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Would you JB a mission critical iPad?

anthonymoody

anthonymoody

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Aug 8, 2002
3,194
1,322
Hi All,

Loooooooong time and huge iPad user (see my signature...) who has never JB before. Currently using an iPad 2, 5.0.1.

I use my iPad for EVERYTHING as you can see. Given that, and that it would be a rather big problem for me if things went bad, would you JB? There is JB-only functionality that I want (mostly customization of the springboard, services access, lock screen, etc.) so it's not an academic exercise.

I will wait for a (more or less) tested untethered JB in any case.

TIA
TM
 
I wouldn't, especially if it's that important. i have never JB anything, even though I guess I had a golden chance with my ipad1 I still have an iPhone 4, but every time I think I MIGHT jailbreak it, I read a horror story here.

I guess I just don't get it!:)
 
Given that everything is backed up on iCloud (apps, app data, pictures, etc), I'd do it if there was something really awesome I needed. Coming from a long time non-jailbreaker.
 
Not for that stuff, probably. For something like ifile that can dramatically increase functionality, possibly, as long as I've got blobs and backups so I'm covered if anything happens.
 
porcupine8 said:
Not for that stuff, probably. For something like ifile that can dramatically increase functionality, possibly, as long as I've got blobs and backups so I'm covered if anything happens.
Click to expand...

Now I have to figure out what a blob is!

I've actually worked out a pretty functional file system workaround (though I admit I don't know much about the functionality that iFile provides).

I use a combination of Dropbox/dropDAV/iWork. Dropbox uses a pointer on my iMac (which itself is really just a media/syncing hub) to sync to Documents on the iMac. And dropDAV allows me to pretty easily get files in and out of Dropbox from within iWork and other apps.

A baked in/ground up system would undoubtedly be better. But this works for me for now.
 
The part about jailbreaking that is the real pain in the a$$ is when you upgrade iOS, and all the jailbreak stuff get removed, and you have to jump through hoops to get everything back. Also, with every iOS upgrade there's always some jailbreak apps/mods that stop working, and you have to wait for them to get updated -- if they ever are -- to work with the new OS version.

And as iOS get more and more features, there are less and less "must have" jailbreak apps. Lockscreen notifications are awesome, but Notification Center is good enough. Being able to add unlimited number of icons into a folder is convenient, but is it worth the hassle of figuring out all the ins and outs of how to jailbreak, and how to maintain your jailbreak?

I'll probably try jailbreaking my iPad2 when a JB becomes avaiable for it, but then my job is kind of part-time, so I have plenty of free time to waste on this stuff. You seem like a busy guy, so unless you have a specific, must-have function that you can only get by jailbreaking, my take is it isn't worth your time. Jailbreaking is risk-free in the sense that you can always restore to stock, but it's not fun waiting around while your iPad restores and syncs back all the media and data.
 
Thanks again all. Good food for thought. Maybe when I upgrade to the iPad 3 and my wife inherits my iPod 2, I can get my iPad 1 back and JB that to play with :)
 
anthonymoody said:
Thanks again all. Good food for thought. Maybe when I upgrade to the iPad 3 and my wife inherits my iPod 2, I can get my iPad 1 back and JB that to play with :)
Click to expand...


I struggle with you initial question too. I use my iPad almost exclusively and if I jailbreak and an app like iAnnotate stopped working I'd be in the fetal position somewhere. I think I'll wait to see how it all goes and which apps have trouble before I decide. Even iBooks (although fixed now) would have freaked me out. I read a lot from there.
 
You shouldn't depend on any mission critical apps or tweaks that are only avalible via jailbreaking. Otherwise get another tablet.

That being said, critical apps that you depend on from the AppStore and native functions will work the same if your jailbreak is undone from a update. Restoring is very easy and fast. Whether from the cloud or iTunes. And if you Jailbreak again, no problem ... Doesn't affect anything.
 
If you believe yourself to be confident and literate with computers and a little known website 'Google' then there's no reason not to jailbreak.

I've been doing it since the 3GS and I look forward to the iPad 2 jailbreak, but I don't think it's as big a deal as it once was.

I think a lot more non-iPhone 4S users are excited about it because they believe it will pave the way for a self-contained Siri port on older devices, unfortunately the aforementioned computer literacy and use of Google seems to say otherwise.
 
lepeos said:
I've been doing it since the 3GS and I look forward to the iPad 2 jailbreak, but I don't think it's as big a deal as it once was.

.
Click to expand...


That's fair. I think some of my hesitation comes from my experience using an original iPhone oh TMo. The JB/UL community was just getting going. I was a TMo devotee, and hated AT&T. Vowed never to switch!

So I bought an unlocked iPhone off eBay. Then suffered through countless times of going through the crash->restore->reJB->reUnlock process. One time I was out and about and it happened when I was without my MBP. Went the rest of the day without a phone and there were some unfortunate consequences of being out of touch. Switched to AT&T the next day.

I still hate AT&T but you can pry my iPhone (4) from my cold dead hands.

Anyway, I'm obviously scarred and it has me a little scared :)
 
Some arguments mentioned are valid; if an IOS update comes out some JB-apps might take a little time to become compatible.

Reinstalling stuff is easy. In the back-up from itunes ALL settings are saved for JB-apps as well. As soon as you reinstall the JB-apps you will have all the old settings back.

Also on minor update like 5.0->5.01 you can use a backup-app like PKGBakcup, which will backup and reinstall all your JB-apps, just like itunes does with your native itunes store apps.

JB are very stable these days, it rarely crashes the ios device let alone make you restore completely.

Alsways make sure before you install an app it is suitable for the current firmware.

On itunes some apps are only available on lower firmware and not on 5.01 aswell. Itunes won't let you install those.

Cydia is a less stringent, which is ofcourse very logical. But it also has as safemode if something goes wrong it brings that up and you can remove the culprit

You can bring so much more to your iPad with JB than the standard apple config, Folder-icons, better layouts with more icons on 1 page, multi-icon docks, switcher mod even whatsapp works on wifi only bringing cross-platform IM to iPad.

All in all it's an individual choice. You can check the iphone hack forum in the springboard posting, you'll see al kinds of need tweaks and mods.

Alos try this 1, it wil let you see the updates in cydia, look and see what you're missing!! :)

http://cydiaupdates.net/author/tom-go


BTW
ifile is also for document uploading, but more a true file browser, letting you see the complete file structure of your ipad.
 
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