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The Only Legal Jailbreak You’ll Ever Pull Off (iPhone/iPad)
Federal regulators recently clarified the law that surrounds jailbreaking smart phones. As of recently, it is decidedly legal for iPhone owners to jailbreak their iPhones, and that Apple has no legal basis for protecting its business model by prohibiting jailbreaking.
What is Jailbreaking?
In layman’s terms, jailbreaking is hacking into a smart phone’s operating system. Consumers do this so that they can run any application that they choose on their phone. Owners of iPhones find this particularly useful as, without jailbreaking, they can only download and install authorized Apple software.
How can an iPhone owner jailbreak their iPhone?
One of the easiest ways to jailbreak a phone is with a newly released Windows and Mac tool, by the name of Spirit. All in all, Spirit is simple, safe, and works on every type of smart phone. Moreover, Spirit even works on iPod Touches and iPads.
The following instructions explain precisely how to jailbreak an iPhone. But beware, as there is a certain level of risk involved, and users are cautioned to proceed at their own discretion.
Here is what you need to jailbreak an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch:
- The Spirit Jailbreak tool, which is available for Windows and Mac.
- iTunes 9.1.1
- An iPod cable
Here are the steps for jailbreaking an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch
- Plug the Apple device in, and wait for iTunes to recognize it.
- Back up the device to the iTunes library, and sync it. This is a precautionary measure that ensures a backup should anything go wrong.
- Open up the Spirit Jailbreak tool. A window should display itself on the computer monitor, and display a message indicating that the device is properly connected.
- Click “Jailbreak.”
- While the process is underway, be sure not to mess with the computer or the device. Wait until a screen appears, indicating that the restore is complete. When it is done, the device will restart.
- Upon restarting the Apple device, a new icon will appear on your home screen, labeled Cydia. Cydia is an alternate app store, although the original App Store will continue to be fully functional.
What is Cydia?
Cydia is an alternate app store. It looks somewhat different on an iPhone, an iPad, and an iPod Touch, but it functions about the same on all of these. Upon opening Cydia for the first time, users should click on the button stating, “Make my life easier, thanks!” By clicking this button, Cydia will back up the devices activation profile to remote servers. This protects users’ ability to jailbreak their iPhone if they upgrade their software in the future.
What kind of apps should those who have jailbroken their iPhone download?
- Backgrounder: Allows users to run apps in the background.
- Activator: Provides a framework for gestures across all types of jailbroken apps.
- Kirikae: Serves as a task switcher to be used with Backgrounder.
- SBSettings: Opens up numerous settings that are easily accessible by a pop-down system tray.
- Cycorder: Allows users to take full motion video with a pre-3GS iPhone.
- MyWy: Allows users to share their 3G connection with other devices over a wi-fi connection.
- Winterbound: Allows users to change themes, and modify their home screen.
- iRealSMS: Allows users to send text messages without opening the SMS application.
- VoiPOver3G: Allows users to trick apps into thinking they are connected to wi-fi, even if they are, in fact, connected to a 3G network.
- Intelliscreen: Allows users to install useful information to their home screen, such as weather, email and calendar events.
- Veency: A VNC server that allows iPhone owners to control their iPhone from their computer.
- Illicit goods: These are out there for those who want to do the search themselves.
Jailbreaking, in general:
Because the iPad is newer, and there aren’t as many apps out there, many of the iPad apps have yet to be updated. It would be a good idea for iPad users to Google any apps before downloading them to see how they work on the iPad.
Un-Jailbreaking:
Unjailbreaking an iPhone is just as easy as jailbreaking it. Here is how to do it:
- Plug the Apple device in, and open up iTunes.
- Option-click the restore button in iTunes.
- Navigate to the downloaded firmware, and restore it.
- iTunes will then ask whether you want to restore the device or set it up from a previously restored backup. Choose how to proceed, and you are done.
