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Is There an Apple TV 3 Jailbreak?

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Apple has gone through three generations of its Apple TV set-top streaming box, with the first two iterations able to be jailbroken currently. The third-generation Apple TV was released over two years and it’s the latest Apple TV model to be released. However, is it able to be jailbroken?

Long story short, a jailbreak for the Apple TV 3 is no where to be seen, unfortunately, and it’ll likely remain that way for quite some time.

The Apple TV is rumored to be getting a huge refresh at some point in the near future, and while we’re waiting for it to arrive, we’re also waiting for a jailbreak to open up for the Apple TV 3. However, there’s a lot of consensus that we most likely will never see an Apple TV 3 jailbreak — at least not anytime soon.

Kevin Bradley, known as nitoTV on Twitter and in the jailbreak community, has said in the past that he’s “starting to doubt anyone talented enough will ever care enough to [jailbreak the Apple TV 3].”

Apple-TV-Remote-1

This is certainly sad news for Apple TV 3 owners who have been looking forward to a jailbreak for the latest-generation Apple TV, but you probably no longer need to hold your breath and cross your fingers, as that day will probably never arrive.

Of course, there’s always still hope, especially once the fourth-generation Apple TV releases, jailbreak developers might work on a jailbreak for the Apple TV 3, but that’s a big maybe at this point, and even then we still wouldn’t count on it, based off of the relatively low interest from developers and hackers right now.

Back in April, Bradley explained why the Apple TV 3 is so hard to jailbreak. It’s about a 20-minute presentation, so grab your popcorn:

In short, the bootrom exploit used in past Apple TV models made it possible for a jailbreak, but the bootrom of the third-generation Apple TV has been bolstered up against jailbreakers. However, there are several claims out there that a jailbreak for a third-generation Apple TV is in the works, but we’ll believe when we see it.

Of course, an unjailbroken Apple TV can still do a lot, especially if you’re an avid user of the iTunes ecosystem, and AirPlay capabilities is one of the biggest features of the Apple TV, allowing you to beam content from your Mac or iOS device straight to your television.

However, if you absolutely want to jailbreak your Apple TV, you’ll need to settle for a first- or second-generation model, but they’re pretty expensive on the used market, especially on eBay, and this is mostly thanks to their exclusive jailbreaking abilities.

Apple-TV

Just doing a quick search on eBay for jailbroken Apple TVs gives us a huge list of models that have sold for around $200, with some going as high as $300 for fully-loaded XBMC-equipped Apple TVs.

Even non-jailbroken 2nd-generation Apple TVs are still selling for a lot of money. We saw a few models that sold for around $150, simply because they have the capabilities of being jailbroken, unlike a third-generation Apple TV.

Currently, you can buy a brand-new third-generation Apple TV for $99, or you can save a bit of cash and buy one refurbished for $75 from Apple’s Refurbished Store. However, eBay will even give you steeper discounts, where I ended up scoring a used third-generation Apple TV for just $50.

However, if you’re in the market for a jailbroken Apple TV, you’ll be paying a pretty penny for the privilege.

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Chris

    09/28/2015 at 4:23 pm

    good read thanks for sharing!

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