iOS 5 Beta 1 Will Expire On August 4, 2011 [Warning]
Friday, June 17, 2011 1:21 AM
We have some serious news for those of you using iOS 5 beta 1 : it expires on August 4, 2011. iOS 5 beta 1 was released at WWDC 2011, and we gave you the download links too. If you activated your UDID and installed the firmware, just keep in mind that the beta has a timebomb attached to it. On August 4, iOS 5 b1 will stop working (meaning that the build will lock you out of your iDevice). Remember to sync and maintain regular backups of all your stuff. Read on for more info.
Read on for all your problems and doubts on this...
Q : Can the timebomb be deactivated ?
A : No. That involves modifying lockdownd, which would cause it to return an invalid signature on boot and therefore brick your iDevice. Unfortunately, we don’t have an iBoot-level exploit for iOS 5 beta 1, so we can’t break the boot chain.
Q : Can I backup my iDevice after the build deactivates itself ?
A : We are not completely sure, most probably it doesn’t.
Q : Will it make a difference if I have a Wi-Fi only iDevice and just change the date and time ?
A : That won’t work.
Q : Will iTunes let me restore iOS 4.3.3 back to my iDevice, and will everything still be there ?
A : Yes! Just plug in your iDevice and click Restore. All of your data will be restored back the way you had it.
Q : Why did Apple timebombed iOS 5 ?
A : Because you’re not supposed to be using them for your personal uses. They are meant to help developers in porting their apps to iOS 5.
[via @iH8sn0w]
June 17, 2011 at 2:01 AM
I don't understand. So that means even if you're a developer OR paid one of those developers to activate your UDID for you, you still get locked out of the device? But why?
Won't there be an ios5 b2 out by then? Surely apple can't expect all developers to go back to ios 4 when it says on their website that you CAN'T right?
June 17, 2011 at 4:19 AM
We have no solid info about this so far. We have quoted the source (iH8sn0w) at the end of the article. If we recieve more news we will surely update this post and thanks for reporting this to us.
June 17, 2011 at 3:27 PM
The fact is that if you're running io5 on your device without having registered your UDID on a developer acount, after August 4 you won't be able to use your device anymore. You'll be forced to restore (and btw loose your data if you forgot to backup) to 4.3.3 (if you manage to...I read this was a bit tricky)
If you have a registered device you won't be able to run ios 5b1 but you'll access to ios 5b2...without any restrictions :)
If you want to be safe, you better buy a developer account or try to register your UDID on a website offering this service. I think that with beta2 coming and the time limit of b1, the remaining slots won't be available in a short time :/ (for info, I registered my 2 devices on registermybeta.com and it's ok)
Have a nice weekend and thanks again for the article !
June 17, 2011 at 11:11 PM
Thanks for the info.