Tethered, Untethered, Semi...Confused!

[xybadog]

From what I understand, simply speaking, a tethered jailbreak means the phone has to be connected to a computer to reboot, untethered means the phone can be rebooted without connecting and a semi-tethered is somewhere between the other two, sort of a workaround. Am I correct so far?

For obvious reasons I can see that a tethered jailbreak would be extremely inconvenient as you need to be near a computer if you need to reboot for whatever reason. So what benefit is a tethered jb over an untethered one? I'm guessing there must be some benefit for them to be developed in the first place. Also, how do I know which one I need for a particular iDevice? Can I simply just choose whether I want tethered or untethered or is it dependent on my device/ios version?

Picking my new iPhone 5 up next week. Hoping it'll be IOS 6.1.2 or lower so that I can jb but, if it is, what jb should I go for or am I "stuck" with whatever jb is available, be it tethered or not?

I know there's a lotta questions above but I want to be sure that what I'm doing is correct (provided my new phone doesn't come with 6.1.3).

PS - Is there a guide to Jailbreaking for the iPhone 5 as I've done a search of the forum and can't find one. I could Google it but I want to be sure that I get reputable info.

 

[kch50428]

Look here: Jailbreak | iMore.com

 

[rdiddy_25]

If it's on 6.1.2, then u can use Evasi0n jailbreak tool to jb ur iPhone 5. It will be untethered as well. Good luck and enjoy. If u got questions let us know

 

[xybadog]

If it's on 6.1.2, then u can use Evasi0n jailbreak tool to jb ur iPhone 5. It will be untethered as well. Good luck and enjoy. If u got questions let us know

Thanks. Can't wait to make the move from Android now. I'm sure I'll have many questions over the next few weeks.

 

[natasftw]

There WERE a lot of questions.

The easiest was answered already. Anything other than 6.1.3 means going to evasi0n.com to get the only jailbreak available.

You got the basic idea of the two primary types of jailbreak. Semi-untether is apparently a phone that will boot without help, but will boot up as factory. This is a bit of a hassle as well.

The last question is why would a tether be developed? From an end game point of view, you're correct. There's no advantage to the tether over untethered. Instead, consider the intermediate stages of development. The tethered is easier to accomplish. As a jailbroken phone offers more access than a factory one, this tethered jailbreak is more useful to the jailbreak hackers.

In addition, regular developers gain the ability to troubleshoot their apps prior to a wide reaching jailbreak if the tethered version is released prior to the untether being figured out.

The benefits just aren't typically realized by a regular user