The Most Important Jailbreak Tweak You Need Isn’t on Cydia

After using the evasi0n iOS 6.1 jailbreak, there are plenty of great Cydia apps and tweaks, but the most important one isn’t on Cydia.

Jailbreaking the iPhone or iPad bypasses the security Apple has in place, which could potentially open up your freshly jailbroken device to malware or hackers. In the past the worst we’ve seen is a worm that replaced the iPhone home screen with Rick Astley on jailbroken iPhones. However, with millions of jailbroken devices in use, the iPhone is a tempting target.

There is a password in place that normally keeps things secure, but after the jailbreak the password is set to alpine as default. This means that everyone knows the SSH root password on a jailbroken device.

Watch: Essential Cydia Apps

It’s a good idea to change this password to something you can remember right after using the evasi0n jailbreak tool. Users will need a free app and about two minutes to complete the process. For users who are not jailbroken, there is no need to follow this guide.

How to Change the Root Password after evasi0n

The first step is to open Cydia and download Mobile Terminal. Search for this app, and download the result that does not have (Obsolete) next to the name. After this is installed, exit Cydia and open Mobile Terminal.

Open Mobile Terminal.

You should now see a black screen with typewriter style font, with your iPhone’s name, similar to the screenshot below.

Now we will walk through changing the Root password and the mobile password. Type the following without the quotes.

Change root password.

Type ‘su root’

Press enter

Type ‘alpine’

Press enter

Type ‘passwd’

Press enter

Type a password you can remember. You will not see any characters on the screen.

Press enter

Re-enter the same password to confirm.

Press enter

Type ‘Exit’

Press enter

From here you can also change your mobile password, though it may not be as necessary. We will repeat part of the process, but it will change the mobile password, not the root password. This is not the PIN or password you use when you unlock the iPhone.

Type ‘passwd’

Press enter

Type ‘alpine’

Press enter

Type a password you can remember. You will not see any characters on the screen. This can be the same password as above.

Press enter

Re-enter the same password to confirm.

Press enter

Type ‘Exit’

Press enter

 That’s all there is to it. Your iOS 6.1 or iPhone 5 jailbreak is now secure. Check out the latest iOS 6.1 Jailbreak news and guides.