Nearly 7 million iOS devices jailbroken with Evasi0n in first 4 days

“Nearly seven million iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners have cracked Apple’s restrictions on their devices using the jailbreaking tool Evasi0n since the tool was released Monday morning, according to the latest count from Jay Freeman, the administrator of the app store for jailbroken devices known as Cydia,” Andy Greenberg reports for Forbes. “That makes the iOS-hacking app the fastest-adopted jailbreak software of all time, Freeman says.”

“As of Thursday night, Freeman’s alternative app store had received visits from 5.15 million iPhones, 1.35 million iPads, and 400,000 iPod touches that were jailbroken with evasi0n, the first jailbreaking software for the iPhone 5 and iOS 6.1,” Greenberg reports. “It took hackers 136 days to crack iOS 6.1, compared to just 98 days for the iPhone 4S, 38 days for the iPhone 4, and just 14 days for the iPhone 3GS. ‘That’s what made this such a landmark jailbreak,’ says Freeman. ‘It had been so long and we were all so hungry for it.'”

Read more in the full article here.

101 Comments

  1. You know, for a lot of people, they want to jailbreak their iPhone just because they can. I can’t think of a single absolutely essential, blockbuster app for jailbroken phones that would make it essential to do so. Nice, perhaps, convenient, useful, fun, wish-I-could-do-that-on-my-iPhone, but not essential. For many, the thrill is in being able to outsmart the Apple programmers, and that’s about all.

    1. With all possible politeness, do you see the inherent problem with your statement? OF COURSE there aren’t any ESSENTIAL apps or ESSENTIAL reasons to break your iPhone. If they were essential, then by definition, you wouldn’t have bought the iPhone in the first place.

      1. Exactly my point. People jailbreak iPhones for other reasons than the apps themselves. People who need a phone which does something the iPhone doesn’t buy something else.

        1. There’s your disconnect. People do jailbreak for whole host of reasons, for many it’s the available apps, tweaks, themes, file system access, curiosity, or any combination thereof.

          You set the bar at *NEED* and then claim those that need buy something else, but lower the bar to “OMG the iPhone is so much better this way” and you’ll start seeing some people (myself included) raising their hands. For others, it’s just ya, SBSettings is *really* convenient or whatever.

          For me, jailbroken devices have become part of my workflow. I always buy new iPhones and iPads on launch days, but I keep my old ones, and keep them jailbroken so I can do certain tasks.

          I have a Nexus, which I need for development work and testing, but I absolutely hate using it for production. So I’m not going to shift my *need* to Android.

        2. I think there’s an age component to it.

          When I was much younger, I messed with my set up (PC, etc) as a matter of course. I suppose I could have justified it by claiming that I “needed” to do this or that, or that I preferred this or that. Mostly, I just did it.

          Now that I’m older, I simply don’t have the interest. Time is shorter (that is, you feel death much nearer than you were as a shut-for-brains sub-35yr old…) I want to do some things, and I simply want to do it without a ton of study or deep dives into learning a new app, or configuring my set up, or fighting my system to get it to work as it should.

          Jailbreaking is just so much extra nonsense. So I agree with psychoD in that if you find you need to do that, you bought the wrong device. But then, I think it’s a function of age, too — if you’ve got a flamboyant amount of time and energy on hand, jailbreaking is good fun.

    2. I would say that the number of apps loaded onto these jailbroken iPhones that are not paid for are huge but everyone on this site tells me that most people who jailbreak don’t steal apps. I wonder where the disconnect comes from.

      Stealing apps is wrong and hurts developers. People who don’t jailbreak don’t steal apps. Who does steal them then?

      1. Agreed.

        People Jailbrake the iPhone for some cool features and acquiring paid apps for free, but its theft. Jailbraking is somewhat like reverse engineering. It does hurts developers, Yes.

        1. No, you are wrong. DEAD WRONG.

          SInce MDN will not let me post links for some reason, head over to duck duck go and look for this article:

          “New services bypass Apple DRM to allow pirated iOS app installs without jailbreaking on iPhone, iPad” *Hint* the article was on “the next web” days ago.

          It isn’t the first, it won’t likely be the last and for a so called “security expert” you are way out of the loop on this one.

          So you can ALL stop your dubious assertion that jailbreakers jailbreak to pirate apps. Some may, but I and many others here have repeatedly outlined reason having nothing to do with piracy as driving our desire to jailbreak.

      2. *sigh*

        YOU HAVE NEVER HAD TO JAILBREAK TO PIRATE APPS ON ANY iOS DEVICE EVER MADE.

        How hard is this for people to understand?

        There was an app for jailbroken devices that facilitated the process of acquiring pirated apps, but it was discontinued as was the site along with it due to LACK OF INTEREST AND PARTICIPATION.

        “People who don’t jailbreak don’t steal apps.”

        Yes, they do. They’ve been doing this since iOS first allowed 3rd party apps.

        “I wonder where the disconnect comes from.”

        It comes from people like you who know nothing about what they’re talking about.

        If you want to learn a little about the subject, go to r/jailbreak on reddit. Count how many posts or comments are related on how to pirate. Hint: there are no posts and very few comments (most get deleted).

        Note that the latest jailbreak method actually helps *prevent* piracy. And Cydia warns against installing repositories that contain pirated apps.

        I’m not saying piracy magically doesn’t occur on jailbroken devices as it does on non-jailbroken devices, but if you go to any jailbreak community (like r/jailbreak on reddit), you’ll see a ton of conversations about everything but piracy.

        1. Thank you for putting me straight. Once again I am informed how jailbreakers are the epitome of virtue and are not doing anything wrong. The developers, Apple and the telcos who print up legal documents to protect their IP and services are wrong and evil for trying to make an honest living. Freeloaders unite and drive back all those who would try to sell you what you can take freely.

        2. What the hell are you talking about?

          Do you have an iPhone… YOU’RE A PIRATE!!! /s

          What part of “you’ve never had to jailbreak to pirate apps on any iOS device” do you not understand?

          Yes jailbreakers pirate, so do non-jailbreakers.

          Where did I say piracy of apps wasn’t wrong? How did you not get that it was implied that piracy was wrong?

          I’m just saying that piracy of apps is just as wrong if you don’t jailbreak as if you do jailbreak. Either way you’re pirating and an app developer isn’t getting paid.

        3. I may have mistakenly thought that regular users of iPhones and iOS devices were much less likely to even think of stealing apps then the saintly ‘jailbreakers’. Can you tell me how many of us non-jailbreakers are stealing software compared to the angelic ‘jailbreakers’?

        4. I never said that jailbreakers were saintly, just that it’s stupid to attribute jailreaking to piracy since piracy of apps isn’t dependent on jailbreaking.

          Can I tell you the ratio of pirates on jailbroken versus non-jailbroken? No, but then again neither can you and *I’m* not the one being ignorantly prejudiced here. I will say this, and that is that the piracy boards didn’t seem to slow down during the times between jailbreaks.

          What, other than your ignorant prejudice makes you think jailbreakers pirate apps more than non-jailbreakers?

        5. Again, you have convinced me that non-jailbreakers are bad people. I can see clearly now that they are the main thieves who steal apps and the jailbreakers are getting a bad reputation that is wholly undeserved.

        6. I’m with you, MrEdofCourse.

          Jailbreaking is NOT only to pirate applications.

          Jailbreaking is about gaining control of your own device.

          There’s nothing wrong or evil on jailbreaking per se.

          HOW you use a jailbreaking device is another story.

          If you use it to get pirate software, then it’s the wrong reason. But as you mentioned, that can be done without jailbreaking.

          If you use it to learn more, or because you need some feature the device can provide but for some reason the provider doesn’t want you do use it, then it’s for the right reason.

          Rest assure, people who jailbreak does it at their own risk.

          Jailbreaking is like hacking: It’s all about intent. We have great things to thank hackers for: A lot of the Unix programs which allow OS X (and Linux) work are the job of selfless hackers which worked for a better OS.

          A lot of damaging software has been build by hackers with ill intended purposes.

          You can’t demonize the whole hacker community for that.

          The same way you can’t demonize the whole jailbreaker community for jailbreaking.

          Me? I don’t jailbreak, just because I don’t have a need to. But rest assure, I would should a find a good reason to.

        7. He points out the absurdity of your position: “Jailbreaking must mean piracy”

          Which is built on the false premise that piracy ONLY occurs on jailbroken devices. (which couldn’t be further from the truth)

          You turn the argument into jail breakers must all be saints? Which only further points out the absurdity of your position.

          So you develop apps, you are not making the money you were sure you would, you blame pirates, assume it is those dirty jail breakers and you lash out with emotional, non-factual arguments supported only by your own anecdotal evidence and then get butt-hurt when people call you on it.

          Seek therapy dude, you are not well.. Stop blaming jailbreakers for the failure of your app.

        8. I don’t pirate anything sir. I have a very long list of themes and system tweaks that I have paid for which were developed by developers specifically for the cydia store.

          Things like the ability to have unlimited apps within a folder or folders within folders.

          Or a tweak called infinidock which allows the dock to slide revealing an infinite amount of apps on your dock as well.

          So there are people who jailbreak to make things easier not because they’re pirating things.

        1. Walter is Wright is apparently wrong-
          Jailbreaking an iPhone is *not* illegal. And I challenge him to show me a law that states otherwise. Apple is perfectly within their rights to deny warranty service or updates to jailbroken iPhones, but a person who chooses to jailbreak a device that they own is in no way breaking the law.
          Now, if that person steals applications, THAT would be breaking the law.

        2. Well duh, nothing Apple did was intended with jailbreaking in mind, but the fact remains you can always restore a jailbroken iOS device. Care to point to evidence of any iOS device that couldn’t be restored because it was jailbroken?

          Unlocking your iPhone is not necessarily illegal, and even under the DMCA terms, it has yet to be challenged in court.

          Jailbreaking is definitely legal. Try quoting the law that makes it illegal (hint: you can’t)

  2. Oh please, this guy took his que from google and their nebulous “activation” figures.

    I think the real number (of “actual” jailbroken users) is likely 1/10 of that figure.

    The urge to steal (what 98% of jail-breakers are jailbreaking for) is prevalent for sure, However, typically the bulk of hard core software thieves get ‘roid devices.

    1. The number is likely to be under-reported if anything. This number is being vetted by numerous apps being purchased through Cydia and those developers reporting numbers in line with activations.

      You have never had to jailbreak to pirate apps on any iOS device. So I’m not sure how far out of you ass you had to pull that 98% figure from.

      1. Ballmer’s left nut:

        “Why do you like to post nonsense?”

        Holy ironic paradox batman… I need more duct tape… I think my head just exploded”

        mredofcourse,
        Actually, the 1/10 was an (educated) guess but the 98% was part of a survey done last year where they found that 98% of the jailbroken devices they sampled had at least some pirated software on them.
        I have a iron clad position on pirating copyrighted works; it is flat out stealing, no way around it. It’s not ok to “demo” it’s not ok “because you wouldn’t have bought it anyway” or that you hardly ever use it.
        I have had (and witten about here) to deal with people in my own employ stealing copyrighted works (even though they industry they hope to enter (and make a living doing) is totally dependent on copyright. (as is software))
        Virtually every “jail breaker” I have ever talked to claims they do it for the freedom, but again after you talk to them (again nearly all) admit they have pirated software on the device.

        So no, I didn’t pull it out of my ass AND it jives which what I see in the real world, jail breakers are typically (near all but not ALL) thieves.

        1. And of course you understand that jailbreaking is not necessary to have a pirated app on your iOS device?
          Jailbreaking allows you to install apps or tweaks that circumvent certain iOS features that in many ways are a limiting factor on the iPhone/iPad.
          I am a dev and I still jailbreak my everyday device because I like to have a more robust notification system. My NC has favorite contacts, a live facebook feed and system toggles. I can hide or reveal it from the lock screen without unlocking my phone. I also have an app switcher replacement that was demoed as a concept for Apple but got such a huge reaction it was made into an actual app on Cydia. It’s called Auxo. It is an incredible replacement for the standard app switcher.

          Your assertion that jailbreaker = pirate is simply a correlation with the demographic. Someone who wants to jailbreak their phone is also more likely to want to and have the ability to pirate iOS apps. This does not make the act of jailbreaking wrong. What you should be decrying is piracy and leaving jailbreaking out of the equation.

        2. Well said anim8me2,

          I’d like to see one of these people who say jailbreaker = pirate, explain why people develop apps for Cydia? Certainly if jailbreakers only pirate than nobody could make any money selling apps on Cydia.

          The funny thing is that I tend to spend more money per app on Cydia than I do on App store apps. I never pirate, but I’m a sucker for free or 99 cent apps in the App Store, while on Cydia there are more expensive apps that seem worth it because of the functionality.

        3. You have crafted a response that seem to tiptoe carefully around the facts.
          Jailbreaking makes it easy to pirate software.
          Almost all jailbreakers pirate software.

        4. @Tessellator,

          ” Jailbreaking makes it easy to pirate software.”

          That’s the problem with your argument. It doesn’t make it any easier. In fact, if all you were interested in was pirating apps, you’d be better off *not* jailbreaking, because that’s just an unnecessary extra step.

          Either jailbroken or not, the first step is to find hacked apps available for downloading off warez sites or P2P. The second step is to transfer that app to you iOS device. There’s free software for doing both with or without jailbreaking. It’s not any easier to jailbreak.

          For a while, there was an app/service that made finding and installing pirated apps a little easier with jailbroken devices, but that app/service shut down citing, “Lack of user interest and participation”.

          “Almost all jailbreakers pirate software.”

          Stats pulled out of your ass don’t count. However, one of the largest jailbreaking communities is r/jailbreak on Reddit, and why don’t you go over there an count how many posts are about how to pirate apps (hint: it’s zero). Likewise, how many sessions on how to pirate apps have there been at any jailbreaking conference? (hint: it’s zero). How many apps that facilitate piracy are featured on Cydia? (hint: it’s zero).

          Again, here’s a question nobody seems able/willing to answer: If jailbreakers are almost all pirates, why are developers bothering to develop commercial apps that they sell through Cydia?

          In 2011, SaurikIT reported $10 million in annual revenue with 4.5 million users. That’s quite a bit of revenue considering that most apps/tweaks are freeware on Cydia, and that not all apps go through payment via Cydia. Where did that $10 million come from? (hint: the definition of app piracy excludes paying for apps)

        5. Not true. Jailbreaking does not make it “easier” to pirate software. iOS software is cracked on the desktop and then loaded to a device. Pirated software does not require jailbreaking and in fact the one avenue for getting cracked software via Cydia was shut down.
          My response is based on facts, not feelings.

        6. “Actually, the 1/10 was an (educated) guess”

          In other words, out of your ass. I mean come on, what “education” are you using to come up with that? They’ve stated the number, and numerous repositories and developers are saying that it sounds about right. Unless you yourself have a repository on Cydia and can claim that you’re only seeing 10% of what they are stating, then your guess isn’t “educated”. Do you manage a repository? I didn’t think so.

          “a survey done last year where they found that 98% of the jailbroken devices they sampled had at least some pirated software on them.”

          Care to link to that survey so we can judge their credibility? Because frankly, you haven’t exactly proven your own credibility when it comes to stats.

          “Virtually every “jail breaker” I have ever talked to claims they do it for the freedom, but again after you talk to them (again nearly all) admit they have pirated software on the device.”

          I say this often. I live in the SF Bay Area. I’d be happy to show my iOS devices (I have several) and how some of them have over 300 apps on them. I have about 800 total between the App Store and Cydia, and not a single one is pirated.

          Nobody I know pirates apps on iOS, at least not anymore. I only ever knew a couple of people who did it and one hadn’t jailbroken, and another who did jailbreak, but neither one of them do it anymore (because actually, pirating apps sucks for the pirate as well).

          But this is all anecdotal. Try going to a large community and taking the pulse of the members. May I suggest r/jailbreak on reddit?

        7. In my first post I said:
          “I think the real number (of “actual” jailbroken users) is likely 1/10 of that figure.”
          You are either creating a strawman (a classic troll tactic BTW) or have extremely poor comprehension skills.

        8. It’s not a strawman. It’s directly addressing the point of what you said. Here is a report of 7 million jailbreaks, and you wrote “Oh please, this guy took his que from google and their nebulous “activation” figures. I think the real number (of “actual” jailbroken users) is likely 1/10 of that figure.”

          When confronted, you then claim it was an “educated guess”.

          But in reality, you pulled that number from your ass. It has no basis in any information, education, or statistics of your own or others you can point to.

          What you did was look at the reported number, and you didn’t like it, so you gave a much lower number, not because there was any basis in it, but because you wanted the number to be lower.

          Now when confronted with the fact that every Cydia developer and repository manager is stating that it’s likely that number is *under reported*, you’re claiming that this is a straw man argument, instead of just admitting you had no basis for being critical of the reported number.

          Is it really that hard for you to just admit you were wrong and the report was correct (or wrong in being too conservative)?

          The second point you made was:
          “The urge to steal (what 98% of jail-breakers are jailbreaking for) is prevalent for sure”

          But again, I guess you just wish for that number to be true, because you’re unwilling or unable to back that up with any credibility.

          Are you now going to say that it was an “educated guess” that you saw some report? Or that this is a strawman?

          Come on, play fair… Either post a link to a credible source of data, or admit that you’re making stuff up.

        9. So that’s a “no, I can’t cite my source of 98%” as in it’s also pulled out of your ass. Why can’t you just admit that you made that up too?

          You can backpeddle as much as you’d like on the 1/10, but the point is the *context* you made wasn’t that of just simply saying “Oh, I think it’s likely X” and being corrected on it. The context is that you were claiming the reported 7 million was an exaggeration… a lie… something worth ridiculing Saurik via your comparison to Google activations. It’s not that you were off, it’s that you were waaay wrong and disparaging others, essentially accusing them of lying (or at least being highly misleading).

          What’s wrong with people here? You and Derek both just spew BS and then when called on on it and proven wrong, you can’t even simply admit that you were wrong.

          It’s simple, just say, “Ya, the report seems likely to be 7 million, and I had no basis for saying that Saurik was not telling the truth” and “there is no credible report showing 98% of jailbreakers are pirates”.

          Instead, you claim “educated guess” as if you had some basis for knowing what the “real” number should be, and then trying to backpeddle on the “I think” and “likely” all the while ignoring the disparaging remark and that you’re weren’t even in the ballpark… it’s not 1/10 or 2/20 or 3/10, it’s a very conservative 10/10.

          Sorry, but you’re completely full of it. That 98% number… when you BS like that, the argument you make becomes invalid. Is it that hard to form an argument with the truth and the facts of the situation?

    1. Apple have a very clear response to jailbreaking, updated February 3rd, 2013 in preparation for Evasi0n:

      Unauthorized modification of iOS can cause instability, security vulnerabilities, shortened battery life, and other issues
      http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3743

      …It is also important to note that unauthorized modification of iOS is a violation of iOS 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.

      IOW: You’re on your own. Apple won’t help you if you’ve hacked it. Apple has no legal obligation to care, after you’ve hacked it.

      1. This does not affect your warranty if you do know how to restore your iDevice in DFU mode. Apple won’t even notice your iDevice was ever jailbroken. Apple just say what they say about jailbreaking to scare those who don’t know that much about jailbroken and would like to jailbreak. I myself have a jailbroken iPhone and it is worthed. So many tweaks and feaures you will probably get in the next 10 years integrated into iOS.

  3. Some summary points from my POV:

    – Legally, it has already decided that jailbreaking is allowable, a personal choice.
    – Legally, we know that Apple will never have any obligation to honor any iOS device that has been jailbroken. They state it in their license. You break the license, you’re SOL, on your own, have fun with that. Rant all you like.
    – Now that the new jailbreak is here, a market of WAREZ for jailbroken iOS devices will again rise, stealing of software will occur. That’s inevitable.
    – And there will be a few nifty-kewl apps that Apple would never allow into the iTunes Store that will be considered ‘killer apps’ for jailbroken iOS devices.
    – And again, there will be MALWARE, specific to jailbroken iOS devices. There was before! There will be again. If you get infected, you’re SOL, have fun with that, rant all you like. You’re in exactly the same boat as the AndRrhoid victims, boohoo for you.

    Hacking is fun. Those with the geek skills who know what they’re doing will have a great time with their hacked iOS devices, no doubt.

    Those who hack their iOS devices and don’t know what they’re doing are GOING to have a bad time, at some point or another. Tough mammaries. You broke it, you deal with the consequences.

    Therefore, get the geek knowledge and consider the consequences before you hack ANYTHING. You’re on your own. Cry babies get no sympathy. 😥

    1. “- Now that the new jailbreak is here, a market of WAREZ for jailbroken iOS devices will again rise, stealing of software will occur. That’s inevitable.”

      You’ve never had to jailbreak to pirate apps on any iOS device.

      “- Legally, we know that Apple will never have any obligation to honor any iOS device that has been jailbroken.”

      Not so fast. There are consumer protection laws in various jurisdictions with trump any license you may have with Apple. In many places, Apple is still obligated to honor the warranty, regardless of violations of the license as long as the violation wasn’t the cause of the defect.

      I was the manager of one of the largest Apple authorized service centers. Despite the above being the case, the reality is that service technicians aren’t detectives and don’t play the role of them. It’s in neither interest of the customer or the company for them to do so. If you bring in an iPhone that is jailbroken, they might turn you away at the store, but you can go home and restore it, and they’ll never know. If you give them an iPhone that won’t turn on, sure they could send it in, play detective, fix the problem and then see that it was jailbroken and go “ha, ha, you have to pay for it… maybe, what’s the law here?” But in reality, they just verify the unit is defective and swap it out.

      1. You’ve never had to jailbreak to pirate apps on any iOS device.

        You keep saying this. Would you mind providing details? How do I go about installing unauthorized software on my iPhone without jailbreaking it?

        ——RM

        1. I’m not going to tell you how to pirate software.

          I’m not going to point you to where you can pirate software.

          If you want conceptual proof, I’ll first have to lecture…

          App piracy is wrong. There’s a direct link to the developers such that piracy deprives them of revenue and in many cases the developer is paying money for the use of your app (through licensing fees, server fees, bandwidth, etc…).

          Piracy isn’t worth it. It’s a total hassle to keep up with the proper version, syncing, dealing with fakes, and everything else to save a buck or two. Don’t believe me when I say it’s not worth it, read comments from the many ex-pirates who add up what they ended up spending to go-clean and their comments about how they didn’t think it was worth it at all to pirate.

          Piracy is risky – You’re installing apps that someone else has cracked. That app could be *anything*. You’re taking that app from a community of thieves. There’s not much trust in communities like those.

          Pirated apps often have bugs and can be far out of date. In short, the idea of “try before you buy” doesn’t apply because you’re trying a hacked, out of date version of an app.

          Ok, now here’s the conceptual proof part that doesn’t give anyone enough information to actually pirate. Please don’t correct any inaccuracies or fill in any missing details:

          iOS has always had a UNIX based system where there is ROOT and MOBILE as users. The passwords for both are universal. Apps can be installed for mobile. Mobile has access so you can use apps (like iTunes itself) to copy apps, music, videos and other stuff to and from the iOS device. Mobile access doesn’t give you full access to the device, so users are protected/limited from doing many things with it.

          There are many apps besides iTunes that give you access to the mobile account on your iOS device. These apps have legitimate non-piracy uses. For example, I often use one to transfer game states from my iPad mini to my iPad 4 or iPhone. Different apps allow different things, some just allow your iPhone to be used as a USB drive for example, but some do allow file system access (as mobile) without jailbreaking.

          As such, you can copy apps as mobile. Apple protects this by requiring that apps are signed. However, and this is the secret part, you can hack the apps to run on your iOS device despite not having proper signage. I’m not going to tell you how to do that.

          So it doesn’t matter if your iOS device is jailbroken or not. You still have access to the same directories of hacked apps and you still have the same ability to place the hacked apps on your iOS device. Apps have to be hacked just the same to be placed on a jailbroken device as a non-jailbroken device.

          And it’s still a stupid thing to do.

          Think about it one more time before considering piracy. You’re installing an app from someone you don’t know, but is a pirate, and could really be *anything* besides what the pirate says it is.

        2. This wasn’t a case of me lecturing you, or of me desiring to pirate apps. This is me genuinely not understanding how it’s possible to install apps on a non-jailbroken iPhone via any vector other than the App Store.

          I read through some articles, and I’m still not sure how it’s done. For obvious reasons, the articles didn’t want to go into detail, other than mentioning this or that “site” or “service” that allows these apps to be installed. (And I sure as hell am not going to experiment with my equipment. Don’t need malware on my iPhone, thank you very much.)

          So, as best as I can figure out, some hackers in Asia have come up with a way to use Safari to install apps without going through the App Store. (I know there’s a way for enterprises to install custom apps on their business iPhones — maybe they’re abusing that functionality?)

          But whatever. While this technically isn’t jailbreaking, the difference is semantic nitpicking. What’s the purpose of jailbreaking? To allow you to install apps without Apple’s permission. (Not necessarily pirated apps.) What’s the purpose of this new trick? To allow you to install apps without Apple’s permission. Either way, the idea is to bypass Apple’s gateway, either by disabling it altogether, which is what jailbreaking does, or by hacking your way around it, which is what these new piracy sites are doing.

          Both versions run contrary to Apple’s intended use of their product, so I don’t see how you can use the existence of these piracy sites as a defense of jailbreaking. (I guess in the end I am lecturing a little.)

          ——RM

        3. Sorry, the lecture wasn’t intended directly at you. I just didn’t want to be accused of “helping app pirates”, especially when I’m so strongly against app piracy.

          There’s a huge difference between piracy, which is illegal, and jailbreaking, which is legal, for the purpose of installing apps not in Apple’s store. Especially when many of those apps for jailbroken devices are purchased and support developers.

          When I jailbreak, am I depriving Apple or any developer of revenue? (no)

          When someone pirates (with or without jailbreaking) are they depriving Apple and developers of revenue? (yes)

          Furthermore, if the option is really between a jailbroken iOS device and an Android device, and one chooses a jailbroken iOS device, does Apple benefit? (yes)

          I’m not using the existence of the non-jailbreak piracy methods as a defense of jailbreaking, I’m just saying that blaming piracy on jailbreaking is as illogical as blaming murder, AIDS, and global warming on jailbreaking.

          “So, as best as I can figure out, some hackers in Asia have come up with a way to use Safari to install apps without going through the App Store.”

          Well not exactly. Read my previous comment again. The ability to do this has always existed. Like jailbreaking, the tools and methods have changed. Initially, all you had to do was copy the “signature” from an app that you purchased (or a free app) into an app that you downloaded from a P2P site. Apple patched that early method, but like anything else, things can be hacked, so pirates developed new ways to do this over and over again.

          “Both versions run contrary to Apple’s intended use of their product”

          The one version (piracy), as I mentioned is illegal, and morally wrong.

          But to be specific, Apple does not say that you can not jailbreak, only they warn against it. Apple hasn’t really done anything with the specific intent to prevent jailbreaking or to “boot jailbreakers”.

          It’s a bit like saying that Apple doesn’t want you to install MS Office on your Mac, but rather buy iWork through the App Store. That’s great, but it’s perfectly legal and ethical to buy MS Office and run it on your Mac (as distasteful as that may be here;)

        4. Zeusmos
          Kuaiyong

          There are others head over to “the next web” there was a write up last week all about these two “services” which can be used to download pirated apps without jailbreaking.

      2. “You’ve never had to jailbreak to pirate apps on any iOS device.”

        As I pointed out elsewhere, you’re WRONG.

        And NO: There are no consumer protection laws that break any legal license to which you agree when you use a product. Apple’s license is entirely legal and YOU AGREE TO IT when you buy and use their product. Again: You are entirely WRONG. And again, any example would help to prop up your assertion, but there AREN’T ANY.

        And yes kids, despite the lunatic assertions of whoever this is, Apple Geniuses DO turn you away if you’ve hacked your iPhone and they notice it. Please DO call Apple directly and ask them. Please DO READ the document I linked above, the one officially from Apple that says EXACTLY what I posted here.

        You, “mredofcourse” are apparently determined to get other people into trouble. Then what do you do, laugh at them for believing your blatant bullshit. FSCK -U parasite.

        1. Ok, if you really need to be shown that bad, see:

          http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+pirate+apps+without+jailbreaking

          If you want, I can send you a coloring book that shows how to limit Google search results by date so you can find other, earlier methods of pirating apps without jailbreaking.

          I mean come on, there are numerous YouTube videos showing how to do it.

          Seriously, you’re going on and on asking for proof, but can’t figure out how to use Google.

          Wow.

        2. “And yes kids, despite the lunatic assertions of whoever this is, Apple Geniuses DO turn you away if you’ve hacked your iPhone and they notice it. Please DO call Apple directly and ask them. Please DO READ the document I linked above, the one officially from Apple that says EXACTLY what I posted here. ”

          This is entirely dependent on the Apple genius you are talking to. I have traded lists of Cydia apps with Genius Bar managers and techs so it is going to vary person to person. Is it Apple’s policy to turn you away with a jailbroken device? Yup, it sure is. Does Apple foster a culture of “help the customer so they are happy as much as you can?” Yup, absolutely.

        3. For all the contentious here, I already pointed out Apple’s police. Read it. Read it. Then please ignore anything except what it says there. You hack it, you broke it, you deal with the consequences. There is no better advice, despite the blahblahblah.

        4. @Derek,

          See my other comment outlining how pirating apps on a jailbroken iOS device is no different from pirating apps on a non-jailbroken device. The only real difference was that there *was* an app available for jailbroken devices that allowed you to install hacked pirated apps directly from their directory. This app has been pulled and the directory it used was shut down with the owners citing “lack of interest and community participation”. Meanwhile app piracy directories that don’t require jailbreaking still exist. Again, I won’t link to them, but you’d have to be pretty dense not to be able to find them. Heck, I’ve run into a couple of them just searching for app reviews off of iTunes.

          “And NO: There are no consumer protection laws that break any legal license to which you agree when you use a product.”

          See the 1975 Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act. That’s federal law, but it doesn’t supersede any state or local law that provides additional protection to the consumer. It also doesn’t apply to any other country which has similar laws.

          In short, the act means that Apple must *prove* that jailbreaking was the cause of the hardware failure in order to deny warranty coverage. The burden of proof is on them.

          “Apple’s license is entirely legal”

          Yes, it is. And this is why they chose their words very carefully. Notably, using words like “may”, “can” and “could”. Apple *may* deny warranty coverage on jailbroken phones, but they don’t, and they don’t because they can’t prove that jailbreaking caused any hardware defect.

          “And again, any example would help to prop up your assertion, but there AREN’T ANY.”

          Sure there are. Many people have taken jailbroken devices into Apple stores and had them replaced. Heck, I did this with a modified iPod before there even were iPhones.

          Why don’t you provide an example of a customer who was denied service because the device was jailbroken, and (here’s the kicker) the customer was unable to get warranty service after escalating the issue through Apple’s customer support or taking legal action. That is something you can’t do. Sure, there have been reports of Apple geniuses turning away customers when they see the Cydia logo, but they aren’t the final word from Apple for them.

          “And yes kids, despite the lunatic assertions of whoever this is”

          I’m someone who ran one of the largest Apple authorized service centers in the US for 4 years.

          As such, I know the policies very, very well. I can tell you that the role of Apple service is to provide customers with service and support, and not to play detective. It’s not in Apple’s interest or in the interest of the customer and the relationship with them to play detective.

          When products come in, you look for signs of obvious abuse *that may have directly caused the failure* and if there is nothing, you honor the warranty.

          If someone has jailbroken a device, or installed pirated software, or any other “user error” which may prevent the product from running properly, you tell them that the warranty doesn’t cover it… but that’s different from saying because you did X we won’t cover you for Y.

          “You, “mredofcourse” are apparently determined to get other people into trouble. Then what do you do, laugh at them for believing your blatant bullshit. FSCK -U parasite.”

          I’m not telling anyone to do anything. Jailbreak, or don’t jailbreak. I don’t really care.

          Just don’t spread lies about jailbreaking or jailbreakers.

        5. Again, all you’re going to accomplish is helping people to screw themselves over. That’s not a good thing to do. The rules could not be more obvious and I was kind enough to point out where you can read them and even quoted from them and all you can do is be contentious and blahblahblah attempting to justify your own behavior and get everyone to do what you do and the result is:

          Break the license, you’re SOL. It’s that simple. Be responsible for your actions in everything.

        6. I’m sorry if English isn’t your native language and you don’t understand the difference of what Apple specifically wrote, and what you are claiming. In English, there is a difference between:

          “Apple MAY deny service for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that has installed any unauthorized software.”

          And:

          “Apple WILL deny service for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that has installed any unauthorized software.”

          You seem unwilling to read the 1975 Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act. But it makes clear that neither Apple, nor any other company can deny warranty coverage for defective hardware due to actions by the customer that didn’t cause the damage.

          Apple’s wording is very specific because they need it to prevent people from bringing in devices doing all kinds of weird stuff that they’d have to deal with due to tweaks on jailbroken devices.

          So if you brought an iPhone in and complained that there were 5 icons in your dock, Apple isn’t responsible for figuring out what tweak you used and returning it to normal. Apple isn’t responsible for supporting your jailbreak in any way.

          But that’s different from saying it “will void your warranty”, because it doesn’t, and Apple specifically doesn’t say that it will.

        7. I proved my point to anyone who knows how to use Google. You already established that you don’t know how to use Google which is why you made such a fool out of yourself by claiming I was wrong about being able to pirate apps without jailbreaking. Oh, and you did that over and over again. Even when I outlined how it was done, and mentioned that you could use Google, you still couldn’t figure it out and claimed I was wrong.

          There’s nothing worse than people who make comment after comment about someone else being wrong, only to be proven wrong themselves and they can’t own up to it.

          Anyway seeing how you can’t figure out Google:
          http://lmgtfy.com/?q=1975+Magnuson%E2%80%93Moss+Warranty+Act

          The act is very clear on a warrantor not being able to deny warranty coverage on items not affected by non-warranty work, 3rd parties, or anything else that didn’t cause damage to warranty covered items. Likewise, Apple is very clear in the text *you* yourself provided, in not using the words “will deny”.

          It’s too bad you can’t figure out how to use Google, because then you could point to something actually *documenting* denial of warranty repair due to jailbreaking. Oh wait, you still wouldn’t be able to!!!

          Come on, you know you want to! Wouldn’t it be fun to post a link to an invoice of a warranty repair that was denied due to jailbreaking?

          We’ve had millions of iOS devices jailbroken since 2007. Certainly you can find someone who was denied a warranty repair, can’t you?

        8. Stop your fear-mongering, you are behaving like a corporate stooge. You hold no moral high ground by not jailbreaking, stop acting as such. People pay their hard earned money for electronics (or anything else) and they can damn-well do as they please with it. The only difference between a jailbreaker and a non jail breaker is what the phone can do, and what they are willing to accept.

          I know dozens of “normal” non-geeky people with jailbroken phones. I have yet to see this horror of no Apple support even come into play. People know they are hacking the thing, they are not concerned with the red herring that Apple will deny your claim. if anything they are fueled by the seemingly obvious things that they cannot do, but should have the ability to do because Apple will not allow it, or AT&T will not allow it.

        9. Anyone calling themselves ‘Truth’ is a mere propagandist. FAIL deluxe. Damned well do what you like. But you break the license, you deal with the consequences.

          Lots of teeny-bopper and adolescent irresponsibles here this weekend. You’ll get the picture.

      1. I just jailbroke my iPhone 5 (my iPhone 4 was also jailbroken under iOS 5.1) because of:
        BiteSMS – I love the instant texting without leaving an app – paid for this app
        Springtomize -I love tweaking the visuals in my phone, smaller icons, 6 in the dock etc – paid for this app
        BytaFont – I love switching the fonts around
        SBSettings – quick access to brightness / vibrate / airplane / Bluetooth toggles

        This basically summarises my reason for jailbreaking.

  4. All this comments about jailbreakers voiding their warranties just proof how much you know about jailbreaking. Although you jailbreak you can still can your phone back to its original software state by restoring in DFU mode. Meaning that your warranty still in place and Apple won’t even notice your iDevice was ever jailbroken. Before commenting about jailbreakers losing their warranty please first investigate….

  5. I’ve jailbroken all of my devices at some point or other. I can tell you just looking at the graphs from Jay Freeman’s site stats that millions have jailbroken this week, there is no denying it.

    Reasons for jailbreaking vary, and for me as more and more restrictions have been removed by Apple in the latest versions of iOS, the process for me has become less compelling.

    What features do I get by jailbreaking that cause me to still do this:

    Voicemail forwarding. This is a simple one, but allows me to take any voicemail I receive via Visual Voicemail, and send it to my team. If it’s a customer issue they get to hear the customer first hand.

    Mail More Photos – This tweak simply eliminates the 5 or 6 maximum count of photos you can send in one email. There is no limit with this one. So if I am attending a project that has 20 photos that need to sent as part of the documentation, I can send them all at once.

    5 Icon Dock – I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but having 5 icons there instead of 4, allows me to have 1 more of my frequently used Apps right there in the dock.

    App Switcher brightness – I read a lot in bed, this little tweak adds a brightness bar below the volume bar in the App Switcher section of the dock.

    SB Settings as someone mentioned allows you to immediately access/enable/disable many things including WiFi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode immediately from any screen.

    Netatalk – This little tweak allows my iPhone to mount automatically in Finder whenever my iPhone and Mac are on the same network. I can copy things to it from it etc. It’s really kind of useful at times.

    Those are some of the reasons I jailbreak, and like I said, as Apple opens things up more and more, there are fewer reasons to jailbreak. Tethering, for instance, was something we needed to jailbreak for before. WiFi Sync was available to jailbreakers at a cost of $20 before Apple released it. So there are still a few reasons to do it. 7 million likely aren;t wrong.

    Most of those little tweaks I mentioned above, apart from SB Settings, I paid a developer a couple of bucks for, just like I would in the App Store.

    I have never stolen Apps and continue to spend way more than I should at the App Store.

    Just thought I should add a little more perspective to the conversation.

  6. If you need to jailbreak it, why not just go back to windows instead and tweak to your hearts content? Windows is already so screwed up, you dont have to worry about f’n it up that mich more. Seems like if you want to mess with iOS that much, you shouldn’t by an iOS device. Go get a crapula android POS.

    1. Seems like you know little about operating systems. People “tweak” Windows all the time. What do you think a virus or trojan is? You can rewrite and replace DLLs if you’re up to it. There has been even attempts to replicate the whole OS by legally reverse-engineer the DLLs, like Freedows and ReactOS, not couting the Wine project. Those projects are not fully successful because of the closed nature of Windows, and the fact that they hide a lot about the APIs.

      Most PC users don’t care about Windows and their problems. They got used to it and became second nature to clean viruses, malware the eventual crashes and stuff. Pleople annoyed with Windows usually look for an alternative. I quit Windows in 1998, and switched to Linux on the desktop. Not an easy ride, but the most fun I’ve had. Back then, Linux was very hard to set up and make work on certain machines, especually laptops. I’ve learned a lot by hacking and working on the OS, and until today, Linux is my second choice for desktop OS.

      I switched to Mac OS X when I found out I could do all I could in Linux (at least, all I was interested in doing). It was 2005. And I’m still a loyal Mac user, while I still have a couple of Linux boxes as servers.

      Your argument is totally flawed. “If you want to mess with iOS, you don’t deserve one” denotes iOS devices are perfect. They are not. It also denotes Apple knows better about what my needs are and are not. Well, they don’t. We pick our technology according to what suits us better. And we shape it accordingly, whenever we have the capabilities.

      To give you another example: If you need to tweak your car so much, why don’t you buy a Yugo and start tweaking it instead of your classic American car? They built them perfect!

      But by tweaking them , we end up with beautiful hotrods. We grab something good and make it better. Of fail trying. You can mess your classic car up big time if you don’t know what you’re doing. And you can mess up your iOS device as well.

      But in the other hand, if you know what you’re doing, you can end up with your dream protable device instead.

      It’s each other’s right to own a device and do with it as we like, as long as we don’t violate or rip off intellectual property or do it for ill-intended purposes.

    2. What a mouth-breathing troll you are.

      What part of this don’t you understand:

      Jailbreakers love iOS and all of it’s capabilities, we are just not willing to wait years for Apple to trickle out features as justification for forced hardware upgrades or for whatever damn reason they refuse to let these developers/apps into the app store. We want additional capabilities and the platform is perfectly capable of doing these things. We like customization and productivity improvements. We still buy apps, we also buy them outside of Apples App Store because they are good.

      Just because you are scared or because you are too ignorant to understand what we are telling you, you think we should choose inferior phones? Fsck off corporate stooge..

      1. You know, it is typically the trolls who resort to personal insults, and coincidentally the “pro jail break” group here who seem to have constantly peppered their responses with personal insults.
        Interesting that it is also the pro jailbreak group who are now pulling the “troll” card.
        Just sayin’

        1. Oh please, the other side here has been calling us thieves, with no stats to back that up. They call us liars and lunatics, and don’t come back to admit that they’ve been proven wrong. They’ve called us parasites, even though most comments coming from the pro-jailbreak side here are from developers. Most of their posts are nothing but insults either on jailbreakers as a whole or personal insults with nothing to actually form a legitimate argument.

          Take a look again at what Truth actually responded to. How did trondude’s comment add to the debate other than to be a troll?

        2. Ok, a bit harsh. I’m no troll. Perhaps I should not have said you don’t deserve it. I’m just asking Apple’s side. Don’t mess with it. If you want to, go mess with something else. Don’t be so outraged. You really do not have the ‘right’ to do something, just because you can. Rad the licensing agreements once in a while and you might see what I mean, but I doubt it. And notice that I didn’t flame you either.

    1. Main reason why I unlocked my iPhone 3GS. I want to be able to use a foreign carrier’s SIM card without having to outrageous roaming fees. Using a local SIM with the local cellphones company (Chinamobile) is cheaper than my AT&T plan back home. Only reason I ever unlocked my iPhone

      1. Harry, as I said to marco, if you have completed you agreement AT&T will be happy to unlock it for you, and again it will stick after a restore and or system update. You are really much better off doing it legitimately rather than hacking.
        If you didn’t complete you agreement (remember they gave you a +$600 phone for $200 in return you agreed to use it exclusively on their network for 2 years, remember no one forced to to agree to the discount. You could have bought the unlocked phone outright, but not for $200)
        If you didn’t complete what you agreed to (or paid AT&T back for for dissolving that agreement) then yes you are a thief.

    2. Very curious… Marco, there is really no need for the hackery. If you completed your agreement (contract) AT&T is happy to unlock it for you and (because it is legitimately unlocked not hacked) it will stay unlocked after a restore.

  7. I have jailbroken all my iOS devices when it has been possible to do so, and not pirated a single app. I also don’t know of a single other person who jailbreaks their phone who uses it for piracy. I jailbreak because I love Apple devices but aren’t so stupid as to think they get it 100% perfect with all features every time. It would, of course, be impossible for them to do that for all users. Plus we all expect the next version of iOS to add features and refine others. This is, to me, all I am doing via Cydia – adding new features and refining others to make what is already the best mobile OS by far suit my needs even better. For example:

    Auxo (a paid for tweak): Auxo is a better task switcher with more (very useful) functionality that’s just as simple and streamlined to use as the stock iOS task switcher. It’s that simple. Apple should pay the guys who made this and adopt it or create something similar of their own.

    NoNewsIsGoodNews: I don’t use newsstand and want to hide it or at least put it in a folder like all the other default apps I don’t use . This should be a default option in the OS.

    iFile: I occasionally have to deal with files emailed to me. Even a basic file manager built into the system would be enormously useful, and again Apple really should add this.

    My only other tweaks are to make Google Maps default (Apple Maps is still terrible for local info where I live, unfortunately) and Winterboard so I can replace the most dated bit of iOS – the cluttered, dated lockscreen (there are some truly beautiful, minimalist designs out there and I hope in iOS7 Jony Ive produces an upgrade that will mean I don’t need to do this).

    If my iPhone were to have issues, a restore before taking it to an Apple store would remove all traces of it ever being jailbroken (which again, is an entirely legal thing to do). So that’s the bottom line. Anyone arguing it’s illegal is wrong. Anyone arguing people jailbreak exclusively for piracy/all jailbreakers are pirates is wrong. Anyone arguing that jailbreakers should just get an Android phone is a hypocrite unless they never update their version of iOS when a new one is available (because of course they don’t need anything new or better – what they have is, luckily for them, 100% perfect). Anyone arguing that jailbreaking will ruin your phone and void your warranty is wrong – Apple’s statements are to make it clear they don’t support it to (rightly) avoid them having to field hundreds of support calls on why Cydia app xxx doesn’t work properly for my phone and so on.

    Do it, don’t do it – it’s entirely your choice based on taste. But some of the absurd assumptions about jailbreakers and jailbreaking in this thread are truly hilarious.

  8. Article should have the headline: Nearly 7 million criminals hack iOS

    Note:
    Apple strongly cautions against installing any software that hacks iOS. It is also important to note that unauthorized modification of iOS is a violation of the iOS end-user software license agreement and because of this, Apple may deny service for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that has installed any unauthorized software.

    Also note:

    violate (ˈvaɪəˌleɪt)

    — vb
    1. to break, disregard, or infringe (a law, agreement, etc)

    Pretty clear cut to me.

    1. Trondude:

      1. It isn’t illegal, so no crime is being committed. Choosing to void your own warranty isn’t a crime, even if Apple use strong language like “violate”.

      2. Note the key words: “strongly cautions” – I.e. we can’t stop you. And “may deny service” – I.e . we can’t actually tell unless you’re silly enough to bring in a phone unrestored – and even then we might still fix it.

      Or the shorter version: get over yourself. It’s not illegal and jailbreakers aren’t criminals.

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