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iOS 6 Jailbreak: Why You Shouldn’t Bother

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The iOS 6 jailbreak is almost ready for public release, but the jailbreak isn’t worth the hassle for most iPhone and iPad users.

Jailbreaking allows users to run apps that Apple doesn’t allow in the App Store, to change the look of the iPhone with themes, install a variety of iPhone tweaks and more.

These are the reasons so many users are eagerly awaiting the iOS 6 jailbreak release from the evad3rs Dev Team in the coming week. This tool will allow users to jailbreak iOS 6 and iOS 6.1 on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

For the average user, the iOS 6 jailbreak isn’t worth the time and potential issues outlined below.

Reliability Not Guaranteed

iOS 6 Jailbreak performance

Jailbreaking can impact performance.

The iPhone and iPad are known for running smoothly with relatively few crashes, and save the occasional bug users can look forward to using a reliable phone. With the iOS 6 jailbreak, users are installing apps that don’t conform to Apple’s strict guidelines, some of which alter the overall iPhone experience.

After installing jailbreak apps and tweaks, users may notice a decrease in performance and battery life, something I experienced with the Phone 4S jailbreak.

Despite keeping tweaks and apps to a minimum, the iPhone 4S became increasingly unreliable, with crashes, alarm issues, sleep issues and others.

For users who are willing to troubleshoot these problems, and take the time to investigate app compatibility this alone is not reason enough to skip the iOS 6 jailbreak, but not everyone has the time to tackle these issues, especially without Apple’s support team.

Warranty Void

iOS 6 jailbreak logoThe iOS 6 jailbreak is not illegal, at least not on the iPhone, but it will render the device’s warranty void with Apple.

This means Apple won’t help users with problems associated with the jailbreak, and users cannot expect to get help from an Apple Store Genius on a jailbroken iPhone.

The good news is that jailbreaks are easy to reverse, so if there is a problem with the iPhone, users can un-jailbreak the device before taking it in to see Apple.

Many of the Best Reasons Aren’t Needed

While there are still plenty of iPhone 5 jailbreak apps and tweaks that will appeal to users, many of the reasons to jailbreak the iPhone are no longer needed. In IOS 5 and iOS 6, Apple delivered a collection of improvements that allow users to do more with their iPhone without jailbreaking.

Users can now make FaceTime calls over cellular, download larger apps over LTE, use music as an alarm and much more. Many of the reasons to jailbreak from early 2012 are standard features in iOS 6.

Jailbreaking can also let users turn the iPhone into a hotspot without paying a carrier fee, but for users on shared data plans this isn’t needed.

Users willing to take the time to troubleshoot and want to extend what they can do with their iPhone will likely do fine jailbreaking, but the average iPhone user is often better off staying stock, even with millions of users jailbreaking.

 

49 Comments

49 Comments

  1. Lbwl

    01/30/2013 at 6:33 am

    What an idiotic article.

    • Not a noob

      01/30/2013 at 6:37 am

      Tl;Dr -> “if you are an average user then you don’t need to jailbreak”

      That’s all he need to write..

      • Jackjack

        01/30/2013 at 10:08 am

        If you are an average user, you shouldn’t even be reading this article, let alone thinking about a jailbreak. If you are not an average user, this article is worthless.

  2. Conor D

    01/30/2013 at 6:40 am

    Absolutely Pathetic – This is a severely badly written article. Reasons aren’t supported enough – Normally I like his articles but this one is poor form. Especially a week before the Jailbreak is coming out.

  3. Jim

    01/30/2013 at 6:40 am

    You absolutely sound like a Apple sheeple. Personally I think if you own the phone you should be able to do what you please. Anyone with a little technical knowledge could handle rebooting when springboard crashes. I like to be able to change my phone to the way I like it not the way Apple would like it.

  4. ashory222

    01/30/2013 at 6:57 am

    Who is this idiot ? Josh smith ….ur a dick.

  5. V

    01/30/2013 at 6:57 am

    I bet a grand he jailbreaks his IPhone 5. What a piss poor article….

    • Josh Smith

      01/30/2013 at 7:02 am

      I will on day one. But 95% of the friends and family who ask me about it will need to read this post before I help them.

      Average users don’t need it, but for anyone who wants to tinker it’s great.

      • Lbwl

        01/30/2013 at 7:07 am

        A bit of a harsh estimation of your friends and family! I don’t think they need too much help to click “restart” if the os crashes.

      • Jackjack

        01/30/2013 at 10:12 am

        You jailbreak phones for friends and family?!
        You are, as my mother used to say, “a glutton for punishment.”

      • Dee

        02/13/2013 at 7:48 am

        The most stupid article I’ve read this week. Pathetic. Something I would expect written by Apple staff.

  6. Ahmed

    01/30/2013 at 7:00 am

    This article was really dumb. You’re always saying nice things about jailbreaking. All of a sudden you have a list of reasons why people shouldn’t bother? I think you’re running our of ides for articles.

    • Lbwl

      01/30/2013 at 7:02 am

      Exactly. It was a sudden change of tactics to get the attention, which I suppose he is getting from our replies. Don’t quite understand why he changed direction with his writing!

  7. testing2

    01/30/2013 at 7:05 am

    stupid!

    • testing2

      01/30/2013 at 7:06 am

      stupid

      • testing2

        01/30/2013 at 7:06 am

        stupid stupid

        • testing2

          01/30/2013 at 7:07 am

          stupid stupid stupid

          • testing2

            01/30/2013 at 7:08 am

            If you have time available to write such stupid article, you deserve my time to write how stuipd it is.

          • testing2

            01/30/2013 at 7:10 am

            Please ensure to sign your articles with your name, so we can identify and skip your stupid posts

          • testing2

            01/30/2013 at 7:12 am

            I’ll return to this page on Monday, after JB my devices, to confirm how stupid this post is. Write about something else. …. dolls, may be ?

          • lawrence

            02/05/2013 at 4:42 pm

            yaaa stuuuuuuuupid i agree

  8. Vitor

    01/30/2013 at 7:06 am

    he gave 3 reasons to not jailbreak. The video show 100 reasons to jailbreak. LOL

  9. Don

    01/30/2013 at 7:21 am

    Is this guy serious? Sounds like an early April fools thread to me.

  10. Jayb

    01/30/2013 at 7:29 am

    What an idiot… Sounds like jailbreak depravation… This is what happens when a JB takes this long….

  11. Fevermonkey

    01/30/2013 at 7:32 am

    The best thing about this article is the embedded video which contradicts it…

    • Ahmed

      01/30/2013 at 7:43 am

      I was laughing so hard at that. LOL. He must’ve been high when he wrote this article.

  12. TheRealCBONE

    01/30/2013 at 7:50 am

    The decrease in performance and battery life is due to iOS no longer being a glorified crappy launcher when you force it to be useful against its will.

    Here’s the thing you tell people that ask about it (it being jailbreaking or rooting). Jailbreak/root it to get it to do the thing that you want and then quit messing with it before you break something.

  13. Gregory Venturin Molina

    01/30/2013 at 8:26 am

    This article doesn’t prove anything. With 3 weak arguments I can give several reasons why jail breaking your device is good. First tweaks are great. You can edit from anything to everything, my iPhone 4s has been running a jailbreak for as long as I had it and it runs very smooth, depends what tweaks use you and how much of your ram this can take up, it might slow down you’re device to 15-20% depending. But there are great tweaks like allowing you’re device’s memory to run as a random access memory or RAM, this is great because not only it gives speed to other apps to run faster and amoother but also the more RAM the more apps can be open and the smoother the device will be overall. Themes are a great way to personalize your device and a fact is it can take up your battery if you are running intensive themes, like live wallpaper in the background. But most themes work great and don’t change much of the overall performance and battery life. And yes we all have heard how awful a spring board crash can be, but the cause of this is mostly people who run pirated apps from Cydia. It’s they’re fault for doing so, run any thing else I guarantee you your device wont crash because with these great developers around cydia they know what they are doing when making user friendly tweak.and with this warranty voiding this is simply untrue. It does not void your warranty ever because it’s simply impossible to brick an iPhone, of course apple will refuse to fix it even if you have warranty because the concept of a “jailbreak” simply means enemy to them. The reason apple doesn’t allow jailbreak is because it simply defeats the porpouse of the most “secure operating system”. When you are running a jailbreak on your device, the jailbreak is simply chaining exploits together together so the jailbreak it’s self can boot and work properly. Finding vulnerabilities on a apple device not just iPhone is getting harder and harder simply because apple re-designed the iOS 6 in terms of security, making it impossible chaining exploits together so it can boot up. Now iOS 6 is a big improvement compared to previous iOS releases, but it’s still not quite there. I give it to apple for making it easy to control my device without being worried if my information will ever be worried but it’s simply not an open iOS compared to of the android. It is a very limited OS that gives users limited use, but people who bought an iPhone know what they would expect. For the people who think you can do anything with your android that iPhone can’t, you are wrong. Our tweaks have just the same use as yours do. We can run almost everything you guys can and more. Im not defending iOS I’m just saying we are similar. Now if the next version of iOS becomes a open OS with no restrictions, I can tell you this. Android won’t stand a chance anymore. A iPhone is simply amazing  and with an open OS that there’s no restriction, it will blow the market trust me. But this article says how jail breaking is not worth the “hassle”. Again with the tweaks, it is. I have a tweak that allows me to download files in safari something
    iOS simply wouldn’t let. Yes android users I know this has been on android for a while now, but I’m not talking about the past I’m talking about the present and the future to come. While we have no native app to do this and you guys do we are catching up. Just like android needs its rooting to run “other” types of apps, so do we but it’s called jailbreak. Of course google never put a restriction on wether you can root your device or not and I simply give that to them.  My argument is I’m excited for iOS 6 jailbreak because there’s panaroma mode and what not, and with the jailbreak it will be an amazing piece of hardware. I think I made my statement and gave much more stronger arguments than your article did. 

    This article doesn’t prove anything. With 3 weak arguments I can give several reasons why jail breaking your device is good. First tweaks are great. You can edit from anything to everything, my iPhone 4s has been running a jailbreak for as long as I had it and it runs very smooth, depends what tweaks use you and how much of your ram this can take up, it might slow down you’re device to 15-20% depending. But there are great tweaks like allowing you’re device’s memory to run as a random access memory or RAM, this is great because not only it gives speed to other apps to run faster and amoother but also the more RAM the more apps can be open and the smoother the device will be overall. Themes are a great way to personalize your device and a fact is it can take up your battery if you are running intensive themes, like live wallpaper in the background. But most themes work great and don’t change much of the overall performance and battery life. And yes we all have heard how awful a spring board crash can be, but the cause of this is mostly people who run pirated apps from Cydia. It’s they’re fault for doing so, run any thing else I guarantee you your device wont crash because with these great developers around cydia they know what they are doing when making user friendly tweak.and with this warranty voiding this is simply untrue. It does not void your warranty ever because it’s simply impossible to brick an iPhone, of course apple will refuse to fix it even if you have warranty because the concept of a “jailbreak” simply means enemy to them. The reason apple doesn’t allow jailbreak is because it simply defeats the porpouse of the most “secure operating system”. When you are running a jailbreak on your device, the jailbreak is simply chaining exploits together together so the jailbreak it’s self can boot and work properly. Finding vulnerabilities on a apple device not just iPhone is getting harder and harder simply because apple re-designed the iOS 6 in terms of security, making it impossible chaining exploits together so it can boot up. Now iOS 6 is a big improvement compared to previous iOS releases, but it’s still not quite there. I give it to apple for making it easy to control my device without being worried if my information will ever be worried but it’s simply not an open iOS compared to of the android. It is a very limited OS that gives users limited use, but people who bought an iPhone know what they would expect. For the people who think you can do anything with your android that iPhone can’t, you are wrong. Our tweaks have just the same use as yours do. We can run almost everything you guys can and more. Im not defending iOS I’m just saying we are similar. Now if the next version of iOS becomes a open OS with no restrictions, I can tell you this. Android won’t stand a chance anymore. A iPhone is simply amazing  and with an open OS that there’s no restriction, it will blow the market trust me. But this article says how jail breaking is not worth the “hassle”. Again with the tweaks, it is. I have a tweak that allows me to download files in safari something
    iOS simply wouldn’t let. Yes android users I know this has been on android for a while now, but I’m not talking about the past I’m talking about the present and the future to come. While we have no native app to do this and you guys do we are catching up. Just like android needs its rooting to run “other” types of apps, so do we but it’s called jailbreak. Of course google never put a restriction on wether you can root your device or not and I simply give that to them.  My argument is I’m excited for iOS 6 jailbreak because there’s panaroma mode and what not, and with the jailbreak it will be an amazing piece of hardware. I think I made my statement and gave much more stronger arguments than your article did. 

    • Nataswon

      01/31/2013 at 6:13 am

      Gregory –
      While your response was better than the article, I will say this to your Android vs iPhone comments:
      Stock Android ‘out of the box’ does everything that people who jailbreak an iPhone want. So, without rooting and flashing my Android device I already have the freedom to download a different Web browser and get a prompt asking if I want that to be my default browser. iPhone won’t unless u jailbreak.
      Want more options in the attachment list on an email u are drafting besides just pictures n videos? Android allows that, again, without rooting the device.
      That and many other reasons, small and big such as, while the graphics improved since first iPhone, it still looks the same: puny screen and when you slide to unlock u see nothing but a screen full of app icons. Boring.
      Apple will never allow iOS to be open.
      Like most people have said, they want the device to look and behave the way they want it to not what Apple dictates. Hence jail breaking.
      I think in some instances iOS6 took some steps backwards. Ever try to lock the volume? With small kiddos running around I limit the volume so as not to destroy their ears if using a headset. Prior to iOS6,I goto settings music set a pin code and then lock the volume. Now? iOS 6 makes u goto to restrictions to allow changes then back to music settings to set vol then back to restrictions to enable the lock. What?
      I liked my iPhone’s but nowadays I find them stagnant and frustrating with their limitations.
      The freedom I have now with my stock Android has me wondering why I didn’t leave iOS sooner (when 4s came out which, like the 5, offered me no argument to stay with Apple).
      Personally, I think Android users who root do so only to get newest version of OS ‘now’ and unlock simple things like NFC on the AT&T Galaxy S2 that AT&T disabled for some odd reason. Or have features on a Galaxy Note on their S2 or S3.
      Apple jailbreaker’s do so as they want that Android like freedom (which exists out of the box) on their Dictator led Apple device.
      I mean really, limitations on how many items I put in a FOLDER? That was one of the many small gripes I had with iOS…
      I know I sound like a rabid Fanboy but I’m not. I do feel Android has matured and feels polished now and can stand toe to toe with iOS, just a matter of personal choice. But like others here, I think the main article was weak and quite pointless. But there is no way Apple will ever make their OS open as your post longs for. They will cater only to their core base and, as we have already seen lately, that base is shrinking as newer, bigger more innovative Android devices come out…

  14. Haraku

    01/30/2013 at 9:37 am

    I dont give a sht i want a jailbreak

  15. Joe

    01/30/2013 at 9:40 am

    Jail breaking does NOT void your phone’s warranty. If you have a warranty claim, you simply do a restore with iTunes and all evidence of the jailbreak is erased. The person writing this article is an uninformed idiot and should not have been allowed to post this garbage. People jailbreak to make the phone their own. To customize it!

  16. geo4444

    01/30/2013 at 9:48 am

    “Stupid” … ditto

    Has anyone mentioned this guys “facts” are wrong?

    Very specifically, jailbreaking will not void the warranty. And even if it did, which is doesn’t, a simple reset (3 mins???) sets it back.

  17. JP

    01/30/2013 at 9:55 am

    Why do you people keep falling for these trucks? This dude is trying to make a name for himself (while making find $ through ads) by inciting a web riot. Clearly it’s a moronic point of view but you probably wouldn’t be chiming in otherwise. That said, bring on the JB!!!

  18. Lola

    01/30/2013 at 10:13 am

    I can’t get those 4 mins back from reading this article, but it sure was funny watching the video after. Poor guy, he’s gonna be super boring without a JB. He’ll crack sooner or later.

  19. crono1023

    01/30/2013 at 11:29 am

    Seriously? Better off NOT JAILBREAKING? What are you working for apple or are you just plain ignorant? Next time maybe someone who knows what they are talking about will write a more accurate article on this topic. Besides, I’m pretty sure a 10 year old child could jailbreak an iphone with little trouble.

  20. lee

    01/30/2013 at 12:07 pm

    theres no point in owning an apple device if it isnt jailbroken.

    • rf080213

      02/08/2013 at 12:02 pm

      There is not point in buying something you do not like. There is no point in owning an iPhone if you want to jailbreak it to “make it better”. You should better get an Android. If you do not like what iOS does, then do not buy iOS powered devices.

  21. G

    01/30/2013 at 12:53 pm

    Jailbreaking is legal. But recently the Library of Congress revised its position saying phones bought after 2012 aren’t allowed to jailbreak (https://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=7A5BADD3-0AF4-7F2D-437FB37F3E0EB45C). Good luck enforcing that. You must work or get paid to write for Apple, douche. Obviously you’ve never owned an iPhone or one that has been jailbroken or you wouldn’t have written this article. You are are not informed. Quit writing immediately.

  22. James

    01/30/2013 at 3:38 pm

    Not true about library of congress ruling. It states that unlocking is illegal. Jail breaking is still legal and morally correct if you like leading your own destiny. Lots of people confuse unlocking with jail breaking. They are different things. Unlocking allows different cell carriers. Jail break allows access to the core allowing pretty much anything to run ( stuff apple has banned)
    I jail brok my 3 just so I could run java. Now apple allows java via a couple of 3 rd party browsers. I am using puffin browser till I cAn JB my iPhone 5.
    Still I want it all an I want it now!

  23. Terry

    01/30/2013 at 9:26 pm

    fakeclockup (speeds up transitions – after trying it, you’ll immediately feel like your phone was unbearably slow before), folderenhancer (folders inside folders, as many apps as you want within folders), f.lux (severely reduces screen glare at night), auxo (fantastic app switcher, handles it the way apple should have to begin with), iblacklist (block incoming calls/texts from specific numbers), MapsOpener (actual full google maps integration).

    Just a short list of obvious and clear improvements over apple’s stock design, without which I would go nuts, and all of which the “average user” would immediately appreciate. Not to mention, the odds of running into the MobileSubstrate error you’re describing are slim to nil, and even if you do on extremely rare occasion, you click restart and it goes away. Not exactly complicated.

  24. Andrey

    01/31/2013 at 12:53 am

    “With the iOS 6 jailbreak, users are installing apps that don’t conform to Apple’s strict guidelines, some of which alter the overall iPhone experience.”

    Taking fanboyism to the next level… Pathetic.

  25. Sharif

    01/31/2013 at 9:58 am

    A lot of the improvements to iOS 6 are not available for the iPhone 4 and 4S, such as LTE and FaceTime over 3G (not available on the iPhone 4. ) And I don’t have a shared data plan. I don’t want to pay extra every month for those few occasions when I would need tethering. I just fully countered your last paragraph. So jailbreaking will help in these cases. I also don’t want to buy an Android because I have about $100 worth of apps I don’t want to buy/replace on the android. Besides, even if I do break my warranty, I don’t think Apple will do anything with my 2 year old iPhone 4 if anything should happen to it. They’ll just tell me to buy an iPhone 5. Although I must admit that I like Apple’s approach to a smooth, simple mobile experience for when you’re on the go, there are a few things that I would like to do with it that Apple doesn’t allow. With jailbreaking, I get the best of both worlds!

  26. Ash

    01/31/2013 at 11:52 am

    All this contributor wants is to improve his search engine optimisation rankings by flooding the web with pointless ios6 articles. Gotta be mobile is high in the rankings due to the whole world devouring any info on the upcoming JB. Notice every day a new article such as this? It’s for self-gain only.

  27. abhi

    01/31/2013 at 9:42 pm

    lol good joke

  28. Ty brewer (@Tymanbrew)

    02/03/2013 at 2:34 pm

    Article was a waste of time. I almost pissed myself when i read “It voids warranty”. Further proof no writer uses facts/truth.

  29. Doogie howser

    02/04/2013 at 3:19 am

    What did you mean by users on shared data plans don’t need to jailbreak for hotspot without carrier fee? Is this true? I have a shared data plan but I’ve always used the jail break. AT&T will charge me if I try to use it as a hot spot the legit way no?

  30. Greg

    02/05/2013 at 8:02 am

    AT&T’s Mobile Share includes hotspot, so you can use it on your iPhone without a jailbreak and without additional costs. I recently switched to this plan (6GB) (for same price as my old, but now with hotspot) and it works great! The main reason I used to jailbreak was for hotspot and using facetime over cellular — which now we have without jailbreaking. There is no big reason to jailbreak now (which is what the article was trying to say), unless you want themes or possibly that new Auxo taskswitching app. None of these really add “missing” functionality (such as hotspot – a must!, or facetiming from the car). For me there is currently no missing functionality that you can gain from a jailbreak (I have an iPhone 5 and iOS 6). A big one would be to be able to attach files (from dropbox, ibooks, etc) into an email when replying. Don’t understand why Apple doesn’t think this is important. Anyway – my 2 sense.

    • Greg

      02/05/2013 at 8:08 am

      I’d like to add that if you want something (theme, tweak) that jailbreaking will give you – by all means, jailbreak your phone! I’m all for the freedom to install what you want. The only true downside is when you do finally want to update to Apple’s latest iOS update – it most likely won’t work over the air.

  31. Anonymous

    05/02/2013 at 4:25 am

    The article is telling me that jail break is bad but also should be fine, if you going to write about how jail breaking is bad don’t put the advantages of jail breaking in the article, especially when you stated that a jail break is easily reversible.

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