Apple Watch Jailbreak Release Looking More Promising

Just days after Apple unveiled WatchOS 2 for the Apple Watch, the new wearable has been hacked to run true native apps right on the device.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen an Apple Watch jailbreak, but it is the first time that WatchOS 2 has been hacked into. Well-known jailbreak developer Saurik (the creator of Cydia) along with some help from other developers have hacked into the Apple Watch to be able to run true native apps.

While WatchOS 2 technically can now run native apps on the Apple Watch, it still isn’t quite as native as app developers would hope. The code for apps now run on the Apple Watch itself, which is good and all, but access to the user interface on the device is still restricted.

One of the developers who helped out with the hack tweeted out a video of a simple app that they were able to get running on the Apple Watch natively.

Details about the hack weren’t disclosed, but we should hear more details about it when WatchOS 2 gets closer to release, which will be at some point in the fall, mostly likely releasing alongside iOS 9, since users will need iOS 9 in order to use WatchOS 2 on their devices.

Back in May, well-known jailbreak developer Comex was able to hack the Apple Watch and run a web browser on it. It’s pretty unentertaining, as the video shows nothing more than the Google home page on the Apple Watch’s screen.

What’s impressive, though, is that you can swipe around with your finger and zoom in and out with a two-finger tap, just like on the iPhone and iPad, which is rather impressive. It’s certainly not practical by any means, but it gives users an idea of what the Apple Watch is capable of and what it could do if an Apple Watch jailbreak was released, which seems pretty plausible at this point.

It’s still unclear what an Apple Watch jailbreak would be like, though, and when we would see one release.

There’s been pretty much no official discussion about an Apple Watch jailbreak since the device’s official release back in April, but that obviously hasn’t stopped Apple Watch users from pondering the implications of what a jailbroken Apple Watch would be like, and it most definitely hasn’t stopped jailbreak developers from messing around with the new wearable and trying out new things to see what they can do with Apple’s new wearable.

Thinking about an Apple Watch jailbreak raises a lot of questions, and it’s difficult to see how exactly it would work and what the benefits would be for users at this point in the device’s life cycle.

Will your iPhone need to be jailbroken as well? Would you need to jailbreak your Apple Watch via your iPhone? There’s currently no answers to these questions and there probably won’t be for some time, but we’re looking forward to what the future holds for an Apple Watch jailbreak.

We certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see an Apple Watch jailbreak tool came out for jailbroken iPhones that would be used for jailbreaking the Apple Watch, which would mean that your iPhone would need to be jailbroken as well, but it’ll be interesting to see when an iOS 9 jailbreak releases, as it’s being focused on right now.

While native apps will eventually come to the Apple Watch, the device will still rely on the iPhone for most of its functionality. However, this is where jailbreaking could easily change that. Jailbreaking could allow for true native apps, and a jailbroken Apple Watch could even allow users to change advanced settings that Apple wouldn’t normally allow users to change.

For example, you could change how the digital crown would work and maybe even alter what the different taps and presses do on the touch screen. Plus, it would also be exciting to install third-party watch faces and not just have the option between Apple’s own selection, which could get boring fairly quickly.