How To Bypass iOS 5.1 Restriction When Installing iMovie v1.3 on iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch Running iOS 5.0.1

The Apple media event last week caused quite a stir and Apple announced the release of a brand new iPad and Apple TV. Both of these new products are going to be released to the public on the 16th of March at 8am. The pre-order section of the Apple website was inundated with pre-orders and this caused a number of server and store down issues. Apple also took the opportunity to announce some of their apps at the media event that have been updated so that they are now compatible with the new iPad Retina display and these include the iWork Suite, GarageBand and iMovie.

For those of you that can�t live without your jailbreak the update of iMovie is going to be tough. This new app benefits from a great deal more functionality and an improved user interface but it also comes with a requirement that iOS 5.1 be installed. This means that jailbroken users who wish to keep their untethered jailbreak on iOS 5.0.1 won�t be able to download it. That�s what most people thought anyway.

It seems that the App Store makes a quick reference check against a .plist entry saved in the CoreServices directory of the device to determine what version of iOS is installed. If the check returns a value less than the minimum version required, an alert is displayed advising that it requires a specific iOS version.

If you have a jailbroken device it is simply a matter of using a program such as iFile or SSHing into the device and changing the version string in the SystemVersion.plist, which will fool the OS into believing that iOS 5.1 is installed and this will allow you to download iMovie. This means that jailbroken devices can benefit from the great new features and additions to the newly updated iMovie App. All you have to do now is head over to the App Store, download the iMovie app and enjoy all the cinematic goodness that awaits.