Some important news for folks running iOS 5 beta 1, the same goes for people using the firmware that don’t have an Apple developer’s account. The jailbreak developer, iH8Sn0w via a tweet warned everyone that the iOS 5b1 has an expiration date. Once expired, the firmware will lock you out of your device until its downgraded or until iOS 5 is officially launched. He mentioned the following in his tweet: To those wondering, iOS 5 (BETA 1!) will expire on August 4, 2011. The iOS 5 beta 1, which was released last week will be deactivated on August 4th according to iH8sn0w. The process is one that can’t be stopped either because it is one that occurs at boot level and as you already probably know, there is currently no boot-level exploit for iOS 5. So what does that mean for you? If you were smart and saved your SHSH blobs from your previous firmware than you can downgrade at any time you wish to. On the other hand, registered Apple developers also don’t have much to worrya bout as it is extremely likely that the next beta will have been out for weeks by the time the first beta version shuts down. You will probably be able to upgrade to the new firmware as usual. It is likely that for users who didn’t save their blobs, as with the first beta release, there is a good chance that the new software  will be made available somewhere on the web at some point, although we don’t condone using pirated Apple software. The bottom line, when iOS 5b2 is released, make sure you either: Update to iOS 5b2 Downgrade back to 4.3.3 Any device that is running the original beta after August 4th is likely to be locked down until a newer firmware is available. There is plenty of time though, just don’t get stuck! Authors: