How to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod Touch
By Michael W. Jones
If you have ever thought about jailbreaking your iPhone, you have probably wondered exactly how you do it. This post will give you the information you need to set your iPhone free.
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. This can make it possible to extend the capabilities of your phone in many ways. That prospect is attractive to a lot of people. Should you do it? There are arguments both ways. Here’s a column we wrote a few weeks ago discussing the merits of jailbreaking your iPhone.
If you decide to do it, the actual task of freeing your iPhone from the App Store is a fairly simple process. It is a matter of modifying the firmware that make your iPhone work. Firmware is a bit of a cross between hardware and software. The firmware that runs your phone is stored in onboard memory, and is closely coupled to the hardware of the iPhone.
Every time the iPhone boots up, it does so by running a series of ever more complex computer programs stored in its memory. This series of programs is also known as the “chain of trust” because each successive level checks to see that the phone is free of unapproved software. The jailbreaking process patches the iPhone (or iPod Touch) firmware so that these checks are disabled. We should make it clear that we are not advocating that you jailbreak your phone; there are a lot of pros and cons, and maybe some legal issues. You’ll have to make up your own mind
The computer programs that jailbreak an iPhone or a Touch run on your personal computer, whether it is a PC or a Mac. These jailbreaking programs install and run like any other application, except that their sole use is to turn your standard iPhone into an iPhone that is no longer tied to the app store as a lifeline to new apps and software, but rather can go to a number of other Web stores to download apps.
It is important that the jailbreaking program that you use is exactly matched to the device (iPhone or iPod touch) and to the exact version and build of its firmware. You obviously know whether your device is a phone or an MP3 player. The version and build of your firmware can be found by looking at the Settings app, under the category “General” and at the number under “Version.” As an example, my iPhone is currently running OS version 2.2.1, build (5H11).
You must make sure that the jailbreaking program that you select is able to work with the level of firmware running on your phone or Touch. Apple constantly releases updates to its firmware, partially to foil jailbreaking software, and the writers of jailbreaking software release new versions to get around the provisions in the new software versions. It is a constant game of cat and mouse played between Apple and the hackers.
A few people have had trouble with the process. If that happens, it is usually 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.
The detailed instructions for jailbreaking your iPhone or iPod touch vary slightly from jailbreaking program to program, and also from version to version. Currently, the two most popular and foolproof jailbreaking programs are QuickPwn and PwnageTool. QuickPwn is available for both the PC and the Mac, and will jailbreak either an iPhone or an iPod Touch. The same is true of the PwnageTool software.
Be sure to read the jailbreaking program instructions very carefully to make sure that you are getting a version that will properly jailbreak your firmware version and device. Then read all of the instructions for the use of the jailbreaking tool that you selected, looking for any possible problems that are known to the authors. When you hook up your iPhone to your computer and execute the jailbreaking program, make sure that you follow the onscreen instructions to the letter to avoid any problems. And, of course, this is another case where Google is your friend, looking for up-to-the-minute updates and advice.
The jailbreak software does not generally lock you out of iTunes or the Apple App Store. This is not always true right after an iTunes update or the release of a new version of the iPhone firmware. It may take a few days or even a week for the jailbreak hackers to catch up to new versions. After an iTunes update, you should wait to install the update until you have updated the jailbreak. If you want to install an iPhone firmware update, you should also wait for a jailbreak to become available for the new version. Information on these issues it readily available on the sites from which you can download the jailbreak software.
After you have jailbroken your iPhone or iPod Touch, you can visit any of a number of non-Apple application stores on the Web, Youwill need to get one of the popular third-party app installers, such as Cydia from Jay “Saurik” Freeman. QuickPwn includes this app as a part of the jailbreaking app. Cydia also runs an app store at the same address. Again, a Google search will show you the current popular competition sites for the Apple App Store.
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 have basically been 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. That is why most people make the move, and why this post was written. You have to make up your own mind abput the involved issues and whether or not you want a jailbroken iPhone. But at least now you have the basics of how you can do it if you want to.
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