General What does Jailbreak mean?

[XxLucyxX]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but what does it mean when someone jailbreaks their iPhone, iPad etc.

 

[oplix]

To put it in really simple terms it basically gives the user file system write access. What this means is that it allows modifications to the file system (os) including things like tweaks.

 

[w0lf]

Full root access.

 

[Applejuiced]

You escape out of Apples jail

 

[Carlanga]

Gives you open access to any file on your iOS device. Even things that were blocked by apple.

 

[thelatinist]

The term jailbreak refers to the chroot jail Apple imposed upon the filesystem. A chroot jail uses the chroot command to create an artificial root directory other than / in which to run applications, which denies them access to the rest of the file system.