Apple has imposed certain limitations to their iDevices and drastically limited the customizations opportunities, therefore the impulse to jailbreak them is just hard to resist.
Just think about it: a world full of possibilities, awesome apps to download, extensions, themes etc.
Since every rose has its thorns, jailbreaking is not risk free, is can actually cause a lot of problems to your device.
Advantages of Jailbreaking Your iPhone
Benefits of Jailbreaking Your iPhone
- Ability to change themes
- UI customization
- Ability to perform activities that are usually Wi-Fi dependent
- Ability to edit documents, save or view them offline, in such programs as Word/Excel
- Access to T-Mobile GSM Network
- Awesome jailbroken apps and mods
- Apps categorizing
- Background apps
- Run emulators
- Do more with FaceTime
- become carrier-free
Although according to Cydia creator, Jay Freeman, more than 10% of all iPhone are jailbroken, here is why you should avoid such a practice.
Disadvantages of Jailbreaking Your iPhone
The Stability and Safety of Your iDevice is Not Guaranteed
It is true, once you have jailbroken your device, you can download all sort of apps to boost the functionality of your device. However, some options might cause your phone to malfunction.
A jailbroken device is almost defenceless; it is very vulnerable to threats that could block the iOS. The problem is that you have to find the reason, the element that has made your app crash, let’s say. And you won’t be able to bring your phone back to life if you are not good at troubleshooting.
So you’d better give up the idea of jailbreaking the device if you are not a geek.
Restore, restore, restore, re…
Jailbreaking may sometimes refuse to work and you have to restore it fully again and again and again. And that takes a lot of time because it is a slow process.
You might need to 3-4 hours to fix the problem, should your jailbreaking fail. Restoring the iOS is a lot faster than restoring the jailbreak.
iOS Updates Are Delayed
If you want to update your jailbroken device you need to know that the update process cancels your jailbreak. In other words, you need to repeat the jailbreaking process after every single update. In some cases, this can be annoying especially if Apple is updating software that helps you stay safe from „bugs”. So, patience is a virtue when you are using a jailbroken phone.
Good Jailbreak Apps Drain Your Wallet
Good Jailbreak apps are not that cheap. Those from Cyndia are usually more expensive than those from iTunes. You have to pay for better apps switching, better SMS, better notification but if you are not willing to give the money, leave your iDevice the way it is.
Jailbreaking gives you more control over your device and is legal but according to Apple it „can void the warranty”. So, before you do it, put into balance both the advantages and the disadvantages and then take a decision.
Many users are not aware of any of these advantages/disadvantages, for some jailbreaking resounding like something ultra-geeky to be done. In fact, with all the precaution measures take, you can safely jailbreak your iPhone to see its true powers.
Android users, despite of the fact that Android is highly customizable and offers users the chance to make their devices truly unique, are also performing an operation similar to jailbreaking – which is called rooting.
Two Methods to Jailbreak
There are two jailbreaking methods: the untethered and the tethered one.
The tethered jailbreaking is less comfortable for the users, as it presumes connection to your computer every time you need to boot it in the jailbroken status.
The untethered jailbreak gives the biggest freedom for the iOS user, as you don’t longer have to depend on your computer, being able to boot/reboot without losing the jailbreak.
All in all, there are many reasons to jailbreak and many not to. It all comes down to personal preferences.
I, personally, performed the untethered jailbreak on my iPhone just to be able to have access to apps which have been blocked by Apple.
