Welcome to fatboy's strategy guide for IOS5 Jailbreaking
Followers of the jailbreaking scene will know that with the release of the iPad2, closely followed by IOS5, and the iPhone4S, the jailbreaking world has become a lot more challenging and interesting lately.

This post has been updated on 20/01/12 following release of the untethered jailbreak for A5 devices using absinthe!

The current status for jailbreaking 5.0.1 is as follows:

iPad1 Owners
The untethered jailbreak for A4 devices, including iPad1, has been released. Follow our tutorial here to jailbreak your device - TUTORIAL - Jailbreak iPad1 on IOS5 using redsn0w

iPad2 Owners
The untethered jailbreak for A5 devices, including iPad2, has been released. Follow our tutorial here to jailbreak your device - TUTORIAL - Jailbreak the iPad2 on 5.0.1 with Absinthe

SHSH Blobs for iPad2 devices on 5.x are currently of no use. Whilst you should definitely save them for the future, DO NOT assume they can be used to let you install 5.0.1 whenever you want. At the moment, they cannot! So, update to 5.0.1 whilst the signing window is open and install the jailbreak!

I have a question, when does apple stop signing a particular version? I mean how long after an updated version do they stop signing the previous one?

Excellent excellent explaination.
I am in the same boat as you, iPad2 3g!!!!

That is a fantastic post Leigh, the information is clear and even a thick sod like me can get a grasp of what is occurring.
I've been toying with the idea of moving to iOS 5 but couldn't make my mind up, I've got my blobs and can come back over if I don't like it.........but would I miss Cydia?.........decisions decisions.

Thanks for yet another great thread, I love this site!!

Originally Posted by rickyricardo

I have a question, when does apple stop signing a particular version? I mean how long after an updated version do they stop signing the previous one?

As I said in Step 3 above if you were reading...

3. Before the signing window for 5.0 is closed (usually no more than 48 hours after 5.0.1 is released), install 5.0 on your device. Use the failsafe restore process in this thread to install 5.0 - TUTORIAL - Failsafe method to restore the current version of IOS

It has normally been about 48 hours, but it has run longer in the past (Apple must give the download of 5.0.1 enough time to seed to all customers in the world so that anyone requesting a restore of their device will not be refused)...

The key thing is though, you will get no warning, so speed is of the essence!

I am sticking to jb on 4.3.3 - if there is a jb for 5.0, I think there will be on for later versions.

The reason why there wasno jb for versions later than 4.3.3 is because ios5 was around the corner.

That is my view, I could be 100% wrong. But I am not hedging my jb options.

Question Guys,

I'm on a fw 4.3.3 but still not jb, now I saved the SHSHs this is what I got on TU:

4.3.5
5.0b1
5.0b2
5.0b3
5.0b4
5.0b5
5.0b6

I know I cannot go back to 4.3.3. Anyways my Question is when the jb is release for 5.0 can I restore to 5.0 anytime on 4.3.3 etc... with my saved SHSHs stated above ?

Originally Posted by Pjon

Question Guys,

I'm on a fw 4.3.3 but still not jb, now I saved the SHSHs this is what I got on TU:

4.3.5
5.0b1
5.0b2
5.0b3
5.0b4
5.0b5
5.0b6

I know I cannot go back to 4.3.3. Anyways my Question is when the jb is release for 5.0 can I restore to 5.0 anytime on 4.3.3 etc... with my saved SHSHs stated above ?

No. 5.x blobs are worthless

Originally Posted by f4780y

No. 5.x blobs are worthless

Ouch !

So should I update to 5.0 and wait for the jb ?

If I was on a jb 5.0 and it crash and need to restore to 5.0 there is no more way even if I saved the SHSHs?

Sorry but Im so lost ....

I just wanna say congrats to the poster as this is a well written and excellent thread, it covered all my questions and I'm in the same boat as the poster, I have a JB 4.3.3 3G iPad 2 and I love it, but really really want to have an untethered 5.0 so maybe I will wait till 5.0.1 is released and then very quickly update to 5.0 and hope I don't have to wait too long for an untethered JB to be released, but it's a tough decision and I will miss a lot of my beloved tweaks If I had to wait too long or even worse a JB was never released.