Every year Apple reveals its latest upgrade to its mobile operating system known as iOS. In June, Apple showed off its 5th revision of iOS at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Since then, they have released 8 beta versions to developers and now the final version, dubbed iOS 5 GM (Gold Master), has been released to developers.

Apple won’t be officially sending iOS 5 to the public until October 12th, but we’ve found a way to get it a few days early! And that’s not even the best part; there’s already a jailbreak for iOS 5, too! Of course, jailbreaking is optional but highly recommended!

Note: If you’re thinking about jailbreaking iOS 5, I suggest grabbing the necessary files below and reading the optional part towards the end of the article. Installing iOS 5, then jailbreaking it is redundant and you’ll see why once you read below.

Installing iOS 5

What You’ll Need

One

Install iTunes and the iCloud control panel (optional). iTunes will request that you restart your computer, so be sure to do that.

Two

It’s very important that you backup your iDevice with iTunes before installing anything. iTunes will wipe your entire iDevice, upgrade the OS, and then restore your latest backup. You want to make sure that backup is as recent as possible, so plug in your iDevice and sync it with iTunes.

Three

Inside iTunes click the Summary tab inside your iDevice’s menu. Hold the Shift button your keyboard and click the Restore button. For Mac OS X users, hold down the Option key and click the Restore button. You’ll be prompted for an IPSW file. Browse to where you downloaded your copy, and open it with iTunes.

Four

iTunes will begin the upgrade process to iOS 5. If you run into any errors (like error 3194 or error 3002), make sure your hosts files are not patched to block Apple’s verification servers. To edit your hosts file on Windows, browse to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc where you’ll find a file called “hosts”. Open that file in Notepad and remove any lines containing “gs.apple.com” or anything to do with Apple. You can do the same if you’re running Mac OS X by editing the hosts file in /private/etc/.

Five

Once iTunes is done installing iOS 5 on your iDevice, you’ll have to choose a backup to restore. iTunes will automatically choose your latest backup, so just click Continue to restore your backup.

Six

You’re done installing iOS 5! When iTunes is done restoring your backup, your iDevice will show the screen below. Run through the steps of setting up your iDevice and iCloud services.

Jailbreak iOS 5 (Optional)

If having the final version of iOS 5 isn’t enough for you (it’s okay, we feel the same), you can optionally jailbreak your iDevice using sn0wbreeze. Download sn0wbreeze v2.8b8 and head over to our other article on how to jailbreak using sn0wbreeze. This jailbreak is tethered (unless you have an old bootroom iPhone 3GS), so take that into consideration before jailbreaking.

That’s it! You now have the latest version of iOS running on your iDevice a few days before it’s officially released. Now you can brag to all your friends and show off your amazing iOS upgrading skills!

Let us know in the comments below if you have any questions or issues!

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