Today, a group of iOS hackers calling themselves the Evad3rs has released a usable jailbreak for the iPhone 5. It also works on any other iOS device capable of running iOS 6.0 or 6.1, with the exception of the Apple TV (3rd generation). This release has completely overloaded their servers with over 270,000 downloads.
The process of jailbreaking devices has grown more difficult through the years. This is thanks to security improvements on Apple’s side and the lack of new bootrom-level exploits that would allow long-lasting jailbreaks on an entire family of iOS devices, regardless of the incremental iOS software updates that regularly patch the holes that jailbreaking software now exploits.
But this new “evasi0n” jailbreak has been well worth the wait – especially for those looking to take back control of their iPhones in order to break out of the restrictions Apple has set in place.
A usable jailbreak opens up access to a world of unapproved applications, free and paid, through the alternative app store known as “Cydia”. There’s a host of other controls and tweaks that can change the otherwise hard-coded defaults on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
The jailbreaking “scene” has seemingly died down a bit over the years, as Apple slowly rolled out changes to its operating system that have addressed some user complaints: the introductions of and support for an Android-like notifications drop-down; widgets (also in that drop-down window); Facetime over cellular (3G/4G); more granular control over notifications and privacy; and more. But perhaps jailbreaking’s decline has been one of perception and not representative of a real decline in user interest.
To give you an idea of scale, recent figures released by Jay Freeman, who owns and operates the Cydia store, show 22.8 million devices were running Cydia over the past two months. Although that may be a small sub-section of the some 500 million iOS devices sold to date, it’s a significantly sized user base. And every time a new jailbreak comes out, Cydia breaks new records, which reflects the growth of the iOS ecosystem as a whole. It will be interesting to see if it can do so again, or if those in search of more control, quality OS design and a broad app ecosystem have gone ahead and switched to Android in the meantime.
Link to the easi0n site but as with any jail breaking it can damage your phone void your warranty and do so at your own risk….. You have been told….
Well good on the Evad3rs, a fine bunch of people. I know what it’s like to have to work around vendor restrictions constantly, just to help you achieve something your device can innately do, but can’t because of thinly veiled commercial interests.
There are some very talented and dedicated people out there who work to preserve freedoms we generally take for granted, in the tech sector and outside of it, and I think the world would be a far worse place without them, despite popular opinion.
I know there are a few iOS users out there who jailbreak for piracy reasons, but I genuinely believe that most people just want to be able to do what they want with the device they own. I’m sure Apple wouldn’t have quite so many enemies if they just chilled out about the device lock-downs a bit… It seems that they’re going the other way if anything, and they appear to have employed a top class facist for their device security.
I for one appreciate that this jailbreak is an amazing achievement given the current circumstances. Great work.