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Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Jailbreaking With the latest iOS 9.3.3 now finally being jailbreakable, here's a list of everything you should know

By Rustam Singh

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Finally, it's that glorious time of the year where there's a tested, safe jailbreak released and all Apple iDevices can be jailbroken. The jailbreaking community calls it the golden phase because it's a David vs Goliath battle with Apple and hackers, which is never ending. Undoubtedly, pretty soon, Apple with be releasing the next iOS which will patch this hack thus putting a stop to jailbreaking for a questionably long while, so if you're looking forward to jailbreaking your device right now is the time to act.

What devices that can and cannot be Jailbroken

All 64 bit iDevices can be currently Jailbroken. This list includes:

iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, 6, 6 Plus, 5s, SE, iPad Air 2, iPad Air 1, iPad mini 4, 3, 2 and the 6th-generation iPod touch model. Your iDevice must be on iOS 9.3.3, 9.3.2, 9.3 to 9.2. Previous iOS's are already jailbreakable, but it makes sense to upgrade to the latest iOS 9.3.3 before attempting to jailbreak.

Is it safe? Does it expose my device to hackers?

While the hacking team that has released this jailbreak, Pangu, has be trusted in the community in the past and has been generating jailbreaks for a while now, the current release is a bit technical to follow through. At the cost of being patient and following the steps exactly, you will unlock the full potential of your device. Saurik, the founder has included updates to the official jailbreak store Cydia, which means this jailbreak is official and safe. It does technically require you to share your iCloud password over the air who generate custom certificates in order to be Jailbroken, but the Pangu team has promised they are not storing the passwords at any point during the jailbreak. Overall, the community firmly trusts the jailbreak to be safe.

Is it a complete jailbreak? What're the limitations?

Unfortunately, it's a semi-tether jailbreak at the moment. This means that the jailbreak would last only till your device is on – once you restart your device or shut it down, it would need to be re-jailbroken. Fortunately though, you need not go through the whole technical process of jailbreaking or require a computer to re-jailbreak your iDevice if you restart as was the case with previous semi-tether jailbreaks. You just need to click on the jailbreak app and let it do its job for a few minutes patiently, and viola everything would be back to the way it was.

Is it legal?

Yes, absolutely! jailbreaking remains legal according to global laws and Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and while this has seldom been tested in courts anywhere except America (where jailbreaking has now been explicitly declared completely legal), there is a possibility that Canada's broad copyright laws make it illegal. Yet again, there has not been a cited case study anywhere where jailbreaking or those that encourage jailbreaking have been taken to court. Of course, if you use jailbreaking to circumvent copyright, it would be illegal and liable for legal proceedings.

Will it void my warranty?

Technically, yes, Apple is naturally strongly against jailbreaking. They will refuse to service a device that's been Jailbroken, and may even void your warranty. Yes, even if you just go get your screen replaced or a hardware issue for which Apple is directly responsible, even if you have extended warranty or even if your device is currently in guarantee. Thankfully, there's a painlessly quick qway to avoid that – just restore your iDevice or re-install the latest iOS before your take it to the Apple store and it would remove all traces of your device ever being Jailbroken and nobody at the Apple store can ever find out it had been Jailbroken.

Will it make my device hang more, use more battery or cause any problems?

Not unless you intentionally go out of way to do something stupid with the settings, no it won't. Of course, running too many tweaks, themes, hacks or apps simultaneously on your device, which Apple prohibits by default, would slow or hang up your device, so there needs to be an obvious precaution. On the contrary, you can very well boost your iDevice's hardware features which are restricted by iOS significantly – including increasing the volume, increase battery life, smoother animations and boost running of applications. Of course, there is a minor chance you can damage your device if you do something wrong with the core system files, during the jailbreaking process or by intentionally installing a malicious tweak after you jailbreak, so it's best to stick to popular tweaks or ask the community before trying something new.

Are you a jailbreaking fan? Have you jailbroken your iDevice or do you plan to do so? Let us know in the comments on our official Facebook page Entrepreneur India

Rustam Singh

Sub-Editor- Entrepreneur.com

Tech reporter.

Contact me if you have a truly unique technology related startup looking for a review and coverage, especially a crowd-funded project looking to launch and coverage.

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