Jailbreak -to be or not to be? (iPhone 4)

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Hello.

I'm posting here because the Apple forum seems to be somewhat biased against unlocking/jailbreaking -go figure...

What I'm curious about is the "actual" harm that it can physically do to your phone. I've done some preliminary research and have read more negative than positive. I understand that one can enter dangerous territory here; especially in light of identity theft etc. Nothing's for free, and you get what you pay for. I'm guessing, that there are people in this forum that may be of two camps:

1) sure, it's not that big a deal. I've done it, and this is the site to go to for the best no-nonsense software, blah blah 9 out of 10 agree....If so, which one?

OR

2) It's not worth it. Don't do it.

My curiosity stems from some of the militant measures implemented by phone manufactures and service providers to keep one from enjoying their phones to their fullest potential. I'm guessing that the phone manufactures while marketing a product -having less than altruistic motives -are against jailbreaking for security, liability, reliability, etc. The phone companies however, seem to be a little more nefarious in terms of use, service, and just paying way too much for their services -especially when traveling abroad (I do travel quite a bit) . For this reason, I'm interested in being able to have the flexibility of using different sim arrangements and be done with the stiff tariffs of the phone company. Because of the provider's exorbitant fee's I'm willing -perhaps to my disadvantage- to forgo the whole legal/illegal aspect of jailbreaking a cell phone as the laws have seemed to have made it prohibitive.
But not at the expense of screwing up my phone!!

The other advantage I can see from jailbreaking is the use of some of the apps that wouldn't be available otherwise. Namely, the iBlacklist app. This has a very practical use for me, as i tire from unwanted phone calls that continue to come in (if there is a work-around for this, please feel free to let me know how I can block a number , and not just send it to a silent ring).

inquiring minds want to know...

Thanks!
 

Raz0rEdge

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I'm neither for or against Jailbreaking..but one of the key things to keep in mind is that Apple has taken measure to ensure that applications that make their way onto your devices are assured to not cause any harm to the device, and if they did, they'd go after whoever did the harm and get you back in business.

That protection is gone the moment you JB and install the various app store-equivalents that get you apps that didn't make into the legitimate app store for one reason or other. You are now purely taking the word of whoever is selling/giving the wares that it won't cause any harm and if it does, too bad..nothing you can do about it..hope a restore gets you back in business otherwise time for a new device..

There is also the identify theft and other malicious activities you have to worry about..

Now it looks like you are doing the necessary research about this and going into it knowing the risks which is good as opposed to just doing it for the sake of doing it and then complaining about the fact that it somehow broke your device..

Because this is not a sanctioned thing from Apple, there is always a risk that trying to JB your phone might do something bad..and Apple for a while was doing things to the phone to make it harder to JB it until the US law allowing JB'ing to be legal, so they've stopped that now..

However, should you sufficiently break the phone trying to JB it, you void your warranty and Apple will wash it's hand off of your device and not help you..

I jailbroke my iPhone 3G purely to see what the hoopla was all about back in the day, didn't see anything really exciting about it and reverted back..I haven't tried the same with my iPhone 4..
 

vansmith

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My philosophy (to keep it simple): if you don't know why you're doing it, you probably shouldn't. You should also feel comfortable with losing data and fixing problems should they arise.

I jailbroke by iPod Touch but I only did it to tweak a few minor settings that were really bothering me. As funny as it may seem, I really wanted a percentage next to my battery meter. I got that and did little else. Was it worth it? Sure but I also didn't take any larger risks.
 
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Because this is not a sanctioned thing from Apple, there is always a risk that trying to JB your phone might do something bad..and Apple for a while was doing things to the phone to make it harder to JB it until the US law allowing JB'ing to be legal, so they've stopped that now..

Really?? Did the Court actually do that?

I'm honestly surprised...the US system has gone a little crazy there surely? How does that square with the DMCA?
 

Raz0rEdge

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Yeah it became legal around 2010 or so..though it says JB'ing iPhone and not tablets which are exempt. Originally unlocking was also legal, but I think recently I read that unlocking was not going to be legal anymore..
 
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Ok..I understand all points of view above now. Mobile phones and providers are obviously in the crosshairs.
 

Raz0rEdge

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Especially in the US where we have to deal with contracts and locked phones. Other countries provider greater freedom for people to move around and buy unlocked phones at higher prices..

I believe that the contacts makes the providers complacent in their behavior towards consumers, they don't have the fear that we'll leave them for shoddy service..
 
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Thanks for the info. Some really good points here!

I'm definitely not going to do right away -if at all.
 
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chas_m

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In the US, jailbreaking is not illegal -- but providers are within their rights to deny you warranty service if you do it.

Unlocking is PERFECTLY legal as long as you have carrier permission (which usually means they do it for a fee, but perhaps not in some cases). You can also buy an unlocked phone in the first place, again legal.

(OUTSIDE the US both things are perfectly legal and really the US looks more than a little silly on this ...)

As for jailbreaking, I did that to my first iPhone once it was out of warranty because I wanted to unlock it (at the time AT&T refused even though I had completed my contract). So I did. I tried a few unofficial apps but really, I'm not 12 and changing the wallpaper and theme every day or two seems childish to me so there was very little else that appealed.

I now have an iPhone 4 and iPad 3 (wife has iPhone 4 as well) and can't think of any reason to JB them -- there are few neat tweaks out there on Cydia but now they all cost money and that still leaves me with a security risk I'd just as soon avoid. Nothing *compelling* me to jailbreak IOW.

Like most other things I personally wouldn't do, if you have a solid reason to do it I say more power to you. If it's just about the hype and temporary excitement, well ... it's easy to overlook the downsides but that doesn't mean they won't come back to bite you. When my old iPhone got to 3.1.3 and that was it I was RELIEVED that I'd never have to go through the tedious jb/unlock procedure again.
 
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If you plan on doing it, read some tutorials and scope out what the top tweaks are. Those are usually quite harmless and there's always a safeboot option incase a tweak doesn't work out.

reddit.com/r/jailbreak has a lot to offer.
 
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Ive seen nothing that will break your iDevice really. When i first did my iP4s i did brick it, but a restore soon sorted that out. I initially wanted certain features that Apple didnt have the nouse to include with the iOS but as the year went on and they kept pumping out the updates, they where starting to bring in some of theses features, because i believe they where looking hard at the JB communtiy and where looking what people were JB for.
But as fast as the JB Devs could come out with a JB for a certain update, Apple bought out another update to quash it, They had trouble with the Untethered JB’sand i know of friends that stayed on iOS5.1 for the whole time.
As been said above, if you have a certain feature you want then go ahead and JB but if not i wouldnt bother. As it stands at the moment, there isnt a untethered JB for iOS 6.1
 
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Things change:

Cool thanks for that.
Interesting following a link in that story came to the JB being legal or not now. Seems that for US people, JB your iPhone still stands, BUT JB iPod Touch, iPad, iPad mini, sits in the grey area.
Im not up with all the legal jargon to decide yay or nay, but if interested have a look at Untethered iOS 6 Jailbreak For iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini, And iPod Touch - Forbes

For readers in the U.S. there are some issues you should be aware of. First, there were some changes to the laws recently, specifically related to the DMCA and circumventing copy protection mechanisms. The U.S. Copyright Office and the Library of Congress both have the power to create exemptions for activities that would otherwise be banned by the DMCA. Jailbreaking of phones is currently covered by, and as such protected, by such an exemption.

However, the exemption does not extend to tablets, and neither does it extend to unlocking cellphones, which now fall into what the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) calls “a legal grey area under the DMCA” since neither activities are mentioned explicitly. This means that care needs to be taken.
 
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Good comments and links by all here thank you.

It looks like the DMCA will get to the point where it's not fit for purpose if those two bodies can serve up exemptions 'on the fly'. Their decisions seem arbitrary and discriminatory giving that tablets can be just as much a comms device with a sim card and contract as can an iPhone or similar.

So you can JB a phone and mess with it's innards to an extent that the manufacturer has to standby and watch it's pride and joy get tricked up and messed with, whilst the carrier whistles Dixie at your efforts to wriggle free from it's ties under the protection of the DMCA ?
 
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chas_m

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Let's be clear: jailbreaking is NOT ILLEGAL. Not even in the US.

Unlocking an iOS device without a carrier's permission IS ILLEGAL in the US. Obviously if you bought it unlocked from Apple or had the carrier unlock it this doesn't apply to you.

Outside the US, laws vary -- but I don't know of any country where unlocking is illegal other than the US.
 

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