Why You Should Jailbreak Your iPhone
12:23 am, January 13th, 2009, Lonnie Lazar
If you have ever wondered why you might want to jailbreak your iPhone, or considered the relative merits of Apple’s policy giving it complete control over applications that might run on its mobile operating system, Sarah Perez’s article at ReadWriteWeb should be grist for your mill.
“Jailbreaking” is a straightforward process that allows you to install unapproved third-party applications on your device. It can be confused with “unlocking” – the process that makes the phone capable of working on other carriers besides the one chosen by Apple for exclusive carrier status in a given market. But the bottom line is that, despite the 10,000+ apps available on the AppStore and despite the longterm service contracts Apple’s chosen cellular partners use to tie you down financially with the iPhone, “a non-jailbroken phone is only half the phone it could be,” according to Perez.
Perez recommends the user-friendly instructions at iPhone-Hacks.com for the easiest-to-understand instructions on how to make your iPhone be all it can be. There are a number of other useful tutorials on methods for jailbreaking and unlocking your device available at iClarified.
The Read Write Web artilce linked above has a list of the best “illegal” apps you can put on the phone as well as a reassuring method for hiding the fact you jailbroke your iPhone the next time you want to download Apple’s latest iPhone firmware.
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Hardware Hacks, News, iPhone, iPod Touch | Comment on this article
What unofficial Apps make this worth doing?
Other than the Nintendo emulator I haven’t seen anything.
Camperton, on January 13th, 2009 at 2:29 am
The tutorial you linked was stolen from iClarified.com. It would be appreciated if you could reference the true source. You can find numerous jailbreak and unlock tutorials here: http://www.iclarified.com/tutorials/iphone/
slevytam, on January 13th, 2009 at 8:41 am
what they don’t tell you is that Apple and ATT are behind this site. See they want you to jailbreak your phone because then when it is hosed and you take it in for service, your warranty is voided and they don’t have to replace it.
And ATT loves this because by their rules you can’t get the $200 incentive again so they make more money.
so jailbreak away.
personally I figure that all those functions will be legally added by Apple as they get the phone in working order so I”m fine with waiting. especially since it means that I can get my two defective phones replaced without issues (one dead pixel, one bad battery)
Lucas, on January 13th, 2009 at 9:30 am
1) “There is also a list of the best “illegal†apps you can put on the phone.”
2) “as well as a reassuring method for hiding the fact you jailbroke your iPhone the next time you want to download Apple’s latest iPhone firmware.”
Can you provide links for these topics, please..?!
Franzl, on January 13th, 2009 at 11:18 am
@ Franzl – umm, did you follow the link provided in the post? here it is again:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_you_have_to_jailbreak_the_iphone.php
@ slevytam – thanks for the clarification..
@ Camperton – “makes this worth doing” is very subjective. To borrow a tagline: we report – you decide.
Lonnie Lazar, on January 13th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I hacked my original iPhone before there was an App Store. It did have some stability issues. I am curious…is a hacked phone stable? Also, can you still load Apps from the App store as well as non-app store apps?
G-
Gregg, on January 13th, 2009 at 8:28 pm