App. Among others, Apple’s iPhone 5 introduced iOS 6, a 16:9 wide screen aspect ratio, LTE support and the controversial Maps App (which upset a lot of iOS users). If you are curious to see how it compares to its predecessor, the iPhone 4S, you can read our in depth comparison here.

If you just want the short version: the sixth generation iPhone is both lighter and thinner than its fifth generation predecessor; it also comes equipped with a 16:9 wide screen aspect ratio Retina display (unlike the iPhone 4S’ 1.5:1 wide screen aspect ratio Retina display) and it has a much better performance than the iPhone 4S thanks to the A6 chip installed in it (a dual core 1.4 GHz CPU) while the iPhone 4S uses the older A5 chip (a dual core clocked at 800 MHz) that offers less when it comes to raw power. There are many other differences between the two iPhones both in hardware and software (we already mentioned the exclusion of Google Maps from the newest iPhone model, replaced by Apple’s own Maps App, a move that wasn’t well received by iOS user from around the world). If you want to know about all the differences between the two models you will have to read our comparison. Back to the topic at hand, when the iPhone 5 was released many people made the upgrade from their fifth generation iPhone to the sixth generation. As you are probably aware, those that bought the newest iPhone were unable to Jailbreak their iOS 6 iPhone 5 so they had to give up on Cydia and all the other tweaks. That changed recently – a Jailbreak tool called Evasi0n was released not long ago and it allows people to Jailbreak their iOS 6 iPhone 5.

Evasi0n is the work of a few talented developers that gathered under the name ‘the Evad3rs’. They developed the Evasi0n Jailbreak tool and released in at the beginning of this month, on the 3rd. Many of the people that upgraded their smartphone to the sixth generation iPhone (and not only them but every iOS 6 iDevice owner as almost every iOS 6 iDevice is compatible with Evasi0n) were waiting for a Jailbreak tool that would allow them to Untethered Jailbreak their iPhone 5; thus it is no wonder that Evasi0n was a highly anticipated tool. In this article we will offer you a step by step guide (with detailed instructions) on how to Jailbreak your iOS 6.1 iPhone 5 with the Evasi0n tool.

The guide is just below, but before giving you the actual guide I am going to offer some information on the Evasi0n Jailbreak tool. You can skip it if you want but it’s worth reading it before you start Jailbreaking your iPhone 5. Evasi0n is a tool designed to Jailbreak almost every iOS device on the market (with a few exceptions like the Apple TV 2 and the Apple TV 3) and every iOS 6.x version. By iOS 6.x we actually mean iOS 6.0, or iOS 6.0.1, or iOS 6.0.2 or iOS 6.1 so if your sixth generation iPhone is running either of these versions you will be able to Jailbreak it as all of these iOS versions are supported by the Evasi0n tool. We are sure you know that none of these iOS 6.x versions were Jailbreak compatible prior to the Evasi0n tool but that changed when the Evad3rs found some vulnerabilities in iOS 6 and exploited them – and that is how Evasi0n was born.

Another thing about Evasi0n that we would like to tell you is that it was developed for as many Operating Systems as possible by the small team of developers behind it. That is because they wanted as many people as possible to be able to Jailbreak their iOS 6 iDevices, regardless of their Operating System of choice. Thus it does not matter if you are a a Mac OS X user, a Linux (x86 / x86_64) OS user or a Windows OS (minimum recommended version is XP) user because you will be able to use Evasi0n on your desktop computer. You should know, however, that this guide is intended for Mac OS X users. Before starting the Jailbreak process please make sure that you have the following: a sixth generation iPhone running iOS 6.1 (as we already mentioned, Evasi0n supports all iOS 6.x versions so any of the above mentioned versions can be Jailbroken), a computer running Mac OS X (19.6 minimum is needed) and of course the USB cable that you will need for the iPhone 5 to Mac OS X computer connection.

Step 1.

To begin the Jailbreak process of you iPhone 5, you will first need to get the Evasi0n Jailbreak tool. To download Evasi0n simply go to our dedicated Jailbreak tools page and you will find the Evasi0n tool there. Download it to your computer (almost forgot: make sure you download the Mac OS X version of Evasi0n as that is the version we will use in this ‘how to’ guide) and after the download is completed open the archive and extract it somewhere on your computer.

Step 2.

Once you extracted the archive on your computer you have to go to where you extracted it and open it (with a simple double click on the extracted file).

Step 3.

Step three is optional – it only applies to you if you have a Passcode set on your iPhone 5. If you don’t have a Passcode enabled, you can skip to step four; however if you do have a Passcode disabled you need to disable it. In order to disable it, follow these simple instructions: first you have to unlock your iPhone 5. Once it is unlocked, go to Settings then go to General and from General go to Passcode Lock. Now all you have to do to disable the Passcode is choose Turn Passcode Off and it will be disabled. Now you can continue to the next step.

Step 4.

This is a very easy step and involves the USB cable that we mentioned earlier when we told you about the Jailbreak process’ requirements. You will have use the USB cable to connect your iPhone 5 to your desktop computer.

Step 5.

As soon as you connect your iPhone 5 to your computer you should see an on screen message informing you that Evasi0n correctly detected your sixth generation iPhone. This is the exact message that you should see “iPhone 5 with iOS 6.1 detected. Click the button to begin“. As the Evasi0n jailbreak tool informs you, in order to start the Jailbreak process you will have to press the Jailbreak button. If for some reason Evasi0n does not detect your iPhone 5, you will notice that you won’t be able to press the Jailbreak button and start the Jailbreak process. Another thing of note is the warning Evasi0n displays on the screen, suggesting that you backup your iPhone 5 before starting the Jailbreak process. There is a slim to none chance that something might go wrong during the Jailbreak process and you will lose your data, but even if there is only a very small possibility you shouldn’t risk. So we also recommend you backup your iPhone 5 before pressing the Jailbreak button, just in case. After you decided whether or not to backup your data, press the Jailbreak button.

Step 6.

Once your iPhone 5 was correctly detected and you’ve pressed the Jailbreak button, the Jailbreak process will begin and the Evasi0n toll will start preparing Jailbreak data.

Step 7.

As the Jailbreak process is underway, you will have to be patient as the Evasi0n tool will perform a number of automated tasks necessary for the Jailbreak process. As we mentioned above, the first of these tasks will be ‘preparing jailbreak data‘ – during this time Evasi0n will collect the files needed in order to Jailbreak your iPhone 5. After this task is complete, another message will inform you that Evasi0n is ‘injecting jailbreak data‘ and once it completes this task too, it will reboot your iPhone 5. After rebooting your smartphone, Evasi0n will start ‘uploading the Cydia packages list‘. As we said, you should find something to do away form the computer while Evasi0n performs these steps and wait patiently for it to finish.

Step 8.

After Evasi0n completes execution of all the above tasks, it will give you instructions on what to do next. Here is what you have to do: first you will have to unlock your iPhone 5. After that look on your Home screen for a new icon. This is an icon created by Evasi0n and it should be named “Jailbreak“. Once you find it, tap it once (make sure you only tap on it once) and your iPhone 5′s screen will go black and you will be returned to the Home screen.

Step 9.

You should now be on the Home screen of your iPhone 5, after following the instructions from the previous step. At this point Evasi0n will start the execution of another series of automated tasks. You will be informed via on screen messages of whatever Evasi0n will be doing. The tasks that Evasi0n will execute include ‘injecting jailbreak data‘ (when the Jailbreak files will be copied to your iPhone 5) and when it finishes you will be informed that the ‘Root Filesystem was successfully remounted!‘. Just like the last time when the Jailbreak tool performed automated tasks, it is recommended that you do not use your computer for anything else for the duration of these automated tasks and wait for the Evasi0n tool to finish.

Step 10.

When Evasi0n completes all the tasks, you will receive an on screen message to inform you that it finished. The whole message should be “Done! Device will now reboot. Please be patient, the boot will take a bit longer than usual to do a first time setup. The device may restart several times“. So, as you would expect after reading the message, your iPhone 5 will reboot. After your sixth generation iPhone reboots, Evasi0n will perform a first time setup. It is important that you do not interrupt the first time setup, so do not use the computer for the duration of the first time setup and wait patiently for it to complete. You will probably notice the long boot time as well as the several restarts that will happen during the process – as the message informed you, there is nothing abnormal about any of it so don’t worry.

Step 11.

When Evasi0n completes the first time setup, your sixth generation iPhone will display the Evasi0n logo over a white background. Another set of automated tasks will follow over the next few minutes and you will be kept informed of whatever task Evasi0n performs via on screen messages (some of them will be displayed for only a few seconds). You are not required to do anything but if you want to know exactly what Evasi0n is doing, these are the messages: ‘Setting up fstab and AFC2‘, ‘Setting up Cydia‘, ‘Setting up Cydia packages‘ then ‘Clearing SpringBoard Cache‘ and the last message should be ‘Rebooting‘ after which, of course, your iPhone 5 will be rebooted. This should be the last time your iPhone 5 is rebooted during the Jailbreak process; after it reboots you can go to the next part.

After your iPhone 5 reboots you should again see the Evasi0n logo displayed over a white background. And surprise, surprise: yet another series of automated tasks will begin. As before, you will be informed of what each task is via on screen messages (which are, again, displayed only for short periods of time). Since we are very close to the Jailbreak process’ end, these will be the last series of automated tasks. In case the messages went too fast and you want to know what tasks Evasi0n is performing, here are the messages: ‘Initializing offsets‘, ‘Finding offsets‘, ‘Patching kernel‘, ‘Cleaning up!’ and at the end of the automated series of tasks you will see the last message ‘Done! Continuing boot‘. Now the Jailbreak process is almost complete; just a few things left to do. After seeing the last message you should be returned to the Lock screen.

Step 12.

As we said, you are almost done with the Jailbreak process; this is the twelfth and final step of the process and it is an easy step that will only take you a couple of minutes. You should be at the Lock screen so the first thing to do is to unlock your iPhone 5. After you unlock you, you have to go to the second or third (this varies depending on how many Apps you have installed) page of your Home screen and look for Cydia. Once you find it, tap on it to open it. Since this will be the first time that Cydia runs on your newly Jailbroken iPhone 5, it will initialize with a setup process so give it some time as it may take a few minutes. Once the first time setup is compelte you will be returned to the Lock screen once again (and for the last time during the Jailbreak process). Now you will have to repeat the first part of step twelve, namely unlock your sixth generation iPhone and launch Cydia again and finally, the last thing to do before starting to use Cydia is to choose the type of user you prefer. And that’s it – you now have a Jailbroken sixth generation iPhone running iOS 6.1. Though you are finished with the Jailbreak process, take a few seconds to read the notes below.

Notes:

You’ve just Jailbroken your iPhone 5 and we understand if you are anxious to dive in and get all the cool tweaks on your iPhone but before that there is just one more thing that you may need to do. During step three of our guide, we told you to disable your sixth generation iPhone’s Passcode if it had one enabled prior to starting the Jailbreak process. If that was the case, you will now have to enable the Passcode again on your iPhone 5. The process is simple and we already described it in step three of our guide: first of all unlock your iPhone 5, then go to Settings, from there to General and finally to Passcode Lock. Now all you have to do is select Turn Passcode On and the Passcode will be again enabled. One last thing: as we already mentioned, we wrote this ‘how to’ guide for the Mac OS X version of the Evasi0n Jailbreak tool, however if you are a Linux Operating System user or a Windows Operating System user, while your OS of choice is not covered by this guide, the Jailbreak process should be similar.

Now you are ready to start using your newly Jailbroken sixth generation iPhone, a Jailbreak that is possible thanks to team Evad3rs’ Evasi0n tool. Since the number of available tweaks for your iPhone 5 is very large, you can search our site for some of the best tweaks you can get on your iPhone 5 – you will find many articles about tweaks on iOSdoc.com. If you have any comments or suggestions, you can use the comments section below.