Connect with us

Mobile

18 Reasons to Jailbreak the iPhone 4S

Published

on

The iPhone 4S has been available for a month, and we are still waiting for a proper jailbreak. You might want to know why so many of us are excited for an iPhone 4S jailbreak, so I have rounded up 18 reasons to jailbreak the iPhone 4S.

I’ve already shared 5 reasons I am excited, and you’ll notice a little overlap. This is a companion to our 5 reasons not to jailbreak the iPhone 4S. You’ll be quick to notice that there are more reasons for most users to jailbreak their iPhone than there are reasons not to.

Update: How to Jailbreak the iPhone 4S

The iPhone 4S jailbreak is still a ways off, but the iPhone jailbreaking community has successfully jailbroken the iPhone 4S. That’s the good news. The bad news is that you will need to wait until it is ready for the public release, which could be as early as December, but may not come along until 2012.

When the iPhone 4S jailbreak is available to the public, it won’t cost you anything, and there are a number of reasons I think you’ll want to join me in jailbreaking your new iPhone.

18 Reasons to Jailbreak the iPhone 4S

Cydia Apps

Cydia

Cydia is an alternate app store that makes it easy to find and install apps that Apple wouldn’t approve. Many of the reasons to jailbreak will require a trip to this new app store, only available on jailbroken iPhones. This is the place to go for all the cool apps and features you want on your iPhone, but that Apple won’t deliver until iOS 6.

BrowserChanger

BrowserChanger

If you want to use an alternate iPhone browsers like Opera or Dolphin, you don’t need to jailbreak, but then all of your apps will use the open in safari behavior and skip right past your favorite browser. Not anymore. Install BrowserChanger and you can choose which browser you want to open when you grab a link from Facebook or Twitter.

Real Google Voice

Google Voice Extension iPhone 4S Jailbreak

Google Voice Extension - iPhone 4S Jailbreak

As I mentioned, this is one of my biggest reasons for wanting an iPhone 4S Jailbreak. The PhoneGV Extension and SMS GV Extension will allow your phone to handle all the nasty tapping and routing, that you must use the Google Voice app for, in the background. Once you install these apps, all the hard work is done behind the scenes, just use Messages and your Dialer like you normally would.

3G Facetime

 Facetime over 3G

Once you jailbreak your iPhone, you can trick your phone into thinking you are connected to WiFi so that you can make FaceTime calls over WiFi. I don’t make many FaceTime calls, but I am more likely to want to do a video call when I am far from my home WiFi network.

SB Settings

SB Settings gives you fast access to your WiFi, Bluetooth and brightness settings. Of all the things Apple makes simple, it sucks at giving you fast access to these essential controls. SB Settings puts them right in your notification pull down so that you can quickly change brightness, turn on Bluetooth and more.

Customized Looks

If you wan to change the whole look of your iPhone, to something like OS X Lion or your favorite color combination, you can do this when you Jailbreak your iPhone 4S. There are a number fo WinterBoard themes available to change how your iPhone looks. From minor tweaks to massive changes, you get to customize your iPhone 4S.

MyWi – 3G Hotspot

MyWi

If you want to use your iPhone 4S as a hotspot without signing up for a plan from your carrier, you can use MyWi. This could end up getting you in trouble with certain carriers, and if you use a lot of data you may be better off paying for a hotspot from your carrier. A cool tool, but definitely one to use at your own risk.

Mario on Your iPhone

Another awesome addition when you jailbreak is the ability to load up your favorite emulators like nes4iPhone, snes4iPhone and others. These tools will let you play Roms from your favorite old-time game systems. ROMS are a grey area, so if you don’t own the actual game, you are probably breaking the law. Another fun hack, but one to do at your own risk. You can see the this in action, using the Wiimote as a controller.

Five Icon Dock 

five icon dock

If you want to add another favorite program to your dock, Five Icon Dock will do that for you by packing in icons tighter. A small tweak, but we all have one more program we want on the home screen at all times. right?

Five Icon Switcher 

Five Icon Switcher

If you’re going to put 5 icons in your home dock, you’ll want the same five icon look in the multitasking switcher, which is exactly what this app does for you.

Overboard

Even after you add an extra icon to your dock, you’ll want to have Overboard installed. You can pull up a a listing of all of your iPhone screens for easy jumping and navigation. This one is $2 in the Cydia app store and essential if you have page after page of apps. You can see how Overboard works in the video shown above.

BiteSMS

Forget about going into the Message app to reply to texts and iMessages, Bite SMS allows you to reply directly from the notification. This is fully compatible with iOS 5 and works with iMessaging. Check out the BiteSMS features in the demo above.

IntelliscreenX

If you want to do even more in the Notification Center, IntelliscreenX looks like the best solution. You can access more than just notifications with this jailbreak only app. Check out the video above for all the details.

Add More Gestures

Activator will add more gestures to your iPhone 4S. You can swipe left ont he status bar to launch a specific app or double tap to start a new text message in Bite SMS. You’ll be amazed by how much time you save using this app. Ignore the horrible music, and look at Activator in action in the video shown above.

Arrange Icons As You Want

Instead of filling up from the upper left to the lower right, Gridlock allows you to place your iPhone apps wherever you want them, leaving open places if you want to keep space around your favorite app for easy tapping. Check out Gridlock in action in the video above.

Never Enter Your App Store Password Again

With PasswordPilot, you don’t need to enter your password every time you download an app or download updates. This isn’t good if you are sharing your iPhone, but if you keep a passcode on your iPhone and are sick of typing in your password with every purchase and download it is awesome.

Add Pictures To Your Contacts

With Copic, you can add pictures to your iPhone contacts, phone call log and SMS message screens. A nice touch for browsing through your messages quickly. You can see a demo of Copic in the video above.

No More Lockscreen

If you want to skip the slide to unlock feature, you can turn on this app and it will automatically unlock your phone to the home screen when you press the power button. Unfortunately, you still see the unlock screen for a second, but it beats sliding to unlock for some users.

When you can Jailbreak the iPhone 4S, you will be able to search for these apps and hacks in Cydia. If you have a jailbroken iPhone 4, you can get to using them right now.

63 Comments

63 Comments

  1. mark

    11/18/2011 at 3:28 pm

    Great post. Cant wait to install some of these apps.
    Have you seen http://www.jailbreakiphone4s.com
    Is this legit?

    • Josh Smith

      11/18/2011 at 7:55 pm

      It is not legit see – https://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/11/11/dont-be-tricked-into-paying-for-an-iphone-4s-jailbreak/

  2. Mark

    11/18/2011 at 3:30 pm

    Why have you deleted my comment. I had a valid question. If you have an opinion, write it, don’t juts delete the question. Sheesh!

    • Josh Smith

      11/18/2011 at 7:56 pm

      It may have been flagged for the spam b/c of that site. 

  3. Anonymous

    11/18/2011 at 11:04 pm

    For me personally one reason to jailbreak is to use GuizmOvpn client for OpenVPN, and MxTube.

  4. Lee

    11/19/2011 at 12:01 am

    Well done mate. Much better than the 5 reasons. Keep up the good work. :)

  5. Lee

    11/19/2011 at 12:14 am

    Where did you get your info that tells you that it mite be as early as December or mabe not even in 2011?

    • Adeon

      11/19/2011 at 11:05 am

      It can’t be too far. It makes sense to write as early of December or till next year. That just good hypothesis

      • Lee

        11/19/2011 at 12:34 pm

        Yeah your probably right mate. As they are always trying to be that little bit quicker at jailbreaking new iOS’s. Like the have already jailbroke the 4s and that broke previous records. Lol what does hypotheses mean? I could google it but this gives me somthing else to wait for rather than just waiting for jailbreak lmao

        • Science

          11/19/2011 at 9:10 pm

          Means educated guess :)

        • Lee

          11/20/2011 at 1:02 am

          Lol cool thought it was something like that. :)

  6. Hurry

    11/20/2011 at 9:22 am

    I’m so frustrated with the lack of progress updated/tweets from Dev teams :(they spend lots of time tweeting about useless crap that has nothing to do with JB! Almost as if they have given up on the 4S :(

    • Bungholio

      01/22/2012 at 5:17 pm

      well its here! absinthe a5

  7. web promo

    11/24/2011 at 1:42 am

    This blog is a good one! Its original, thanks for the info! Is there a way I can tell my people about this post.

  8. Claro Costa Rica

    11/24/2011 at 2:14 pm

    I need a JB for my 4S so bad

  9. Anonymous

    11/24/2011 at 4:02 pm

    sucks not having an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 = …luckily for me my 4S runs like a beast and hasnt encountered a single problem so i can wait…

  10. Anonymous

    11/26/2011 at 1:37 pm

    @beaversoc:disqus …..Му аunt is mакing $ 69 реr hоur оn hеr соmрutеr. Аftеr bеing lаid оff 9 mоnths аgо, shе nоw еаrns mоrе thаn $5000 а mоnth. Аll frоm hеrе……https://alturl.com/tr99w

  11. webpromo

    11/28/2011 at 2:44 am

    Excellent post! thanks a lot for the sharing, that greatly helped me to resolve the problem.now I am glad to share the latest fashionable news about the cheap jordan shoes with everyone.

  12. Anonymous

    12/06/2011 at 5:51 am

    phlpn.es/829r8s

  13. Beep In

    12/12/2011 at 4:15 am

    when is the dev team releasing the iphone 4s jailbreak and unlock?

  14. Tester

    12/12/2011 at 8:37 pm

    Alternatively buy an android phone and do all the above without messing around. I’ve already looked into this too long. Seriously if you want to change the way things look to your liking, why buy the iphone to begin with? Before anyone starts going Apple on me. I have an iphone4s(for work). Wife has a galaxys2. Yes I’m jealous.

  15. Grezzy_66

    12/24/2011 at 1:20 pm

    I new 2 all of this. I’ve owned BB phones since I can remember. iPhone 4s is my first phone with all these possibilities at my finger tips. I’m really lookN 4ward 2 this jailbreak. I’m just scared when it’s releast………. I’ll screw up my phone tryN 2 install it. But GREAT JOB with the detailed info. All U did was EXCITE ME MORE. GREATLY APPRECIATED

  16. JessicPoole24

    12/27/2011 at 8:01 pm

    I have a iPhone 4s and I want to jailbreak it and I have know idea how to start my house is out in the middle of know we’re and we can’t get internet so I want to make my phone a hotspot

    • jt35

      01/17/2012 at 11:48 am

      I hate to be the grammar police, but… seriously?

    • Robin

      01/18/2012 at 4:53 am

      Why don’t you just use the personal hotspot feature already built into the phone?

      • Helicrashter

        01/26/2012 at 4:55 am

        Because some people still have the unlimited data plan, which is not compatible with hotspot. You would have to switch away from unlimited plan to enable this feature.

      • Helicrashter

        01/26/2012 at 4:57 am

        Because some people still have the unlimited data plan, which is not compatible with hotspot. You would have to switch away from unlimited plan to enable this feature.

  17. Active Stoner

    01/08/2012 at 10:00 am

    Does anyone know a reliable website that offers instructions on how to unlock and jailbreak the 4s?  I’ve seen some sites but some have been labeled a scam. thanks.

    • Apachea0

      01/08/2012 at 11:54 am

      there is no jailbreak currently available for the 4S atm, however this week we can hope for one :)

  18. Thomas Greenwood1

    01/09/2012 at 12:54 pm

    P on my hat is for piru not paris

  19. GUEST&^#(

    01/10/2012 at 11:01 pm

    you forgot to add iGOTya!

  20. Ashok

    01/16/2012 at 11:14 pm

    Dear all – please respond.

    is it possible to unlock my 4S locked to AT&T network. I am in Australia right now.

    • MiKe

      01/17/2012 at 7:29 pm

      yes but i think you have to wait for the jailbreak

    • blackbox.iphone

      02/10/2012 at 11:54 pm

      Yes, but you need a valid AT&T SIM card to go through the process of unlock

  21. Robin

    01/18/2012 at 4:52 am

    What about Handsfree? Letting you activate Siri with your voice :) no more need to press the home button!

  22. Jackson

    01/18/2012 at 9:19 pm

    is there a jailbreak for the 4s yet?

    • Tin

      01/20/2012 at 2:39 pm

       Yes…. it was released today…

  23. Anonymous

    01/20/2012 at 2:19 pm

    Here you go guys: https://www.engadget.com/2012/01/20/absinthe-a5-jailbreak-released-for-iphone-4s-hacker-dream-team/

  24. blackbox.iphone

    02/10/2012 at 11:54 pm

    don’t forget to backup your SHSH blobs before you jailbreak!

    https://blackbox-iphone.com/index.php/how-does-it-work/25-BlackBox/78-Saving-your-SHSH-Blobs  

  25. Ghty

    02/23/2012 at 1:43 pm

    Is that a app to have 3g facetime to work without wifi? Or it automatically does cause the iphone is jailbroke?

  26. [email protected]

    03/10/2012 at 6:53 am

    You forgot some important apps such as mxtube , notifier+, safari download manager, firewall ip, ifile, 3g unrestrictor, call bar and anyringtune.

  27. Hustler702

    03/10/2012 at 9:44 am

    Bullshit

  28. Brayden WHITE

    03/14/2012 at 12:27 am

    checkout the lastest iOS jailbreak tips and tutorial for iOS 5.1 https://howtoresetiphone.blogspot.com/

  29. guest

    03/19/2012 at 9:18 am

    heh, seems like most of these apps that you need to hack your iPhone for are native on an Android phone…

    • andrioder

      07/10/2012 at 3:59 pm

      ^sooo true.

  30. Dont Freakin Spam Me

    04/07/2012 at 9:33 am

    Is jailbreak permanent or can I go back to factory setup?

    • A friendly guest

      04/21/2012 at 5:23 pm

      You can revert it by Restoring in iTunes, or upgrading your iOS firmware after a jailbreak is already applied.

  31. Elieibrahim

    05/02/2012 at 3:51 am

    When does the jailbreak of OS 5.1 going to be released? I cant wait to jailbreak my iphone!!!

    • Tom

      06/02/2012 at 7:06 am

      Just google greenp0ison or absinthe jailbreak and youll find it

  32. Angel Heart

    05/13/2012 at 8:38 am

    Hello guys, I was wondering if you can get GarageBand put into the store for free and some of those other expensive studio apps? Email me back please at [email protected] thanks

  33. Joachim

    06/18/2012 at 5:29 am

    I don’t know. Most of the solutions for things look ugly and unintelligent. It’s silly to want to hack your iPhone for the sake of Super Mario. I mean, none of the visual changes look remotely good compared to te original. Show me something visually stunning and I’ll think about it.

  34. Melissa

    06/27/2012 at 2:04 am

    The only thing I would like to be able to do on the iPhone 4s is save ring tones that are sent in texts & be able to open source & save to computer anything I want with out having to sync if you can’t do these things with jail break I don’t need it. Can anyone tell me if you can

  35. james lee

    06/27/2012 at 5:06 am

    infinifolder, infinidock and infiniboard are good too

    • Melissa

      06/27/2012 at 7:12 am

      Do you use those after its jail broke to be able to save audio from text or to Select source to save to computer. As I have a lot of music that’s not on my computer no more & won’t sync cuz I don’t wanna loose everything.

  36. Joey

    07/08/2012 at 8:08 pm

    What I want from a jailbreak is hotspot, emulators like nes snes genesis exc… And able to use FaceTime over 3G and google talk of course cydia and able to customize the theme. And most important not having to be asked to have a wifi connection to download app that’s more than 50mb.

  37. Parole

    08/26/2012 at 6:04 am

    Do one nid any reason to get sth free?

  38. Android user

    08/31/2012 at 6:48 am

    WOW! SO AWESOME! WE CAN DO SO MUCH WITH A JAILBROKEN IPHONE! WAIT! Here’s a clever idea. Get Android. Get all that with it. No rooting. No jailbreaking. No iOS. No Apple. That’s a better idea.

  39. Thanatos

    09/01/2012 at 6:22 am

    [Start of Sarcasm]\

    WOW! What an AWESOME Article

    [End of Sarcasm]

  40. Nikorasu01

    11/16/2012 at 2:14 pm

    “you can trick your phone into thinking you are connected to WiFi so that you can make FaceTime calls over WiFi” typo here? Shouldn’t it be “you can trick your phone into thinking you are connected to WiFi so that you can make FaceTime calls over 3G”

  41. noah

    03/30/2014 at 7:14 pm

    the iphone 5s drops about of these reasons. lol

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.