Apple’s Official Response To DMCA Jailbreak Exemption: It Voids Your Warranty

By Leander Kahney (4:11 pm, Jul 26 2010)

I just got a call from Apple’s PR department to discuss today’s historical DMCA exception ruling that makes iPhone jailbreaking legal.

Unfortunately, because of the legal issues involved, the Apple spokeswoman would only provide me with the following statement on the record:

“Apple’s goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience. As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.”

It’s short and sweet: Apple wants to control the iPhone experience to keep things simple and stable. Jailbreaking opens the door to software that can ruin that experience (and maybe steal your identity or spread viruses). For more information about Apple’s stance on jailbreaking, see this support document: Unauthorized modification of iOS has been a major source of instability, disruption of services, and other issues.

It does, however, answer the main question I had: does jailbreaking void the warranty? Yes, it does.

The other question I had is whether Apple will sue companies that publish or market jailbreaking software?

The spokeswoman would only say on background that Apple hasn’t in the past prosecuted such companies or individuals.

Now that jailbreaking is explicitly legal — at least for individual consumers — it’s not unreasonable to think the jailbreaking scene may become a little less underground. It may even prompt a cottage industry of unofficial App Stores, like the unofficial app store Cydia and the now-defunct Icy.

There are an estimated 10 million jailbroken devices out there, which represents a pretty big market for developers. Maybe legitimate software companies will publish jailbreaking software, instead of shady rings of underground hackers? And maybe the will become a healthy market for unofficial and banned apps. They will never have the marketing clout of the official App Store, but it’s not hard to imagine software vendors marketing software that Apple rejects as “the app Apple doesn’t want you to have.”

71 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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batjam
The smoke and mirrors here are laughable. So nothing has changed. Apple never prosecuted anyone on this issue. Move along. Nothing to see here.
HackNet
You people need to stop whining and move on with this JB crap. You pathetic losers go around calling these talented developers “underground hackers.” I bet if you had half their intelligence, you would develop an application like Cydia and RockApp too. Stop bitching you losers. Get your head out of your asses and open your eyes. Stop worrying so much about “breaking the rules.” No one gives a damn about what Apple or anyone else have to say about JBing their device. I paid good money for this phone and i will do whatever the fuck I choose to. So shut the fuck up.
thanks! :)
SF VA
Void your warranty? My crummy, limited one year warranty on my two year old phone?! Haaa!
Luke
One statement which apple made which I cant quite remember and fell free to correct me, was that apple products create a life without barriers, where more is possible, and how apple products are the shinning light in development, and undeniably they have some of the best products of their class, which I think a lot of people will agree with but what use is making these amazing things and them limiting their capability’s!!!!!????!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!
simple
TO MAKE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!
If apple unrestricted the iphone as it stands and made it open source they would see a huge decrease in the new iPhones they release beacuse this one would do so much more than the new one! its like making a car out of titanium if they did cars would last longer and therefore the manufacturer would sell less over the long run.
Finally im sorry to say it people APPLE WILL and i stress “WILL” have “jailbroken” iPhones and developers reversing some of the technology/software that these Underground Genius’s implemented into some of these devices, To my knowledge Steve Jobs Announced that the iPhone 2g will not be capable and it will never be capable of multitasking
this was proved wrong before apple even started implementing multitasking into any models
Now the way i see it is that these “underground Hackers”
Should be working for Apple getting paid alot of money!!!!
http://www.base39.com Gaurand
does apple company get to knows that we have jailbreaked our ipod touch or iphone when we give them for replacement?
Logan
My phone is jailbroken I’ve had no problems with it’s performance…
In my opinion people that completely mess up an iPhone through jailbreaking have no clue how to handle/operate a jailbroken phone.
I can’t imagine my iPhone not jailbroken i was sick and tired of being nickeled and dime for useless apps and boring tools from AppStore..
Possibilities are endless with cydia…thanks to all dev teams and source for
fighting the good fight..
rushabh
what about for ipod touches is it legal for that , can i get installous on that legally?
Dan
in·sure
/ɪnˈʃʊər, -ˈʃɜr/ Show Spelled [in-shoor, -shur] Show IPA verb,-sured, -sur·ing.
–verb (used with object)
1.
to guarantee against loss or harm.
2.
to secure indemnity to or on, in case of loss, damage, or death.
3.
to issue or procure an insurance policy on or for.
4.
ensure (defs. 1–3).
the correct word is insure dumba$$es
Name (Required)
Jail Break has been through the court system in Germany and found to be legal.
Apple needs to become more customer friendly.
JT
If you JB the new Iphone 4 and have an issues with the Hardware within your year warranty would Apple be able to tell that it was JB ? Like do they plug it in to a computer that checks that kind of stuff ?
Bonez
i jailbroke my iphone 3gs for the sole reason i wanted to use my own sms tone! nothing else i dont care about apps etc i have all the ones i want from apples own app store. all i wanted was to use my own sms tone but apple dont think people want that….. i love apple products i just detest the people who make the decisions for you, fuck off and let people have a message tone if they want one!
Jack
Apple should not have even put the restriction on the phone at the very begining. When you buy a HP laptop running Microsoft, you don’t need HP or Microsoft tell yout how you can use the laptop and what apps you can put on it. The only reason for Apple wants to do it is to control the market and to avoid any comptition so that it can rip off all the apple babys more money. It is a pity that many apples funs does not realize that they are treated abd by their apple daddy. I support the class action again apple. One should put anything he like on the iphone without jail break it.
David
I just would like to say I have jailbroke my phone because I do t feel I should have to pay extra for my data usage as for tethering, this is all bs people have been pirating things for years music movies and now it gets main stream you can’t stop it and won’t people are goin to do what they want you don’t have to do it but don’t hate on people because you bought something and they got it for free. It was your choice and your morals so deal with it. Apple regulates this to keep the consumers wanting more or the next best thing, if it wasn’t for the jailbreak I’d never use my FaceTime so what’s the point now I can use it where every, I’m sorry but jailbreak at your own risk and deal with your own values.
http://www.autodock.ca/about/ auto body dent doctor
when listening to music or voice online or webchat from both ends sounds like chipmonkes.
Nate Ninja
what about your insurance
http://twitter.com/discolando Daniel Wesley
Jailbreaking is all about freedom, freedom to do what you want with what belongs to you.

dilshan d
yeah… agree mate.. f*** we pay n buy something and we can’t do what we want even for ringtone those ideots charge while other cellphone makers give full access to our custome ringtones..

Nathanrist
jailbreaking will not void your warranty. even apple employees will warranty an obviously jailbroken device because all you have to do is restore it and its erased and apple cannot detect that a device was previously jailbroken. but i’ve been using my iphone 4 jailbroken since the first few hours out of the box and it works perfectly with tmobile (factory unlocked). and now thanks to jailbreaking I have full mms and facetime working with tmobile usa. not all people that jailbreak want to get free apps, most people just want the fucking thing to work like a phone should (all features working) which is only done via JAILBREAKING and not only that, but jailbreaking is what sells at least half of apple device owners on even thinking about buying one. I had no interest in the ipad 2 and then the jailbreak was announced then after its release I bought an ipad 2, if jailbreaking did not exist then as of now I would be a PC and the iphone, ipod touch or ipad would not interest me at all because they are dull and boring devices out of the box. So to you apple I say fuck you and your dirty twat especially since every new ios that is released includes features directly linked to jailbroken features i.e. multitasking, wifi sync, quickreplysms, notifications, portable hotspot (mywi) and so on
W Z
I don’t understand how they can still INSIST that Jailbreaking can void the warranty or is ILLEGAL.
1. Jailbreaking is SOFTWARE modification. 1+1=2, not 1.5 and not 2.5
2. This is MY phone, I BOUGHT it with MY money. Period. Which piece of the sentence is so unclear? Is it the MY part?
W.
Fuckappleover
fuck up apple.i will fuck u guys over just like u fucked every other costumer over.i will recommend jailbreaking to every other person.and trust me when i say this because it doesnt void ur warranty,because if u guys ever tell me that ,mark my words!!i will void ur employees!!!each And everyone of em!!!so keep it quiet and shut the fuck up.isnt 200 billion dollars enough for the company??
Helpothers
what is going on with is country? Why all this restrictions? if anyone wants to jailbreak their iphone, let them. they have already paid for the phone!!, its theirs. apple, stop, it doesn’t look on you. what apple should do is conduct a contest, to the massive on third party app creation that can better donate money directly to needy family either here or abroad instead of using all this organizations.
Just a suggestion! Use this jail breaking, to be a positive.