Should You Update to iOS 9.1 and Lose Your iOS 9 Jailbreak?

iOS 9.1 released this week, and to not much of a surprise, the latest update patches up the iOS 9 jailbreak, but should you update to iOS 9.1 and lose your iOS 9 jailbreak?

iOS 9.1 arrives just a month after iOS 9 initially released to the public. The new version of iOS keeps the same overall design and look as iOS 8 for the most part, but it comes with a handful of new features that make it worth upgrading to.

There are Spotlight Search improvements, an overhauled Notes app, Split View multitasking for the iPad, transit directions in Apple Maps, and much more.

An iOS 9 jailbreak is also available for those on iOS 9.0.2 and older, which is good news for jailbreakers, as they can enjoy all the new features in iOS 9, as well as enjoy the benefits to jailbreaking, like customizing iOS and adding new features that Apple doesn’t have otherwise.

However, with iOS 9.1, Apple patched up the exploits in the iOS 9 jailbreak, meaning iOS 9.1 is not jailbreakable currently. Whether or not that will change is still up in the air, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see an iOS 9.1 jailbreak eventually.

For the time being, though, users have to decide whether they want to stay on iOS 9.0 in order to be jailbroken or update to iOS 9.1 and lose their jailbreak.

Here are some things you should know about the iOS 9.1 update and whether or not it’s worth losing your jailbreak over.

iOS 9.1 New Features

Like most minor updates to iOS, iOS 9.1 doesn’t come with a heap of new features, but rather a handful of bug fixes and overall performance improvements to make iOS a bit snappier and less annoying.

However, perhaps one of the biggest features is the addition of 150 new emoji that users can play around with, including the middle finger emoji that iOS users have been waiting for. There’s also a unicorn, taco, burrito, lion, spider, new sports emoji, and of course a ton new faces.

iOS 9.1 also includes better Live Photos sharing support, so those with older devices that don’t have an iPhone 6s, as long as you have iOS 9.1, you can easily view Live Photos on your device by long-pressing on the photo.

You also need iOS 9.1 to set up the new Apple TV if you plan to buy one, but this is only if you want to set up the set-top box the easy way using your iPhone. You can still set the Apple TV without an iPhone.

Should You Update and Lose Your Jailbreak?

So the important question here is whether or not you should update your currently jailbroken iPhone to iOS 9.1 and lose your jailbreak in the process.

If it were me, I would stay on iOS 9.0.2 and remain jailbroken, unless you really, really want the new emoji, but chances are you can easily live without it for a little while longer.

Frankly, none of the new features in iOS 9.1 are worth it for me to lose my jailbreak. Plus, I could probably get most of the new features through jailbreak tweaks anyway. There are a handful of tweaks that bring some exclusive features to older iPhones, like Live Photos and 3D Touch.

Plus, there are even tweaks for the iPad, bringing Split View multitasking to older iPads, since the feature is officially only available on the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Pro.

However, if you do decide that you want to update to iOS 9.1 and lose your jailbreak, it’s fairly easy to do, and we have a quick guide on how to update to iOS 9.1 from a jailbroken device. While you can’t update to iOS 9.1 over-the-air on your device, you can update like normal through iTunes.