What does Jailbreak mean/do exactly?

[Infiniti7]

i always hear people jail breaking their phones. what does it do to the phone exactly?

 

[poisoned10]

It opens up a whole new world of apps/mods that Apple doesn't want you to have.


Sent from my iPhone

 

[Timhewitt]

It allows you to install apps that did not go through Apples approval process, voids the warranty on your phone, and opens you up to the only verified malware attacks on any iOS devices.

 

[poisoned10]

It allows you to install apps that did not go through Apples approval process, voids the warranty on your phone, and opens you up to the only verified malware attacks on any iOS devices.

How does it void your warrant? I've taken 3 different iPhones into Apple stores and all 3 were replaced and all 3 had been jailbroken.

If you restore the device before having them look at it there is no way of them knowing it has ever been jailbroken.


Sent from my iPhone

 

[redbeard]

It allows you to install apps that did not go through Apples approval process, voids the warranty on your phone, and opens you up to the only verified malware attacks on any iOS devices.

Don't listen to this negatard.

It allows you to theme the phone, and install any of hundreds of highly useful tweaks and mods that you otherwise couldn't.

Here is a good write up: What is Jailbreaking?

 

[Timhewitt]

Just telling the whole truth, not the sugar coated version.

 

[ckalli]

jailbreaking allows you to do what ever u feel like with "your" idevice, instead of what apple lets you..

 

[Massie]

It allows you to install apps that did not go through Apples approval process, voids the warranty on your phone, and opens you up to the only verified malware attacks on any iOS devices.

Actually, jailbreakers were the first ones to have a patch available for the PDF exploit that allowed unauthorized code to be run on iPhones--so sometimes jailbreaking can make your iPhone more secure than Apple made it.

I think the "whole truth" is that no device is totally secure, and that user carelessness is more likely to be the cause of a security breach than anything else. For instance, the iOS malware I think you're referring to required that a user jailbreak, install an SSH program, leave the program running, and not change the default password. That is a far cry from simply jailbreaking, which simply allows a user to gain access to root files on the device.

 

[anon(4698833)]

Just telling the assumed truth from a person who hasn't a clue about what they are talking about.

Fixed that for you bud...

Jailbreak basically opens up customizing and modding to a phone that is pretty much locked down from Apple...are there risks? Sure! If you don't know what you are doing and you start messing with system stuff you have no business messing with in the first place, you can really do a number on your iPhone, but you won't EVER accidentally do this, you'd have to go through a lot of installing and accessing to even get close to the potentially harmful stuff.

And even still...99.9999999999% of the time, restoring will return it to stock with no problems.

Ignore the naysayers, and their redundant (and inaccurate) comments.

 

[Infiniti7]

so what kind of things can you access that apple does not allow you to?

 

[sting7k]

i always hear people jail breaking their phones. what does it do to the phone exactly?

It allows you to install apps outside of iTunes and the Apple approval process. That's really it.

Yes, if you take your jailbroken iPhone to Apple in that state they have the right to refuse you service as technically you voided your warranty. But all you have to do is restore it in iTunes before you take it to them and you are fine.

You will get better help and more information in the jailbreak section of these forums.

 

[cardfan]

That's pretty much it. Though i would recommend to the OP that he not worry about that can of worms and go back to struggling with simpler topics like manual vs auto backups.

 

[BLiNK]

Just telling the whole truth, not the sugar coated version.

not sure you even know what that is

 

[rosenstar]

so what kind of things can you access that apple does not allow you to?

Basically by jailbreaking, you get access to a second app store called "Cydia". Cydia has apps that allow you to customize the way the phone acts. I'll give you some examples:

"Themes" allow you to change the lockscreen, keyboard, font, etc. Here are some pictures of different themes applied to an iphone:

http://www.smbthemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/blue-thunder-theme-2.png
^In this theme you see that the app icons are changed

http://www.myrepospace.com/debfiles/17617/screenshots/img_0739.jpg
^This is a lockscreen theme, the slider and clock are removed and replaced with other stuff.

Tweaks allow you to change how a phone works. A popular tweak is called activator. Activator allows you to set an app to a motion. For example, you can set it so tapping the volume up button will allow you to compose a text message, or pressing the home key three times will let you tweet.

Another popular tweak is "BiteSMS". BiteSMS allows you to "quick-compose" a text message, meaning you don't have to leave the app you're in, or even unlock your phone to send a text. See the video below:

BiteSMS or Bite SMS Messaging App Review - Cydia - Apple iPhone - CellPig - YouTube

Other tweaks that I can think of off the top of my head do things like let you put 5 icons on your dock, adjust the phone's dictionary, let you create shortcuts to adjust brightness, wifi and other toggles, let you quick tweet, etc.

Did that help to answer your questions?

 

[BLiNK]

some would consider IntelliScreenX the only reason to jailbreak. i would have to agree

this, of course, is only achieved by jailbreaking. maybe Apple will implement something like this in iOS 9?

 

[derk]

I forgot the name of this cydia app/tweak but I liked having the ability to forward a voicemail left on my iphone as an email attachment that I could listen to and save.


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

 

[Alisha Amburgy]

Is it bad for your ipad?

 

[AmpedPotato]

Is it bad for your ipad?

Not if you're careful and do your research before just installing tons of stuff. Worst comes to worse, can always restore back to an unjailbroken state.


Sent from my iPad 2 using Tapatalk

 

[natasftw]

Just telling the whole truth, not the sugar coated version.

In all fairness, you left some pretty big pieces out.

While it technically voids the warranty, it's rarely enforced. A hardware failure will still result in a replacement phone. Anything that doesn't disable the screen can be fixed with a restore. Voiding the warranty is used as a threat rather than an actual practice.

The malware attacks you're speaking of require ssh to be enabled. Jailbreaking alone doesn't do this. You must opt into this option within cydia by specifically searching for it. You can also mitigate the threat by changing your root and mobile passwords, using sbsettings to disable ssh when not in use, or a combination of both.

Two different jailbreaks exploited bugs to install software from the mobile browser. As you're obviously not as technically inclined as you pretend to be, let me explain what that means. Those jailbreaks used an exploit that malware could also use, in factory phones. The most recent web based jailbreak also resulted in a patch being released to jailbroken phones to fix this vulnerability first. Without jailbreaking, these exploits would be much more likely to find use in malware.

You suggest you're providing the while picture in response to people sharing a biased opinion that only represents one side of the coin. Instead, you're doing the same exact thing you accuse others of. Sadly, while they choose to not get into depth about every possible thing that can happen, their statements were actually accurate. Yours were spoken from a position of ignorance only worsened by the condescending way you finished your post. If you don't have anything intelligent to say, at least have the courtesy to not talk down on others?