Skip to main content

Jailbreaking Apple iPhone: Benefits & Disadvantages

jailbreak iPhone
You may have come across great apps that you would love to install on your iPhone but you cannot since Apple hasn’t approved it. You have to jailbreak your iPhone before you can install such an app. Apple has stringent guidelines in place for including an app in its store. Getting Apple’s approval is a difficult process for app developers. Let’s look at why people jailbreak iPhones, iPads, and other Apple products.

In 2010 Apple went to court against jailbreaking iPhones. They argued that it was a direct violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). However, the court ruled against it and made jailbreaking legal.

Unlocking vs. Jailbreaking


You have probably come across the term unlocking. It is the process of removing the control over the phone by telephone operator. If you unlock the iPhone, you will be able to have it work with any carrier out there. It is different from jailbreaking. When you jailbreak an iPhone, it is not unlocked, but in order to unlock a phone, you have to jailbreak it first.

To get an iPhone with contract, go to Best Buy or Apple directly. These phones are tied to a contract, and hence known as locked.

This might create confusion as to whether the unlocked phones you purchase are jailbroken already. The answer is no, they are not. The locked/unlocked iPhone you purchase are not jailbroken.

Why Jailbreak?


There are a few advantages of jailbreaking that we will look at now.

1. Installing Apps


Obviously the first and most important advantage of jailbreaking your iPhone is installing unapproved apps from different places. Check out Cydia, the unofficial Apple iPhone app store that constitutes the greatest inspiration for jailbreaking iPhones.

Here are certain apps—the main reason why people love to jailbreak their iPhones.

SBSettings: Would you like to disable Wi-Fi and 3G on your iPhone? SBSettings app is a free app that gives you system settings control over your smartphone. From the status bar, you can invoke SBSettings and change several settings on or off.

Shrink: Have you wanted to use more icons on your iPhone? With Shrink app, you can reduce the size of each icon, allowing you to incorporate more icons on its screen.

IntelliscreenX: With this app, you can add widgets and apps on your lock screen and on the notification center.

MyWi: This app turns your iPhone into a Wi-Fi hotspot, so that other systems in your home can access the Wi-Fi connection through your iPhone.

iFile: This app enhances the basic file access functions on iOS giving you the ability to view all types of files on your iPhone.

Besides these, there are many apps you can install on your phone in order to make it work much better.

2. FaceTime on 3G/4G


If your iPhone does not allow FaceTime communications (video-chatting) over your 3G/4G connection, it is reason enough to jailbreak it.

3. Unlocking


In order to use any mobile carrier, you have to first unlock your phone, and jailbreaking your iPhone is the first step to unlocking it. With this, you don’t have to be tied down to a single mobile operator.

4. It is Easy and Reversible


If you wonder if the process will kill your iPhone, there is no need to worry. In fact the latest tools to jailbreak iPhones do not cause issues and they are fast and easy to use. I have seen that the process is reversible as well. After you jailbreak your phone, if you install the latest firmware, it simply rewrites the system causing it to go back to normal.

The Process


In order to jailbreak an iPhone, you need certain things. You need the iPhone (obviously), your computer should run the latest version of Apple iTunes, and you need a jailbreaking program (such as JailBreakMe). JailBreakMe is a free software program that helps jailbreak an iPhone pretty fast. Also, you can find more information about jailbreaking at the BigBoss.

[Update: ]: One other option to go for is Evasion. All you need is five minutes and a computer with Windows or Mac, and the iOS device connected to it by USB. More information is in the website.

The Risks


Before you decide to jailbreak the iPhone, you should know the risks involved as well. It may not always be safe to do it, and you should be an expert to do it perfectly. Here are the main reasons why you should avoid it.

1. Security Issues


Do you know that the jailbreaking process inherently renders your phone to be used with any app developed for iPhone? This means, you no longer are tied to apps provided by the Apple app store. In app store, Apple has strict regulations in place and it does not allow apps that may cause security issues on your phone. When you download and install a third party app, you should be sure if it is safe or not. There are many insecure apps available to iPhone users.
Apple iBrick

2. iBrick


If you jailbreak your iPhone, be sure to follow instructions very carefully. Otherwise you will instead create what is called an Apple iBrick. This is one of the most expensive kind of brick available! (I had a dream once about a billionaire building a home with iPhone bricks!)

3. Warranty


You should understand the terms and conditions of Apple’s limited warranty for iPhone. It states clearly in Apple’s policy that the procedures like jailbreaking voids the phone’s warranty. According to Apple:
Apple strongly cautions against installing any software that hacks the iOS. It is also important to note that unauthorized modification of the iOS is a violation of the iPhone end-user license agreement and because of this, Apple may deny service for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that has installed any unauthorized software.
However, in order to get warranty for your iPhone, you can approach the third party warranty provider, SquareTrade.

4. Battery & Data Usage


When you jailbreak an iPhone, it essentially comes out of all of its restrictions. You may be tempted to install some apps that take up battery on the phone. You may also incur higher data usage due to some of the extended capabilities of the phone (such as FaceTime communication over 4G and Wi-Fi tethering).

You should be sure about what you install and how you use the data plan on your phone to ensure minimum charges. When you go out of your data plan’s limit, the carrier usually charges much more than you expect, and that is why people are sometimes horrified by telephone bills.

Conclusion


Yes, you can jailbreak iPhones successfully. Apple may void your warranty and deny service due to you, and it may also cause security vulnerabilities. However, the major advantages of jailbreaking overshadow its disadvantages (also, it applies if you are an advanced user, of course). This is the reason why I recommend following instructions carefully in jailbreaking your iPhone.

Related:
Installing Incompatible Android Apps

[Image credit: AllthingsD, Apple]

Popular posts from this blog

What Is the Role of a Firewall, and How Does It Secure a Network From Unsafe Traffic?

To understand firewalls, basic understanding of how networks function is requisite. Deep down, how do the packets of information that you send reach the intended receivers? How do the messages intended for you reach you safely? And how does it all function like clockwork? Let’s understand the basics of firewalls and see how a firewall secures the traffic in and out of a network. Consider this scenario for getting an understanding of how firewalls work. Say, you open up your browser to book a flight ticket for your upcoming vacation, and your computer is conveniently insecure without a firewall. Let’s say you come across an intriguing email that gives an offer you can’t refuse. You open the email and click a link, and bam! An unwanted piece of spyware is installed on your system. The spyware then proceeds to sit on your system tray, hidden from your eyes, tracking the keystrokes you make, reading the top-secret files you have, and looking for potentially rewarding information, such...

Which to Select out of the Hot Range of Windows 8 Phones?

Windows Phone 8 operating system will be released by the end of this month. Microsoft has the event scheduled on 29th of this month. In the coming days, a number of phones will be released all containing Windows Phone 8. With the operating system being highly successful after Microsoft’s hot design strategy and awesome interoperability, device manufacturers are highly ambitious about their devices. HTC, Samsung, and Nokia are all set to reveal their Windows 8 smartphones. Let’s look at some of the hot contenders in this category and see which seems to be the good choice for customers. The Devices Here are the Windows Phone 8 phones expected to be launched in the coming days. Nokia: Lumia 920, Lumia 820 HTC: Windows Phone 8X, 8S Samsung: ATIV S Hardware Specifications Being Microsoft’s preferred choice of device manufacturers, Nokia came up with the first breakthrough device after the failure of Symbian, with the Lumia series. Now, they have two phones coming, ...

How to Send Email in Your Own Language Script Through Gmail?

Have you ever had trouble sending an email to a distant relative who speaks a different language altogether? It has never been easy on email applications to send messages in other languages. Google’s popular email service, Gmail has come up with transliteration tools and other language input tools to make the service much better. You can type using Gmail interface in any language that you want. First of all, you need to select the languages that you want to use in composer. For this, go to Gmail settings and you will see the ‘Language’ option under General. Here, go to advanced language options and put a check mark to ‘Enable input tools’. Here, you can transliterate (type in English the words in other languages to have them appear in correct script), use a virtual keyboard, or edit your input method with the help of a regular keyboard to convert words into other alphabet. Transliteration feature was available although limited in Gmail. Select the input tools from the list by d...