For many years, Apple has been playing cat and mouse with the organizations that have created “jailbreaks.” Unlocking your iOS device is essential in order to install apps outside of the App Store, where you can obtain, in addition to the unavoidably illegal software downloads, several features that you can’t get any other way, such as data tethering (if your cellphone provider doesn’t allow it), or more options for personalizing the menus. Just two weeks ago, the Evad3rs team released jailbreak evasi0n for iOS 6.1, and more than 7 million users have already downloaded it to their devices.
These tools for unlocking phones are based on taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the operating system in order to gain access to the system’s kernel, and modify it. The only way Apple can keep it from happening is by launching updates to its operating system periodically, although they obviously can’t force users to constantly update their smartphones and tablets. Even still, and we don’t know if it was just a coincidence, two weeks after the release of the jailbreak for iOS 6.1, an official 6.1.1 update was released, with some improvements in the iPhone 4S home screen.
That being said, the jailbreak developers have confirmed that they still have some cards up their sleeves that they can quickly play to update their unlocking system for when Apple releases new updates. Also, hackers have been improving problems with Evasi0n’s initial version, such as the delay when booting the device, or the mysterious disappearance of the clock utility, which is why, with the backing of other jailbreaker groups such as Dev-Team’s Redsn0w and Chronic-Dev, you can be assured that it is a dedicated and reliable team.
It didn’t take long for there to be results, and thousands of users have jailbroken their iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad. Cydia is the app store that is used when downloading apps outside of the App Store, and according to its creator, there has been a surge in functionality issues with its app recently due to the enormous amounts of users downloading programs. Specifically, he’s referring to the 7 million devices that were jailbroken within the first four days that Evasi0n was released. Looking at the statistics, more than 20% were from China.
