Reviving old iPads (gen 2 & 3)

[lukecyca]

I have an iPad 2 (A1395) running iOS 6.1.3 and also an iPad 3 (A1416) running iOS 9.3.6.

My goal is to be able to use these to read PDFs/eBooks, maybe some web browsing, and other basic tasks. The screens and batteries are still in excellent condition.

1. How can I get a basic reader for eBooks and PDFs? I can't seem to use the App Store at all, and even if I could I suspect none of the currently-available apps would run on such an old version of iOS.

2. Should I update these to the latest supported iOS version? Or is there reason to hold them back? I suspect it is possible to jailbreak them now, but that updating iOS may close that possibility.

3. If I can't get any basic apps through the official app store, perhaps jailbreaking and sideloading apps is the only way to preserve these iOS devices which are nearly vintage now. Is there an "iOS garden" site with old apps that can be sideloaded after jailbreaking?

What's a collector to do?

 

[3lectr1c]

Alright, here's the rundown.

Both the iPad 2 and 3 are based on the Apple A5 SoC, which performs terribly on anything past iOS 8 (and even iOS 7 to a degree). So don't update unless you're prepared to deal with some pretty awful performance.

The iPad 2 can be downgraded to 6.1.3, so if you did decide to upgrade it you can go back with some command line OS X tools. The iPad 3 cannot be downgraded to 6.1.3 unless you saved the SHSH blobs for that version when it was signed by Apple (which you probably didn't). You can downgrade the iPad 3 to 8.4.1, which will offer a very slight performance boost.

You can jailbreak iOS 9.3.6 (latest supported on both iPads), but the method requires an app to be sideloaded and re-signed every 7 days to keep the device jailbroken. You have to re-run the app every time the device reboots to re-enable the jailbreak, so if the app expires after 7 days and the device reboots, you will be without a jailbreak until you re-sign the app. If the app expires, the jailbreak will continue to work until you reboot the device. This type of jailbreak is known as semi-untethered.

If you downgrade the iPad 3 to iOS 8.4.1, you can use a fully-untethered jailbreak which will only need to be run once and survives a device reboot. iOS 6.1.3 also has an untethered jailbreak.

As for apps, there's a few big archive collections on archive.org.

Here are some resources to get you started:

iOS 9.3.6 jailbreak tutorial (video made by me)

iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak tutorial (video made by me)

iOS 6.1.3 jailbreak tutorial (video made by me)

iOS Sideloading: When jailbroken, you can install a utility to permanently sideload as many apps as you would like, as long as the jailbreak is active. Due to this stipulation, it cannot be used to perma-sign the app required for the 9.3.6 jailbreak, as it does not work when the jailbreak isn't active.
Tutorial by me:

The description of this video has a bunch of links to app archives to download IPA files from, so check there for any PDF readers.

Here's the downgrade utility: https://github.com/LukeZGD/iOS-OTA-Downgrader

Hope this helps!

 

[lukecyca]

Thanks very much for this info. It helped tremendously, and I was able to downgrade the iPad 3 to 8.4.1 and get an "untethered" persistent jailbreak on it. Everything worked as described, except I got stuck with this problem when I reset the iPad after jailbreaking. The solution was to restore the iPad with a ipsw for 9.3.6 and start again.

It does still seem a bit slow, so I might try downgrade it further some time.

 

[3lectr1c]

8.4.1 is as far as you can go on an iPad 3 unfortunately, no further untethered unless you've dumped the SHSH blobs of a previous version in the past.

What are SHSH blobs?
Basically, Apple is a giant evil corporation. To prevent users from downgrading their devices to whatever iOS version they please, around 2010 they started signing each iOS build. This means that in order to restore to a version of IOS in iTunes, it must be signed by Apple. In nearly every case, the only signed versions of iOS for each device are the latest couple. For the iOS 8.4.1 downgrade, we exploit the fact that a device on iOS 6 will have to make a pit-stop on iOS 8 before it can continue to do an OTA update to iOS 9. If we trick Apple's servers into thinking the device is running iOS 6, it will give its graces and allow the "upgrade". The iPad 2 can use the same method to get back to iOS 6.1.3, but only because iOS 5.0.x needs to make an additional pit-stop at iOS 6 first, and the iPad 3 shipped with 5.1.
An SHSH blob is basically a signing ticket. If you used a program to get this ticket for say, iOS 6.1.3 while Apple signed that version for the iPad 3, you can use it to build a signed IPSW file to restore your device. But I'm guessing that you probably didn't.

What options do you have for further blob-less downgrades?
Not many.
1. DecA5. This tool allows a tethered downgrade to any version you please, meaning that you'll need to connect the iPad to the computer each time it boots up, or it will just go to recovery mode. I believe this requires external hardware though (arduino) so it's not practical.
2. Coolbooter. If you're iPad has a decent amount of storage, you can do a tethered dual-boot to any supported version you please. This is the more realistic option.
1. Add the "coolbooter.com" repo to Cydia.
2. Instead of installing the coolbooter package, select "downgrade" from the list instead, and pick version 1.5. The newer version 1.6 does not support dual-booting to iOS 5, so if you'd like that version, make sure you install version 1.5 of the package.
3. Go through the app (very easy to use)
4. You've got a working dual-boot.
I'd recommend this only if you have at least 32GB of storage in your iPad. A 16GB device will work, but it won't leave you with much space to work with.
You may notice that there's a package on the repo called "Coolbooter Untether". Does it untether your dual-boot? Yes and no. It will boot most of the way into the host OS, then restart automatically into the dual-booted OS. This means a long boot time, and requires that you are jailbroken untethered (so make sure you're on 8.4.1 already).

Hope this helps!