Should I jailbreak my iPhone?
There are a lot of opinions, both pro and con, about whether or not you should jailbreak your iPhone, and it can be difficult to separate the options. If you have ever thought about jailbreaking your iPhone, you should read on.
First, let’s take a look at what it means to jailbreak a phone. Jailbreaking allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to run unofficial code on their devices, thus bypassing Apple’s official app distribution mechanism, the Apple App Store. Once their phones are jailbroken, an iPhone user is able to download many applications previously unavailable by using installers such as Cydia or The Rip Dev Installer. Newer installers include Icy and Kryptes. Jailbreaking is different than unlocking, which is the process by which a mobile device is made compatible with telephone networks for which it is not specifically licensed.
So, with a jailbroken iPhone, you can run apps in the background with one illegal app, you can cut and paste via another, although those two issues will basically be solved with iPhone OS 3.0. Another illegal app allows you to better manage your power usage, while yet another gets you a turn-by-turn GPS, two things not available for a standard iPhone from the App Store. You can tether your iPhone, or use 3G to make calls via Voip. There are a lot of interesting apps for a jailbroken iPhone.
And, oddly enough, it is not even illegal to jailbreak your phone. While it does invalidate the software license, it does not invalidate the hardware warranty. So what do your do if your phone develops problems? Just like an iPhone can be jailbroken, it can be unjailbroken. Use iTunes to restore your phone back to its original configuration and take or send it back to Apple for service. When you get it back, you can always re-jailbreak it.
There is also more to jailbreaking than wanting to show off, or to change the Apple defaults to the iPhone operating system. It is true that you can change much about how the iPhone looks and works when it is jailbroken, but jailbreaking is about more than being flashy. It is much more about being able to do things with your iPhone that you want to do, instead of what Apple wants you to be able to do.
Nor is the jailbreaking process difficult. There are a number of programs for both Windows and OS X that do all the heavy lifting. All you need to do is download and install them on your computer. Then run the program with your iPhone connected, following the instructions. It take a half hour or less and can be done by almost anyone. A few people have had trouble with the process. If that happens, it is very easy to use iTunes to restore the phone to its original configuration. Even being stuck halfway through the jailbreak does not seem to make the restore option more difficult.
You are therefore extremely unlikely to lose the apps and information that are already on the phone. This is especially true with the newer jailbreaking applications. Failures are very rare, and being unable to recover from those jailbreaking failures are even more rare. Do your homework, get a current jalilbreaking app, and success is almost assured. Can problems occur, and could you be left high and dry? Yes, of course. Nothing is ever 100 percent foolproof.
There is one question you should be asking. That is, “Have you jailbroken your iPhone, Mr. Technical Blogger?” and that answer is “No, I have not.” I don’t have a crying need for any of the applications that are available only for jailbroken phones. I have come pretty close, though, over the matter of the turn-by-turn GPS.
Supposedly, such things will be both possible and allowed once iPhone OS 3.0 is announced and app developers have the chance to write such an application. I miss the navigation system on my old Acura, and I would really like to have that functionality back. If Apple does not make a turn-by-turn possible with 3.0, or if they refuse to allow such an app in the app store, my answer will change. I will, in that event, become the owner of a jailbroken phone.
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May 29th, 2009
Great post Michael. Surely helps when deciding whether to jailbreak or not.
June 7th, 2009
So, what is the best current software for jailbreaking please?
June 17th, 2009
mine didnt work! grrr
June 28th, 2009
u idiot, do you think that u are a smart ass cuz u made dis article? SCREW U!
June 29th, 2009
whoa there Mr. “Faget” sure can tell you are child or child minded moron, the poster is in no way being or acting like a “Smart Ass” as you state. He is mearly pointing out the pros and cons in reponse to a question. maybe you should go change your diaper I think the stench is clouding your judgement.
July 6th, 2009
Good article. I jailbroke my iphone whislt is was on the 2.2.1 firmware (I think that version number is correct!) and all was well, until 3.0! I knew from reading that updating to 3.0 would break my cydia/jailbroken apps, however I wanted the official functionality entailed by the 3.0 release, therefore I updated my iphone to 3.0. Low and behold, my apps broke
– however I can now copy and paste Wahoo! :S – I’m thinking about jailbreaking FW 3.0 tonight…I’d like to emphasise on the article above, that jailbreaking can easily be reversed IF you take a backup of your phone. You will always have a restore point, unless your PC spontaneously combusts! Back to my point, I think the pros far outweigh the cons here. Go for it, nothing to lose – everything to gain! 
July 10th, 2009
Nothing to loose? How about the $458.85 I spent on my Ipod Touch and the $200+ I spent in Apps/Games?
July 12th, 2009
ncaissie, How can you lose either of those?
July 19th, 2009
dumblo, why did you spend $458 on ipod touch? even the 32 gig is available for wayy less than that
July 25th, 2009
my iphone has dead spots i was wondering if i jail-broke mine would it fix it
July 30th, 2009
People don’t jailbreak. I just saw an article about how if something goes wrong with the the jb iPhone, apple will not replace it. There is also a miscomunication issue that a simple restore will make apple not be able to tell that you jailbroke it. No, apple workers are not idiots. They will run diagnostics on your iPhone or itouch and see that you jailbroke it if something goes wrong when you have un- jailbroken it. Don’t jailbrake it!
August 1st, 2009
if i jailbreack my iphone can i still use itune 2synce my sngs
August 22nd, 2009
I once jailbroke my iPod it went wrong ! I had to pay for it to be fixed and jailbroken on eBay. If your going to jailbreak it follow these rules. A : don’t use redsn0w B :make sure u know what ur doing or send it to a professional C : make sure Cydia comes with the jailbreaking because it’s hard to get without
September 16th, 2009
Nick, you are abviously an idiot that has not jail break your phone.
September 26th, 2009
Jailbreaking never never cause any issues for me, I use jailbreaking less for applications and more for the added functionality, it’s the only thing keeping me from 3.1 right now.
October 12th, 2009
There are only 3 types of people who will not jailbreak their iPhone:
1. idiot
2. idiot
3. idiot
that is all.
January 13th, 2010
JAILBREAK JAILBREAK JAILLLLLBREAAAAAK
i suggest all of u guys to do it!!
my iphone is GREAT!!, i got all app’s for free
and having no problem of it since i jailbreak it
January 19th, 2010
Can you still use the internet if you jailbreak your touch?
January 30th, 2010
if i jailbreak my iphone i can download apps from the appstore for free ??? also i can update bought apps for free if i jailbreak???
February 7th, 2010
Jailbreak!! First off…Apple will NOT know if you restore you phone that you ever jailbroke, diagnostics or not. It is restored to FACTORY settings. Once you finally jailbreak you will be upset you didnt do it sooner. If you have an iphone, and dont ever plan on jailbreaking you might as well get rid of your phone and buy a trackphone LOL
March 7th, 2010
People. When you jailbreak your iPhone, all the things that you could previously do on your iPhone are still available, with a whole bunch of new features. There are absolutely zero negative aspects to jailbreaking your iPhone… And Nick, the people at Apple ARE quite clearly idiots, because their most advanced product has been hacked and improved upon by a bunch of twenty-something hackers. So kindly shut up.
March 8th, 2010
i am thinking about jailbreaking my iphone because when i has my first 3g i jail broke it and when i tried it on my ipod it crashed and i tried to restore it but it didnt work so i just got a brand new iphone 3g 16 gig and i am debating weater or not to jail break it or not?????
March 11th, 2010
Hey guys whats all this talk about 3.0 or 3.1 version?? If I get an iphone and jailbreak it, can this sort of stuff give me problems in the future? Thanks
March 31st, 2010
The first time i jailbroke my iphone it was working fine then all of a sudden Cydia stopped working and everytime i’d try to open it it would just go back to the home page after like 5 seconds. So i rejailbroke it and it worked fine again for a few days and now all my old games of appstore and facebook Dont work they just do the same as what Cydia did previously “/ Does anyone know what to do ??
April 25th, 2010
I have no problem on jailbreaking.
May 12th, 2010
Just brought an iPhone 3G S and need to jailbreak.. Where do i go from here??
May 27th, 2010
@Nobhead 312 a very similar thing happened to my iphone when i hadn’t even jailbroken it… somehow it got fixed but i don’t think that glitch had anything to do with it being jailbroken man.
May 27th, 2010
@Nobhead 312 a very similar thing happened to my iphone when i hadn’t even jailbroken it…. somehow it got fixed but i don’t think that glitch had anything to do with it being jailbroken man.
June 2nd, 2010
Everyone is talking about jailbreaking there iphone but what exactly can this do that a unbroken iphone cant do. all i here people saying is you get lots more features, WHAT FEATURES?? yer i know you can download apps for free but this for me does not warrant me jailbreaking my phone.
I dont mind paying 50 pence for a decend app i dont mind paying £5 for a decent app so what else can this jail break do EXACTLY
June 5th, 2010
Anyone reading this now, don’t Jailbreak, there are no real benefits from it. Any features that were only available to jailbroken phones are present in OS 4.0 which is to be released next month. And although stated in the article that it’s not illegal, in actual fact it is, iPhone OS is not open source and when you first use it you agree to the licence agreement and it states and I quote “it is illegal to copy, redistribute or edit this firmware”
And you are also downloading paid apps for free which is piracy and also illegal, so just be patient and wait for OS 4.0. I have the developers preview and believe me it’s good! And worth waiting for and not Jailbreaking your iPhone/ iTouch
June 5th, 2010
Nobhead 312: In case your still having that problem, heres what you have to do: Reboot your Iphone. Then its fixed. I had the same problem and was just about ready to restore when i rebooted and it was all fixed up. It was unjailbroken, on a side note.
June 6th, 2010
If i jail broke my ipod and it crashed and can not be fixed and i send it to apple and they see that it is jailbroken what happens>??
June 11th, 2010
I didn’t know much about jailbreaking before reading this post. jailbreaking allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to run unofficial code on their devices, thus bypassing Apple’s official app distribution mechanism, the Apple App Store.
June 19th, 2010
I don’t know if I should
June 19th, 2010
Me too
June 19th, 2010
If you jailbreak your iPod can you unjailbreak it without taking it back to a apple store???
June 19th, 2010
Can you unjailbreak an iPod???
June 20th, 2010
Of course you can. Just do a “restore to factory default.”
June 22nd, 2010
Hi there, im about to purchase an iphone 3gs and am looking on the net for info about jailbreaking, the only questions i want answered is…..if i jailbreak it and it crashes can i just restore it through itunes? ive been reading up on youtube at comments people have made and most of them have problems, like having to connect to laptop everytime you boot up, or wifi doesnt work? or cant get signal? if these happen to me can i restore back to factory and get them working again?
Dave
June 23rd, 2010
It really is a personal choice, I have not yet come to a decision to jailbreak mine, but im quite happy with the “official” set-up…
July 14th, 2010
I say jailbreak it!! You’re really missing out and its really easy to do!!
July 28th, 2010
Hi, I have a quick question: when you jailbreak with spirit, do you lose your wifi conection? Thax and respond!
August 18th, 2010
easy way to jailbreak your phone/pod…
using ur pod/touch visit http://www.jailbreakme.com
don’t say i never give u anythin!
August 19th, 2010
u loose ur waranty lol ive got an iphone 4 on a 24 month contract and im paying insurance. if ur in the same boat as me think before you jailbreak.. ive made my decision not to do it lol.. but il just jailbreak my 32 gb ipod touch instead so xD..
November 6th, 2010
All of you ppl are fucking idiot’s! Jailbreaking a iTouch or iPhone or iPad will not do anything to the device’s. Jailbreaking is just something you can get free thing’s with, it WON”T change anything on any of your Apple devices everything will be the same. IT’S JUST A APP PPL!
November 24th, 2010
Ive had 2 ipod touches and ive jailbroken all of them. The only issues jve had was when i used the wrong jailbreak to jailbreak my ipod touch running 3.1.3 firmware and it ended up “bricking” my ipod
i later got the new iphone 4 and built up the balls to jailbreak it haha. I fuckin love it! I have full functionality of my phone and alot more. i will always have a warranty aslong as i do t “unlock” my phone which is a really bad idea u thi k :/
December 22nd, 2010
Jailbreaking never never cause any issues for me, I use jailbreaking less for applications and more for the added functionality, it’s the only thing keeping me from 3.1 right now.
March 27th, 2011
its got to be said that using greenpois0n is the fastest and easyest way to jailbreak your iphone/ipad/ipod i recently jailbroke my iphone 4 4.2.1 within 5 mins !
July 26th, 2011
To the person who said that jailbreaking is for getting free things with – its not just about getting free apps. You also get the chance to add a whole bunch of functionality to the iphone/ipad that should have been there in the first place!
October 31st, 2011
I personally found jailbreaking useful! I would say that jailbreaking is worth it!
It’s not illegal and even if it was illegal I’m not in trouble 
October 31st, 2011
It’s called rooting your iPhone, not jailbreaking.