Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
General what are the pros and cons of jailbreaking?
- Thread starter kashyap02004
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I don't rally notice This... However if you run winterboard, which I do not, you do notice the difference.
Only reason I jailbreak is for FREE Tethering (Im on ATT unlimited data) & also to trick apps as far as if im on WiFi or even location based tricks so I sports 'blackout rules' wont apply to me.
Thats all I need.
No further need for Installous as to update any apps over 50mb takes an hour
how are you getting unlimited data. I have it but I get Edge if I go over 3gb. Lately my data seems like it's gone up like crazy. just surfing and looking at a few video's and I get the 3gb warning.
Grandfathered in.
The old iPhone 2g loophole may or may not be closed
Basically you hook up the original iPhone on ATT.
Bring old 2g Iphone to ATT for a new sim card for it.
Go home, set up 2g iPhone via iTunes and activate it. The ONLY DATA PLAN OFFERED WAS UNLIMITED FOR 2g IPHONES.
Once the iPhone 2g is activated, wait maybe 15 minutes & call ATT to confirm youre on unlimited data.
Once confirmed - go to ATT store and get a new sim card for your new iPhone (4s, 4, 5, 3gs etc)
Youll be 'grandfathered in' and keep unlimited data.
Thats how I got my unlimited data in Feb 2010 (after ATT stopped ofering it).
I have no clue if the loophole is still there, but to waste 30 minutes of your time, 2 trips to an ATT store for the possiblity of having unlimited data - Id say give it a try
---------------------
1) You must have an iPhone 2G, and a sim card that has never been registered to an iPhone 2G before
2) Hard reset the iphone, put in your simcard, and register the iPhone 2G in iTunes. You will be asked to confirm you agree to $20/month unlimited 2g data + 200 text messages.
3) Check online account to see if plan went through, or call 611 and confirm.
4) Find a CSR that will change your Iphone 2g plan to unlimited smartphone personal. I tried over the phone multiple times and they kept on saying they couldn't do it since the unlimited plan didn't exist before June 2010. I was about to give up but went to a retail location and the guy did it on his computer.
5) Enjoy your unlimited data!
NOTE: Whatever you do DO NOT let them change your data plan off the iPhone data plan. If you lose that plan you need a new simcard and to start over. I think I may have had more difficulties cause I am on a business account, but it still worked!
Jalbreak is great. There are a lot of tweaks making your phone or ipad 10000 times more useful: CameraTweak, f.lux, Skype Recorder, Quasar etc.
I hate these types of threads and rarely post in them. But I want to say that to the poster with all the cons laid out, great job. Very well written and thorough. You would make a great politican though! Because you listed all of the extreme cons. You took all the cons and maximized them like they're standard results of jailbreaking. Any of them "could" happen but most of the time they don't, but when they do occur, they are random and sporadic. The iOS5 jailbreak has been the most stable jailbreak EVER. I have only crashed a handful of times. Three of those times was because I was using an alpha version of an updated tweak so I knowingly volunteered for potential crashes. White icons are rare and easily fixable. Sure you could just respring and make them go away but the better solution is to wipe the cache. I use iRetiner GUI to fix any white icons but I've only had them a few times in the last 7 months. That's a very minor issue in my opinion. And I've NEVER seen or heard about having iAd on your springboard. For that to occur you must have done something rare. Luckily I have never experienced that.
I like how you laid out all of the cons and also made it clear what the worst case may be. But you should have also explained the pros and all the great enhancements and features you can add to ios which makes it better, cooler, and easier to use. Like anything in life, one has to weigh their subjective pros and cons before they decide to do something. For the lazy people out there, don't jailbreak because it DOES require a ton of research. That is a con to many people. If you're on a firmware that has a jailbreak, then the actual jailbreak is the easiest part. It gets very complicated for the inexperienced or uneducated when someone wants/needs to restore to an old firmware to keep their jailbreak or when a new iOS is released and one wants to update to that and, if available, jailbreak while keeping their phone "exactly the same as when they were jailbroken". This is definitely a big con for newbies. So for anyone who decides to jailbreak, read, read, and read some more. Follow jailbreak websites and stay up to date. It's a fast changing and ever evolving world.
For anyone wanting to know some cool things they can do with a jailbreak, I refer you to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZoqW-GEdQM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Good luck to the OP or anyone else who wants to jailbreak. Follow fellow macrumors members advice, research a lot, and stay up to date. It's easy once you learn the lingo and get the hang of jailbreaking, downgrading, and upgrading. Yes there are many alarming cons, but all are avoidable if you research first before installing anything and everything from cydia. Avoid installing multiple tweaks which offer the same or overlapping functionality. Only install things you really, really want or need. If you don't love a package or absolutely need it, then uninstall it and move on.
If anyone's interested, my cousin has a stock 4S on 5.1.1. I have a jailbroken 4S on 5.1.1. We just did a bunch of side by side comparisons. The differences were negligible. Games ran exactly the same, websites loaded pretty much the same, his phone booted quicker than mine, and his apps opened slightly faster than mine. But with my "must have" tweaks, I was able to navigate and perform actions so much faster than him. For example, I composed and sent a text message and the person received it before he even finished typing the exact same text message (admittedly I do type faster than him). My point is, I used the Activator gesture of sliding across the status bar to open quick compose in BiteSMS and used SwipeSelection to edit and fix my message. I sent this message and the recipient, his wife, received it before he was able to send his. Obviously this is a petty example but it does show iOS enhancing capabilities that jailbreaking offers.
My extremely long winded point is, there are big pros and cons. Try it out. Worse case if you don't like it just restore your phone to stock. As pointed out a million times, if you jailbreak and need to take it to Apple, restore it to stock before bringing it in. They will never know it was jailbroken. Also, you can't break your iPhone by jailbreaking. Unlocking via the iPad baseband and the potential frying of the modem chip is the exception, but that's unlocking, not jailbreaking. The hackers have made it very safe and stable to jailbreak while the more popular developers for iOS5 packages have heavily focused on delivering quality products. It's not as great as some people make it seem, but it's not as dangerous either. If I had to live with a stock iPhone, I would be perfectly happy. It's still an iPhone! But my iPhone is absolutely way better with the jailbreak.
I like how you laid out all of the cons and also made it clear what the worst case may be. But you should have also explained the pros and all the great enhancements and features you can add to ios which makes it better, cooler, and easier to use. Like anything in life, one has to weigh their subjective pros and cons before they decide to do something. For the lazy people out there, don't jailbreak because it DOES require a ton of research. That is a con to many people. If you're on a firmware that has a jailbreak, then the actual jailbreak is the easiest part. It gets very complicated for the inexperienced or uneducated when someone wants/needs to restore to an old firmware to keep their jailbreak or when a new iOS is released and one wants to update to that and, if available, jailbreak while keeping their phone "exactly the same as when they were jailbroken". This is definitely a big con for newbies. So for anyone who decides to jailbreak, read, read, and read some more. Follow jailbreak websites and stay up to date. It's a fast changing and ever evolving world.
For anyone wanting to know some cool things they can do with a jailbreak, I refer you to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZoqW-GEdQM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Good luck to the OP or anyone else who wants to jailbreak. Follow fellow macrumors members advice, research a lot, and stay up to date. It's easy once you learn the lingo and get the hang of jailbreaking, downgrading, and upgrading. Yes there are many alarming cons, but all are avoidable if you research first before installing anything and everything from cydia. Avoid installing multiple tweaks which offer the same or overlapping functionality. Only install things you really, really want or need. If you don't love a package or absolutely need it, then uninstall it and move on.
If anyone's interested, my cousin has a stock 4S on 5.1.1. I have a jailbroken 4S on 5.1.1. We just did a bunch of side by side comparisons. The differences were negligible. Games ran exactly the same, websites loaded pretty much the same, his phone booted quicker than mine, and his apps opened slightly faster than mine. But with my "must have" tweaks, I was able to navigate and perform actions so much faster than him. For example, I composed and sent a text message and the person received it before he even finished typing the exact same text message (admittedly I do type faster than him). My point is, I used the Activator gesture of sliding across the status bar to open quick compose in BiteSMS and used SwipeSelection to edit and fix my message. I sent this message and the recipient, his wife, received it before he was able to send his. Obviously this is a petty example but it does show iOS enhancing capabilities that jailbreaking offers.
My extremely long winded point is, there are big pros and cons. Try it out. Worse case if you don't like it just restore your phone to stock. As pointed out a million times, if you jailbreak and need to take it to Apple, restore it to stock before bringing it in. They will never know it was jailbroken. Also, you can't break your iPhone by jailbreaking. Unlocking via the iPad baseband and the potential frying of the modem chip is the exception, but that's unlocking, not jailbreaking. The hackers have made it very safe and stable to jailbreak while the more popular developers for iOS5 packages have heavily focused on delivering quality products. It's not as great as some people make it seem, but it's not as dangerous either. If I had to live with a stock iPhone, I would be perfectly happy. It's still an iPhone! But my iPhone is absolutely way better with the jailbreak.
Another big advantage to jailbreaking IMHO is the Ultrasn0w unlock.
Very useful for 3G, 3GS and 4 models that have suitable modem firmwares.
You can enjoy carrier freedom and the unlock is great for travelling to help avoid huge roaming fees (by buying a local sim and plan).
Yes, grey market IMEI factory unlocks are cheap for AT&T, but for the majority of carriers you will need to pay $60-$140 for a factory unlock. There is also a small risk that the unlock will be reversed at some point in the future since these are, after all, unauthorized grey market unlocks.
Very useful for 3G, 3GS and 4 models that have suitable modem firmwares.
You can enjoy carrier freedom and the unlock is great for travelling to help avoid huge roaming fees (by buying a local sim and plan).
Yes, grey market IMEI factory unlocks are cheap for AT&T, but for the majority of carriers you will need to pay $60-$140 for a factory unlock. There is also a small risk that the unlock will be reversed at some point in the future since these are, after all, unauthorized grey market unlocks.
Phone runs slower IF you make tweaks and changes that tax the hardware more. Can update, it will just lose the jailbreak. Software is always subject to crashing. Does not void warranty. Kills speed only if the tweaks/changes you made tax the hardware more.
That was a pretty blunt set of cons..
Pros: you can make nearly whatever changes you want.
Cons: It'll be harder to find help if/when you need it when it's jailbroken than it would be for a device running the way Apple designed it.
You hit the nail on the head. I just don't see any adverse effects of jailbreaking on any(!!!) of my (numerous - as a programming lecturer and journalist, I have one model of each and every iOS model ever released) iOS devices, let it be an iPad, iPod touch or iPhone. And I do use tons of tweaks on all of them.
Of course, I'm extremely cautious not to install a new tweak on all my devices before testing it on at one of my "sandbox" devices. (I tend to test all new hacks as soon as possible after their release, particularly more high-profile ones, which means I can't rely on others' bug / crash / backdoor reports.)
Even with this, I've NEVER seen a tweak / Cydia app that would have rendered my devices useless / needing a complete restore. I've seen Safe mode reboots some times but they too went away after a simple deinstall / update of the app causing it.
All in all, you can safely use JB's. Just remmeber not to enable SSH when not needed and changing the default root password from "alpine" to a unique one. This will guarantee you're safe.
It reminds me too much of Windows 9x. The very design of that required routine reboots in order for it to even retain a hint of stability.
Disagree have these no issues. Funny how these threads are always full of myth's and legends.
The 4 icons just pop up infrequently from some Cydia upgrades
A respring removes them
Resprings take 15 seconds at most
Not a bad price for a jailbreak.
So, I must also disagree with you.
I've been jailbreaking since the iPhone 3G. I tested each and every one of those tweaks and they DO slow down the phone. No myths and legends here.
Ok I've been jailbreaking since 3G as well and I disagree but I haven't done scientific test. Winterboard is more about how graphic intensive the stuff is your trying to use with it. Intelliscreenx had issues at 1st i see none now. I've never had a issue with sbsettings and wouldn't be without it. Best thing about a jailbreak we have the freedom to try things and decide for ourselves.
Winterboard and Sbsettings at the same time is performance death for anything that isnt a 4S. I loaded a simple theme that only themed the background and opening apps was still slower. IntelliScreenX slows down the lockscreen a little and Messages+ is just ugh. Sbsettings is outdated by Ncsettings, but still tweaks support it more
winterboard is not the problem, theming is.
I have lots of small winterboard tweaks, which never slowed my IP4
SBsettings has no issues at all and in combination with Lockinfo completley blows NCsettings away, not surprising because NCsettings is an add on to NC which is spinoff from Lockinfo.
Yes tweaks slow down the IP4, still it was a delight to have it all available, even my 4S is slowing down a bit, but ofcourse have more tweaks than on my IP4.
If you would have all the JB tweaks as official apple add-ons or OEM option it would result in the same slow downs, the cpu's are pushed to there limits. Which will happen to the next generation also.
Pro: FREEDOM (which means you can try anything you like, lots more options and productivity)
Con: hardly any, some apps are blocked with JB-detection, but that can be defeated with JB apps
Then you're doing something wrong. Even on my old 3GS, I've never seen the issues you're going on about and I themed the hell out of it and ran sbsettings.
Is NOT a feature... The 'feature' of jb is getting root access, thus letting you do whatever you want.
For the TS:
Pro: getting root access & do what you want w/ it
Con: if you are dumb then you might make your phone unstable albeit 99% not permanently
Mate I don't believe you understand what a feature is.
"a distinctive attribute or aspect of something". I'd say being able to play pirated games after jailbreaking your phone is for sure a distinctive attribute, which sets it apart from an unjailbroken phone. It is most definitely a feature.
Last edited:
The reason I've got a jailbroken phone are three particular features I was able to use on phones back in the 90s!!
1. Use the phone to connect to the internet (i believe it's now called tethering). I was able to do this with a Nokia in the 90s, but with an iPhone I have to pay my carrier £10 a month, what's that all about? I now use MyWi.
2. Caller blocking. Again, I was able to do this with a 90s Nokia, but can't do it on an iPhone. Why not?
3. Changing the look. Back in the 90s, I had a Motorola that I could change the look of many different parts of the phone.
I know those 90s phones were just phones, and not the current amazing devices that phones are now, but it's just simple things that I could do in the 90s that I can't do with an iPhone.
I should qualify my response with saying I'm not an expert on how any of the above points work or why they don't work, or even if other current phones can do the above. I'm just a simple consumer. And again, I should also point out that I'd rather have todays technology than go back to those devices. I just think that if a device has the potential, then it should be used.
To me jailbreaking helps unleash some of the potential that Apple would rather keep a lid on for whatever reason (most likely security, stability and profit, but I'm not criticising).
And I'm sure some of us have seen Apple update each iOS with some of the best features of jailbreaking over the years, so we can also attribute some current featurs to those only previously found on jailbroken devices.
1. Use the phone to connect to the internet (i believe it's now called tethering). I was able to do this with a Nokia in the 90s, but with an iPhone I have to pay my carrier £10 a month, what's that all about? I now use MyWi.
2. Caller blocking. Again, I was able to do this with a 90s Nokia, but can't do it on an iPhone. Why not?
3. Changing the look. Back in the 90s, I had a Motorola that I could change the look of many different parts of the phone.
I know those 90s phones were just phones, and not the current amazing devices that phones are now, but it's just simple things that I could do in the 90s that I can't do with an iPhone.
I should qualify my response with saying I'm not an expert on how any of the above points work or why they don't work, or even if other current phones can do the above. I'm just a simple consumer. And again, I should also point out that I'd rather have todays technology than go back to those devices. I just think that if a device has the potential, then it should be used.
To me jailbreaking helps unleash some of the potential that Apple would rather keep a lid on for whatever reason (most likely security, stability and profit, but I'm not criticising).
And I'm sure some of us have seen Apple update each iOS with some of the best features of jailbreaking over the years, so we can also attribute some current featurs to those only previously found on jailbroken devices.
It still not a feature mate. To be a feature it needs to come as a stock part of it. Is the same as buying a MacBook and then deciding to upgrade the ram to 8gb for example. Lets say 8gb is not a feature of the stock MacBook, but an added thing thanks to the capability of the laptop that let's you upgrade.
By your definition jailbreak then it's a feature of the iPhone and it isn't. The same could be said of any computer and anything I can pirate in a pc is a feature of the pc based on your thinking.
Jailbreaking gives you root access, it's the only real feature. The rest are just things that you can do once you have access to everything.
Okay, your last sentence makes sense and I'll agree with you there, but your first sentence literally makes no sense. "Stock" has nothing to do with features. If its something distinctive that it can do, it's a feature :s
It all depends on who you are and what you do with your phone. When I had jailbreak on my phone, it made my life easier and made me enjoy my phone as I customized it in many ways allowing me to express my thoughts on my phone.
There are so many tweaks out there and to know the best, you can look on YouTube to see them in demo and other features.
I enjoy jailbreaks but sadly in on iPhone 4S on iOS 6, so there is no jailbreak available for me at the moment
There are so many tweaks out there and to know the best, you can look on YouTube to see them in demo and other features.
I enjoy jailbreaks but sadly in on iPhone 4S on iOS 6, so there is no jailbreak available for me at the moment
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers defines the term feature in IEEE 829 as "A distinguishing characteristic of a software item (e.g., performance, portability, or functionality)."