Jailbreak

101 'Jailbreak' stories June 2011 - December 2011

Jailbreaking generally refers to the removal of iOS software restrictions on Apple devices by means of software exploits. Jailbreaking affords root access to the iOS file system, allowing users to install tweaks and utilities that provide extensive functionality to iOS.

Jailbreak tools vary from jailbreak to jailbreak. Some tools consist of tiny utilities that must be executed from a Mac or Windows machine, while other jailbreak methods can be executed right on device without needing to connect to a computer.

Jailbreaks have been released for all iOS hardware categories, including the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV. The most recent Apple TV jailbreak, made available for the 4th generation Apple TV, required users to stay on an earlier version of tvOS. Of all iOS-related devices to date, only the third-generation Apple TV never saw a jailbreak during its lifetime.

Since jailbreaking takes advantage of security vulnerabilities, Apple works hard to patch these vulnerabilities. Once a vulnerability is patched, a new version of iOS is released and the signing window for previous susceptible versions are closed, making it impossible for users to upgrade or downgrade to the vulnerable version of iOS.

Cydia, a third-party app and tweak resource, is frequently mentioned in the same breath as jailbreaking, although it has nothing to do with the exploits responsible for the jailbreak itself. Cydia is by far the most popular way for jailbroken users to acquire apps and tweaks to modify their jailbroken devices.

The most recent jailbreak is from Chinese hacking team, Pangu. Pangu’s jailbreak works with iOS versions 9.3.3, 9.3.2, 9.3.1, 9.3, 9.2.1, and 9.2. The Pangu jailbreak is available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. At the moment, Pangu’s official iOS 9.3.3 jailbreak is Windows-only, and available in Chinese.

First untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1 available for non-A5 devices now

Jordan Kahn Dec 27 2011 - 9:09 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kp_Mz6rs9fc]

We got a sneak peak at the first untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1 earlier this month, and now Dev Team just announced @pod2g has made the solution available for non-A5 devices. That means iPad 2 and iPhone 4S are obviously left out on this one, but the chronic devteam and iPhone devteam have been working hard to package it into redsn0w 0.9.1.0 and PwnageTool for everyone else.

The post mentions pod2g is working on a solution for iPhone 4S and iPad, but it warns A5 devices “cannot use geohot’s limera1n exploit to inject the untether, they require exploits above and beyond those used for this release.”

If you are interested in giving it a shot, you can grab it through Cydia and follow the steps below (via Dev-Team Blog):

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Here’s how to enable panoramic camera mode on your iPhone without jailbreaking

Jake Smith Nov 8 2011 - 2:43 pm PT

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Yesterday, iOS hackers Conrad and Chpwn exposed the upcoming panorama mode in the iOS camera app that we previously revealed. While you can enable it a little easier by using the jailbreak tweak available on Cydia, for those of us who don’t jailbreak, Funky Space Monkey shows us how to do it. We followed the steps, and it works just fine!

1. Download iBackupBot

2. Backup your iPhone/iPod in iTunes

3. Open iBackupBot and find the backup, then load it.

4. Find Library/Preferences/com.apple.mobileslideshow.plist and open the file. (if your software isn’t registered you’ll have to press cancel and then it will open)

Continue after the break:

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Comex on his new Apple gig and how much he made on the jailbreak scene

Jordan Kahn Aug 29 2011 - 11:41 am PT

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We told you last week that Nicholas Allegra (better known as Comex), founder of JailbreakMe and popular member of the jailbreaking community, would be joining Apple for an internship this week. This left many wondering whether or not he would still be contributing to future exploits.

The answer? No. He has, however, done a quick Q&A (below) to answer some of our questions and give us insight into his views on Apple and jailbreaking.

Not only will he not contribute to future jailbreaks, it looks like he won’t be sticking around at Apple long either, as he notes plans to return to college will prevent him from taking up a permanent role. Also factoring into that decision is the fact he’s “never had a job before”, which may be because he’s received over $55,000 in donations from his jailbreaking efforts. He also thinks Apple will continue to “beat the pants off its competitors”.

When asked about Apple stealing ideas from jailbroken apps and tweaks, Comex explains:

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JailbreakMe founder Comex hired by Apple

Jake Smith Aug 25 2011 - 5:29 pm PT

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Comex, the founder of JailbreakMe, has just announced on Twitter that he’ll be joining Apple as an intern next week. From the sound of his tweet, it looks like Comex will be taking a break from the jailbreak community. It’s sad to see him go, but we’re pretty sure he’ll hand over the reins of JailbreakMe to someone else. We wish him the best of luck at Apple!

Tweet 1: It’s been really, really fun, but it’s also been a while and I’ve been getting bored.
Tweet 2: So, the week after next I will be starting an internship with Apple.

Interestingly, we heard this just a few weeks ago:

Forbes concludes, Apple should be offering up an internship to Allegra.
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HTML 5 game seen running on jailbroken Apple TV

Jake Smith Aug 6 2011 - 7:15 am PT

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[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8ob0yFxOL0″]

Youtube user appletvblack has posted a video of an HTML 5 game running on a 2nd generation Apple TV. The clever hacker played ‘Blackjack 4’ by installing Couch Surfer to obtain a web browser on his Apple TV and then simply navigated to the game. The game isn’t much, but it does show HTML 5 gaming is possible if Apple were to open it up… or if we just jailbreak. (via Redmond Pie)

iUsers enables multiple user profiles on the iPad

Jake Smith Jun 13 2011 - 6:31 pm PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq8sjcOdAsc]

A jailbroken app called ‘iUsers’enables the iPad to behave a little more like your Mac by supporting multiple user profiles.

The tweak puts a user profile button on the iPad’s homepage, where users can be switched fairly simply. For now only apps, music, and other content are shared between users, but the data inside the apps (game hi-scores, etc.) are user specific. iUsers’ developer is currently working on implementing more granular user data. The tweak is making its way to the Cydia marketplace, but if you’re eager you can find the instructions to installing iUsers over at BlogdoiPhone.

Hopefully we’ll see this natively in the iPad soon, and maybe Apple will decide to Sherlock it at some point in the future.

via Engadget
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