Is a Jailbreak More Trouble Than It's Worth?

Nightstark

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I recently 'Jailbroke' my iPhone 3GS and doing so was exremely easy. I had seen videos on youtube on different 'tweaks' you could install using Cydia. some of the things that you could do with a 'Jailbroken' iDevice seemed amazing to me, but after I had 'Jailbroken' my iPhone I had started to notice that it kept changing the icon for different apps; for example, I opened my phone and noticed that there was a youtube Icon where my phone icon should be. after this my phone froze and I gave it some time to see if it would unfreeze, but after 10 minutes it hadnt changed so I hard reset my phone. It had then resolved the issue. as the day progressed i had started to notice more problems, one was that all of the icons that i had hidden had appeared on the next page along with a setup app with no icon and a field test app with no icon and a ad app with no icon. i then decided to do the same as i did last time a problem occurred. reset my device after my device rebooted it had resolveed the issue. after a day or 2 i noticed that it kept changing different icons to others or it would leave the icon blank. as i type this i have just reset my phone to my nearest backup and now all is good.

Jailbreaking may be great for an ipod but i didnt want to have to reset my device every time i had a problem (which was quite frequently). I would only Jailbreak my device again if they could garuntee that there would be no more problems of this kind.

What i had from the Jailbreak was truly amazing, but i would rather not suffer these problems and not have the abilities of a Jailbreak. i understand that i am probably wrong or doing something wrong in everyone elses view but i would rather keep the safety of my iPhone over ability.

-Nightstark
 

Fausty82

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I asked the same question back in June and it was pretty much dismissed by the JB faction.

http://forums.imore.com/jailbreak-unlock-forum/235760-jailbreaking-worth-hassle.html

What is important it note is that JB is completely legal (for now), and it's a matter of choice to each iDevise owner/user... but the very act of jailbreaking is exploiting a weakness in iOS to enable the user to install hacked code. Again, I am NOT passing judgement on those who do jailbreak (I did for a couple of months last year), My point is simply this:

  • The JB is installed by exploiting a weakness/vulnerability in iOS
  • The jailbreak code is, itself, a hack
  • Other developers write code that runs on top of the exploit, and within the hack
  • Many/most JB users do, in fact, ecounter instability and issues of one kind or another.

So the question that I asked, and now you are asking is "Is it worth it?". Ultimately each user must decide. Personally, I voted no about a year ago. Some of my friends and family run JB devices. Many of my friends here do too. Godspeed to you all... but in my case, it wasn't worth the hassle... I guess that's why Messers Baskin and Robbins sell 31 flavors - to each his own.
 

Massie

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As usual I say it's worth it IF you are willing and able to troubleshoot. If you just run out and install every tweak under the sun you will definitely run into issues?and more so if you don't find and uninstall the problem app or tweaks.

You don't mention what you installed so it's hard to say what happened in your case (not all tweaks are compatible with all versions of ios, or with each other) but I can say that after jailbreaking 4 generations of iPhones I have never encountered an issue that has required me to un-jailbreak. If it's not for you I totally get that, but the vast majority of issues can be traced to simple conflicts that can be fixed by uninstalling the problematic package.
 
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Eileen89

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I recently asked myself this question as well and made the decision to restore my iPad 3 and 4S back to stock for a while. That was one week ago and I don't regret it at all. My Black 4S that I use with T-Mobile is running so smoothly and is as fast as the day that I got it. I also have a White 4S now that I use with my AT&T service and I decided that I will not be Jailbreaking it at all. I do agree with what Massie said above about not installing every tweak under the sun, as that is what could have been the cause of my 4S running slowly.
 

BLiNK

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i do have to say my need or desire to jailbreak has lowered greatly since iOS 5. it is now to the point of when i do jailbreak it is only for a few tweaks and nothing that i cannot live without either

after doing it for a while now i can tell the difference almost the instant i am jailbroken, before any tweaks are installed then it seems to degrade from there. this is why i feel jailbreaking is a give & take situation. you can load some really innovating software on your device but it will come with a price - lag, slight to moderate battery drains and unexplained glitches

i would say for anyone interested or in the early stages of jailbreaking to do as much research as possible and it will make your experience better. bottom line is you have to know your what you're doing and be willing to troubleshoot at a moments notice. it is not just for anyone, that's for sure

lastly, after doing it for so long it has made me appreciate the overall feel & experience of a stock device
 

Massie

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I recently asked myself this question as well and made the decision to restore my iPad 3 and 4S back to stock for a while. That was one week ago and I don't regret it at all. My Black 4S that I use with T-Mobile is running so smoothly and is as fast as the day that I got it. I also have a White 4S now that I use with my AT&T service and I decided that I will not be Jailbreaking it at all. I do agree with what Massie said above about not installing every tweak under the sun, as that is what could have been the cause of my 4S running slowly.

Rose, I'm always curious about people that have two iPhones running on different providers...what is the idea behind that? It seems like such an extra cost for something you can only use one at a time. Is one work-provided or something?
 

Eileen89

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Rose, I'm always curious about people that have two iPhones running on different providers...what is the idea behind that? It seems like such an extra cost for something you can only use one at a time. Is one work-provided or something?

I've had my T-Mobile 2 Go number for years and it doesn't cost me more than $25/year for the amount of times that I use it. There is one vacation spot that we go to every year that T-Mobile just works better in that area. I could get by with one iPhone and will again as soon as AT&T unlocks this White iPhone for me.
 

synaesthee

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Whether or not jailbreaking is worth it depends a lot upon the user. If you have a lot of fun trying new things, watching them break, and then fixing them, then jailbreaking is for you.

If you're not technically inclined and have no idea how any of this works, but just want to get the flashy stuff, it might not be worth it for you.

If your phone is still in warranty or under AppleCare, and you don't know how to keep Apple from finding out you've jailbroken it (which is easier now than it used to be for most devices), then jailbreaking is probably not worth it. If you have to take your phone into the Genius bar and they find that it's been jailbroken, it's policy to void your warranty (sometimes they turn a blind eye, but whatever).

Personally, I go back and forth. Apple releases a new OS with new features, so I'll try that out for awhile with no jailbreak. After awhile, I'll break it again because I get bored with it and want more features.
 

Kurt Sligh

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I finally got an Iphone a few years ago and jailbroke it almost right from the beginning. The apps are fantastic to say the least. One of the things that it seems like Apple would be able to do is manipulate icons and folders better. Unlimited apps within folders and folders within folders seems like something they could do. And the red checkmark on many apps to move them wherever you want does not seem that big. Being able to shrink the icons and get 5 across and getting unlimited scrolling apps on the bottom bar (forgot what they call that) is so handy. If they had those I would probably not jailbreak. So really, I only jailbreak to be able to organize things better on the screen...that's it. But once you are JB'd you may as well enjoy the many other perks as well.

But as some have said, it's not always a bed of roses. I have a spreadsheet of what JB app I'ce added and when I added it. So if anything happens I can uninstall it the reverse order as I installed until the issue goes away. I've not had much problems here. My issue is that each time you upgrade your OS you lose the JB and once you put the JB back on you have to load your Cydia apps and get all of your folders back the way you had them. If there is an easier way to do that please let me know.