What is iPhone jailbreaking, and can I jailbreak my
iPhone? Mark Hattersley has all the answers
iPhone jailbreaking. Should you; could you; would
you? It’s the classic three-parter to any conundrum.
Here we’re going to look at iPhone jailbreaking to
answer the three solid questions our readers ask:
• Should I jailbreak my iPhone?
• Can I jailbreak my iPhone?
• How do I jailbreak my iPhone?
First of all: what is jailbreaking? This is the act
of changing the iPhone software to remove any
limitations placed by Apple. The principal limitation
is that software can only be installed from the App
Store. With a jailbroken phone you can install
software from a rival to the App Store,
and also manually using image fi les
downloaded from the internet.
What does Apple say?
Apple is, as you’d imagine, fi rmly
opposed to jailbreaking. It frequently
updates the iOS software to remove any
jailbreak software from the iPhone, and
is constantly updating iOS to prevent
jailbreaking techniques from working.
Part of this is to protect its commercial
interests. Apple runs the software store
so it wants you to keep using
the store. And developers
spend time making software
and want to get paid. But
there are other concerns:
Apple wants the iPhone
system to remain secure on
the whole, and jailbreaking
can threaten that. Apple
identifi es these concerns:
• Security
• Instability
• Shortened battery life
• Unreliable voice and data
• Disruption of services
• Inability to update
What can I do with a jailbroken phone?
The main reason people jailbreak their phones is to
run pirated (copied) software and install it without
paying for the privilege. We’re not here to moralise:
whether you pay for software is up to you. Although
given the amount of free software on the app store,
and the sheer hassle it is to jailbreak an iPhone, we
do rather wonder why people bother.
The other – perhaps more viable – area is to run
apps and services that are not allowed by Apple.
Jailbreaking installed a rival to the Apple Store
called Cydia. This features apps in areas that Apple
bans, such as pornography. But there are also
apps that allow you to perform blocked tasks such
as tethering; apps that have been removed from
the store such as Sparrow. You can also change
the default apps
replacing Maps
with Google Maps
and the default
keyboard with
a version called
Octopus. It’s perfect
for tinkerers.
How do I jailbreak an iPhone?
If you’re interesting in jailbreaking and you typically
install a program on Mac OS X that does it for you.
There are two main options available:
• Evasion
• Redsn0w
At the moment both currently work on iOS 6.0
to 6.1.2, but not for iOS 7.
How does jailbreaking work?
There are many techniques for jailbreaking an
iPhone, and a lot of it depends on the model of
phone you are running, the fi rmware on your
handset and which version of iOS you have.
Typically if you have a brand new iPhone with
a recently released iOS you are going to have
more trouble jailbreaking than an older model that
hasn’t been updated recently.
Is it safe to Jailbreak an iPhone?
Not terrifi cally, no. While your iPhone isn’t going to
blow up in your hand or break the whole internet,
it may not work as well as you’d like. Because you
won’t get software from Apple.
See More Tech tips TECH TIPS
No comments:
Post a Comment