The history of jailbreaking on the iPhone is a long and complicated one, but twice in the past the hackers have been able to make it a one-tap affair courtesy of a website called JailbreakMe.com. Now make that three times, because iOS 4.3.x devices can now make the magic happen, even on an iPad 2.

The Dev-Team Blog announced the arrival of the third iteration of JailbreakMe.com, a seemingly innocuous website that ups the ante in the back and forth, cat and mouse game between the hackers and Apple. If you’ve been tempted to jailbreak your iOS device but applications such as Pwnage Tool or redsn0w have frightened you off, JailbreakMe.com makes it about as easy as it could ever be.

“JailbreakMe is the easiest way to free your device,” the website proclaims. “Experience iOS as it could be, fully customizable, themeable and with every tweak you could possibly imagine. Safe and completely reversible (just restore in iTunes), jailbreaking gives you control over the device you own. It only takes a minute or two, and as always, it’s completely free.”

While the previous 2.0 edition of JailbreakMe.com provided a whimsical imitation of an iOS device unlock screen complete with a “Swipe to jailbreak” style animation, the 3.0 model mimics the App Store, offering a tappable “Free” link to install Cydia, the popular jailbreak-only storefront that holds most of the goodies available with a freed device.

Compatibility with different iOS devices varies, but most users will want to have iOS 4.3.3 installed, especially for the iPad 2, which has been something of a “white whale” for the jailbreak community. JailbreakMe.com offers the first method for jailbreaking Apple’s tablet sequel after months of work. The original iPad is also supported, as well as the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (GSM and CDMA models) and the third and fourth-generation iPod touch as well.

As always, be sure to read through the Q&A text on JailbreakMe.com or The Dev-Team Blog before proceeding. You’ll also want to connect your device to iTunes and sync to make sure you have a fresh backup in case you want to return to the way things were previously -- then have fun and get your tap on!

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