iOS 8.4.1 Jailbreak Release Could Be Right Around the Corner

The latest iOS 8.4.1 update patched up the iOS 8 jailbreak from TaiG, but that might be changing rather soon, as an iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak release could be right around the corner.

iOS 8.4.1 was released last month, and while it was a rather minor update, it did come with fixes for the security holes that TaiG used for the iOS 8.4 jailbreak, rendering iOS 8.4.1 unjailbreakable, which wasn’t a huge deal by any means, since iOS 8.4.1 isn’t a big improvement over iOS 8.4.0, so it certainly wasn’t something to lose sleep over.

However, it was only recently when another jailbreak team discovered an iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak. Pangu (who was responsible for the original iOS 8 jailbreak last year) figured out a way to jailbreak the latest version of iOS 8 and even showed it off at a recent conference, hinting to the possibility that it could be released to the public soon.

In a blog post on Pangu’s website, the jailbreak team has released details to the public on the iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak. While they haven’t officially released the jailbreak itself, they have at least detailed how they were able to break into iOS 8.4.1.

Essentially, to sum it up, Pangu found 0day kernel vulnerabilities in “AppleHDQGasGaugeControl,” which is a kernel that controls the battery portion of iOS. This has been patched in the iOS 9 beta, but it’s still open in iOS 8.4.1, meaning that Pangu could release the iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak if it wanted to right now.

We figured that the iOS 8.4.1 update would likely patch the iOS 8.4 jailbreak from TaiG, as Apple usually does so after a new jailbreak is released. In fact, it’s quite rare when a jailbreak can work with the latest version of iOS for so long without Apple doing something about it, and while we thought that the iOS 8.4 jailbreak would last over the summer, Apple eventually released iOS 8.4.1 to patch it up.

Still, this summer has been one of the busiest times for the jailbreak community, especially in June and July when an iOS 8.3 jailbreak was released in early June and then an iOS 8.4 jailbreak released later that month just hours after the iOS 8.4 update itself released.

As for if we’ll see a public iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak, it’s unknown whether it will release or not. It’s possible that Pangu and TaiG are waiting for iOS 9 to release in order to put all of their focus on that instead of worrying about such a minor update with iOS 8.4.1, which makes perfect sense.

iOS 9 will keep the same overall look and design as iOS 8, but will come with a handful of new features. It’s important to know that once iOS 9 releases, a jailbreak won’t be available for it right away, as it will take some time for jailbreak developers to find an exploit and jailbreak iOS 9, which could take a couple of months, depending on how locked down Apple has iOS 9.

The company does a decent job at trying to keep out jailbreakers, but developers usually find a way around at some point, which points to the likelihood that iOS 9 will become jailbroken eventually, but the biggest question is when that will happen.

Of course, if you’re still on iOS 8.4.0 or older you can jailbreak your device using TaiG’s jailbreak tool. However, if you’re on iOS 8.4.1, there’s currently no way to jailbreak your device, and you can’t downgrade to an older version since Apple is no longer signing iOS 8.4.0 and older.

We have our fingers double crossed that an iOS 9 jailbreak will release sooner rather than later, but we wouldn’t recommend waiting at the door for it like an impatient puppy, as it could take a while for an iOS 9 jailbreak to release.