16 ms·

I can't think of a compelling reason to jailbreak my iPhone in 2013, and I suspect that's true for a lot more people than it was in the past.

by IBM 13y ago

cfontes 13y ago
I have several to do it. The one that pisses me off the most is not having "Lockinfo". Another one is to be able to share your internet with a PC without begging to your provider. And the list goes on. (facetime on 3G...)
- IBM 13y ago
  Those things are already possible without jailbreaking.
  - trauco 13y ago
    The hotspot function is carrier-dependent.
  - kalleboo 13y ago
    Depending on what kind of relationship Apple have with your carrier, different features are disabled or not. For instance, LTE is disabled unless an operator has their network whitelisted by Apple.
  - DanBC 13y ago
    iPhone on O2 in UK can share connection with PC. iPhone on GiffGaff (who use O2 networks) in UK cannot share connection with PC. So, those things are already possible without jailbreaking if you're prepared to change carrier.
- archagon 13y ago
  In regards to sharing, I believe your provider can detect this and charge you more.
  - kalleboo 13y ago
    I'm on an MVNO who doesn't care, but the settings for the network the MVNO runs ontop of override it with a different APN. It's times like this I really hate Apple's operator-relationship BS.
    - girvo 13y ago
      I hate how they make it super hard if not impossible to override the APNs yourself... I change carriers every month, and do all sorts of odd stuff with my SIMs, and my iPhone chokes on them because of it :(
      - superuser2 13y ago
        >I change carriers every month I'd be surprised if there were more than a handful of people actually doing this, which would explain why your use case doesn't get substantial engineering/UX resources.
        kalleboo 13y ago
        They don't need any engineering/UX, they just need to stop locking down all the settings. Android and every dumbphone I ever owned had no problems with this.
        superuser2 13y ago
        Are the settings locked down or do they just not exist? Apple would have to create and test the interface, make sure it's not possible to disable your device with it, etc. Which is a small thing, but easy to miss when there's no obvious need for it (except, of course, a few edge cases).
        girvo 13y ago
        Of course my use case is very much and edge case, but if they just let me have access to the damned settings it wouldn't be a problem. It's my one gripe with my iPhone
mrich 13y ago
Are custom software keyboards officially available yet? This would be the first thing I would miss.
- IBM 13y ago
  A custom keyboard is not something I find compelling.
  - eropple 13y ago
    Honestly, I said the same thing until I switched to Android and was able to optimize that for myself. Being able to use something like Swype is pretty huge and makes me faster and less error-prone.
thejosh 13y ago
lockscreen info is great, I can't remember the name of the lockscreen but it was cheap and provided great info. tweaks for 3g were also great.
girvo 13y ago
I was thinking about this yesterday. I have a few small things, like setting chrome as default, etc. If it's simple enough, I may as well!
graeme 13y ago
F.Lux It used to take me 30-60 minutes to fall asleep. I jail broke my phone to install f.lux and now I fall asleep in ten minutes or less. If I eventually can't jailbreak an iPhone, I'll switch to android.
- ashleyw 13y ago
  Same. It's funny that the primary reason I haven't upgraded to iOS 7 is because I like my screen red at night. F.lux is the one tweak that I can't live without, and probably would consider a switch to Android if I couldn't make it happen on iOS. Apple should just implement f.lux-like behaviour in OS X and iOS, maybe with an API to allow it to be disabled temporarily (for Photoshop, etc.)
  - sneak 13y ago
    > Apple should just implement f.lux-like behaviour in OS X and iOS No. Apple should let people run the programs they want on the devices they purchased. There should be a seriously insane number of hoops to jump through to get to the switch, but the switch should be there.
- aroch 13y ago
  You could just stop staring at your iPhone before you fall asleep?
  - reginaldjcooper 13y ago
    Yes those were the two choices, jailbreak or not stare at the phone before sleep. Very perceptive, aroch.
    - aroch 13y ago
      Does being snarky make you feel better about yourself? I find it hilarious that someone who knows that staring at a bright blue-white screen is going to impact their sleep, continues to do so. It is even more amusing to think that they'd rather drop $400+ on a new Android phone that can run lux/redshift instead of modifying their own behavoir in a trivial way.
rahimnathwani 13y ago
Three things were important for me in the past: - GuizmoVPN - Sogou Chinese pinyin keyboard - Mounting a memory card using the ipad camera connector kit The first two are less longer important for me now because there is now an official OpenVPN client in the App Store, and the native Chinese pinyin keyboard is much improved (although the predictive text is still far behind those produced for other platforms by large Chinese internet companies). The last one (using a memory card or USB as extra storage) would still be nice as it would reduce the frequency with which I need to refresh content (mostly online lectures). I can live without a jailbreak now. 2 years ago I would have downloaded it even after reading saurik's twitter comments (kindly posted to HN by DLay). Now I'm more inclined to wait.
kunai 13y ago
Is having control over your own device not enough? Seriously, that outweighs everything for me.
greenmountin 13y ago
1) Firewall program that disallows internet access for specific programs. 2) Cellular data swipe on/off in the quick dropdown window.
reginaldjcooper 13y ago
My top three: Freedom to copy your data out of an app into your computer even if the app doesn't "allow" it. E.g., get into Notes.app's sqlite database after they decide to delete all the data when you unlink your account even if it hasn't successfully synced for a year so that you can recover half of it. Develop apps on your own device without paying $100 and supporting the war on general purpose computing. Also compile and run GPL apps. A caller and texter black/whitelist.
- lreeves 13y ago
  You can actually do the first bullet point with software like iExplorer - the app sandboxes are only protected on the device, but when connected to your computer it's all available to you.
  - reginaldjcooper 13y ago
    Could you go as far as messing with the carrier bundles? I had a problem a while ago where Safari would reinstall the carrier's default bookmarks every time it reopened. To be fair it was irritating, not critical, but I was able to hack the carrier bundle and remove the bookmarks, plus change the carrier name out of spite. Stuff like that, it doesn't change my life but it makes me mildly happier, all because I can get at the filesystem and have root on my own devices.
- tehwebguy 13y ago
  iOS 7 has a blacklist for calls & texts, not a whitelist though (unless you can do this with Do Not Disturb, not sure)
  - Dystopian 13y ago
    It's available - Do Not Disturb + Favorites For me, I'd use it for recording calls. I'm also interested in what the mod community comes up with - there's usually a lot of innovation in the JB space that Apple cribs into big iOS updates.
yoodenvranx 13y ago
I can not live without FolderCloser, SwipeSelectionand the patch which removes the 8 tabs limit in Safari.
- altryne1 13y ago
  SwipeSelection for me too, kept swiping 2 months after upgraded to ios7, it's just fucking makes sense!
- alphakappa 13y ago
  There is no tab limit for safari in iOS7.
  - kristofferR 13y ago
    Nope, after having 10 visible tabs the new tab button gets disabled and links that would open a new tab replaces the old ones.
    - hrabago 13y ago
      I have 14 tabs open right now, and this is after I spent 5 minutes yesterday closing a bunch of tabs I didn't need anymore.
    - ajanuary 13y ago
      The limit has been lifted in iOS7.
      - kristofferR 13y ago
        That's inaccurate, just tried it on my iPad with iOS7
        deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
callesgg 13y ago
My top: Specify my own dns server when using the cellular net. Random ssh stuff when i don't want to use one of my vps's due to latency. Full access to MY Files. Open VPN(which i guess is possible without jailbreaking now days)
lazerwalker 13y ago
Apple nailed everything I really jailbroke for in iOS 7 other than F.lux. But F.lux is so truly fantastic that the day there's a proper, 100% supported jailbreak (i.e. one that actually works well with official versions of MobileSubstrate/Cydia), I'll be jailbreaking just for F.lux.
egypturnash 13y ago
I've been keeping my phone on ios6. I don't want to give up f.lux, or adblock. Or password pilot, or folderenhancer for that matter.
billhicks 13y ago
Adblock
almosnow 13y ago
You get root access to your phone/pad, that alone is definitely worth it (spec. if you're a developer); sometimes you just NEED a shell.
onedev 13y ago
I can change my default apps (browser/maps/etc). I can have F.lux I can speed up UI animations I can unlock the faster Nitrous Javascript renderer for 3rd party apps (Apple gimps 3rd party browsers by restricting this but w/ jailbreak, I can bypass Apple). I can install different UI interactions that I prefer like swipe up from the bottom edge to close an app (probably won't work well in iOS7 but in iOS6 it was fantastic). I can install a tweak that saves all Snapchats for unlimited time and adds a lot of stuff on top of Snapchat discreetly. And just a lot of little tweaks that I really enjoy having.
- dmazin 13y ago
  Yup. Browser defaults, Swype selection, and f.lux alone are enough to jailbreak.
  - wcfields 13y ago
    I just discovered Flex* today, another must have. * It's an easy way to flip values for tweaks for apps and Springboard. Saves a lot of time vs one by one installing these in Cydia. Eg: Staff Mode for Instagram, 5 icon dock, remove ads... Plus many users have saved tweaks to Flex's cloud.
    - dmazin 13y ago
      Staff Mode for Instagram?
chakalakasp 13y ago
I have unlimited data with Verizon. Jailbreak = wifi hotspot on phone.
DavideNL 13y ago
i want f.lux sooo bad, i would definitely jailbreak only for f.lux. However, what keeps me from jailbreaking is 'using my banking app' on my iPhone :'( Unfortunately the jailbreak also opens the phone operating system to spyware/viruses etc.
crystaln 13y ago
I've never been a jailbreak user - it simply wasn't worth the trouble. However there is one reason I would want to jailbreak - f.lux. Interestingly, this seems to be a common thread among jailbreakers. One of these two reasons almost always applies: - libertarian hackers who want to do stuff most people don't care about OR - installing f.lux Seems Apple should notice this and integrate f.lux-like behavior or APIs allowing such behavior. Unfortunately, given that the display looks less attractive when f.lux is enabled, they probably never will. That's a shame.

I can't think of a compelling reason to jailbreak my iPhone in 2013, and I suspect that's true for a lot more people than it was in the past.

by IBM 13y ago

I can't think of a compelling reason to jailbreak my iPhone in 2013, and I suspect that's true for a lot more people than it was in the past.

cfontes 13y ago

I have several to do it. The one that pisses me off the most is not having "Lockinfo". Another one is to be able to share your internet with a PC without begging to your provider. And the list goes on. (facetime on 3G...)

IBM 13y ago
Those things are already possible without jailbreaking.
- trauco 13y ago
  The hotspot function is carrier-dependent.
- kalleboo 13y ago
  Depending on what kind of relationship Apple have with your carrier, different features are disabled or not. For instance, LTE is disabled unless an operator has their network whitelisted by Apple.
- DanBC 13y ago
  iPhone on O2 in UK can share connection with PC. iPhone on GiffGaff (who use O2 networks) in UK cannot share connection with PC. So, those things are already possible without jailbreaking if you're prepared to change carrier.
archagon 13y ago
In regards to sharing, I believe your provider can detect this and charge you more.
- kalleboo 13y ago
  I'm on an MVNO who doesn't care, but the settings for the network the MVNO runs ontop of override it with a different APN. It's times like this I really hate Apple's operator-relationship BS.
  - girvo 13y ago
    I hate how they make it super hard if not impossible to override the APNs yourself... I change carriers every month, and do all sorts of odd stuff with my SIMs, and my iPhone chokes on them because of it :(
    - superuser2 13y ago
      >I change carriers every month I'd be surprised if there were more than a handful of people actually doing this, which would explain why your use case doesn't get substantial engineering/UX resources.
      - kalleboo 13y ago
        They don't need any engineering/UX, they just need to stop locking down all the settings. Android and every dumbphone I ever owned had no problems with this.
        superuser2 13y ago
        Are the settings locked down or do they just not exist? Apple would have to create and test the interface, make sure it's not possible to disable your device with it, etc. Which is a small thing, but easy to miss when there's no obvious need for it (except, of course, a few edge cases).
      - girvo 13y ago
        Of course my use case is very much and edge case, but if they just let me have access to the damned settings it wouldn't be a problem. It's my one gripe with my iPhone

mrich 13y ago

Are custom software keyboards officially available yet? This would be the first thing I would miss.

IBM 13y ago
A custom keyboard is not something I find compelling.
- eropple 13y ago
  Honestly, I said the same thing until I switched to Android and was able to optimize that for myself. Being able to use something like Swype is pretty huge and makes me faster and less error-prone.

thejosh 13y ago

lockscreen info is great, I can't remember the name of the lockscreen but it was cheap and provided great info. tweaks for 3g were also great.

girvo 13y ago

I was thinking about this yesterday. I have a few small things, like setting chrome as default, etc. If it's simple enough, I may as well!

graeme 13y ago

F.Lux It used to take me 30-60 minutes to fall asleep. I jail broke my phone to install f.lux and now I fall asleep in ten minutes or less. If I eventually can't jailbreak an iPhone, I'll switch to android.

ashleyw 13y ago
Same. It's funny that the primary reason I haven't upgraded to iOS 7 is because I like my screen red at night. F.lux is the one tweak that I can't live without, and probably would consider a switch to Android if I couldn't make it happen on iOS. Apple should just implement f.lux-like behaviour in OS X and iOS, maybe with an API to allow it to be disabled temporarily (for Photoshop, etc.)
- sneak 13y ago
  > Apple should just implement f.lux-like behaviour in OS X and iOS No. Apple should let people run the programs they want on the devices they purchased. There should be a seriously insane number of hoops to jump through to get to the switch, but the switch should be there.
aroch 13y ago
You could just stop staring at your iPhone before you fall asleep?
- reginaldjcooper 13y ago
  Yes those were the two choices, jailbreak or not stare at the phone before sleep. Very perceptive, aroch.
  - aroch 13y ago
    Does being snarky make you feel better about yourself? I find it hilarious that someone who knows that staring at a bright blue-white screen is going to impact their sleep, continues to do so. It is even more amusing to think that they'd rather drop $400+ on a new Android phone that can run lux/redshift instead of modifying their own behavoir in a trivial way.

rahimnathwani 13y ago

Three things were important for me in the past: - GuizmoVPN - Sogou Chinese pinyin keyboard - Mounting a memory card using the ipad camera connector kit The first two are less longer important for me now because there is now an official OpenVPN client in the App Store, and the native Chinese pinyin keyboard is much improved (although the predictive text is still far behind those produced for other platforms by large Chinese internet companies). The last one (using a memory card or USB as extra storage) would still be nice as it would reduce the frequency with which I need to refresh content (mostly online lectures). I can live without a jailbreak now. 2 years ago I would have downloaded it even after reading saurik's twitter comments (kindly posted to HN by DLay). Now I'm more inclined to wait.

kunai 13y ago

Is having control over your own device not enough? Seriously, that outweighs everything for me.

greenmountin 13y ago

1) Firewall program that disallows internet access for specific programs. 2) Cellular data swipe on/off in the quick dropdown window.

reginaldjcooper 13y ago

My top three: Freedom to copy your data out of an app into your computer even if the app doesn't "allow" it. E.g., get into Notes.app's sqlite database after they decide to delete all the data when you unlink your account even if it hasn't successfully synced for a year so that you can recover half of it. Develop apps on your own device without paying $100 and supporting the war on general purpose computing. Also compile and run GPL apps. A caller and texter black/whitelist.

lreeves 13y ago
You can actually do the first bullet point with software like iExplorer - the app sandboxes are only protected on the device, but when connected to your computer it's all available to you.
- reginaldjcooper 13y ago
  Could you go as far as messing with the carrier bundles? I had a problem a while ago where Safari would reinstall the carrier's default bookmarks every time it reopened. To be fair it was irritating, not critical, but I was able to hack the carrier bundle and remove the bookmarks, plus change the carrier name out of spite. Stuff like that, it doesn't change my life but it makes me mildly happier, all because I can get at the filesystem and have root on my own devices.
tehwebguy 13y ago
iOS 7 has a blacklist for calls & texts, not a whitelist though (unless you can do this with Do Not Disturb, not sure)
- Dystopian 13y ago
  It's available - Do Not Disturb + Favorites For me, I'd use it for recording calls. I'm also interested in what the mod community comes up with - there's usually a lot of innovation in the JB space that Apple cribs into big iOS updates.

yoodenvranx 13y ago

I can not live without FolderCloser, SwipeSelectionand the patch which removes the 8 tabs limit in Safari.

altryne1 13y ago
SwipeSelection for me too, kept swiping 2 months after upgraded to ios7, it's just fucking makes sense!
alphakappa 13y ago
There is no tab limit for safari in iOS7.
- kristofferR 13y ago
  Nope, after having 10 visible tabs the new tab button gets disabled and links that would open a new tab replaces the old ones.
  - hrabago 13y ago
    I have 14 tabs open right now, and this is after I spent 5 minutes yesterday closing a bunch of tabs I didn't need anymore.
  - ajanuary 13y ago
    The limit has been lifted in iOS7.
    - kristofferR 13y ago
      That's inaccurate, just tried it on my iPad with iOS7
      - deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

callesgg 13y ago

My top: Specify my own dns server when using the cellular net. Random ssh stuff when i don't want to use one of my vps's due to latency. Full access to MY Files. Open VPN(which i guess is possible without jailbreaking now days)

lazerwalker 13y ago

Apple nailed everything I really jailbroke for in iOS 7 other than F.lux. But F.lux is so truly fantastic that the day there's a proper, 100% supported jailbreak (i.e. one that actually works well with official versions of MobileSubstrate/Cydia), I'll be jailbreaking just for F.lux.

egypturnash 13y ago

I've been keeping my phone on ios6. I don't want to give up f.lux, or adblock. Or password pilot, or folderenhancer for that matter.

billhicks 13y ago

Adblock

almosnow 13y ago

You get root access to your phone/pad, that alone is definitely worth it (spec. if you're a developer); sometimes you just NEED a shell.

onedev 13y ago

I can change my default apps (browser/maps/etc). I can have F.lux I can speed up UI animations I can unlock the faster Nitrous Javascript renderer for 3rd party apps (Apple gimps 3rd party browsers by restricting this but w/ jailbreak, I can bypass Apple). I can install different UI interactions that I prefer like swipe up from the bottom edge to close an app (probably won't work well in iOS7 but in iOS6 it was fantastic). I can install a tweak that saves all Snapchats for unlimited time and adds a lot of stuff on top of Snapchat discreetly. And just a lot of little tweaks that I really enjoy having.

dmazin 13y ago
Yup. Browser defaults, Swype selection, and f.lux alone are enough to jailbreak.
- wcfields 13y ago
  I just discovered Flex* today, another must have. * It's an easy way to flip values for tweaks for apps and Springboard. Saves a lot of time vs one by one installing these in Cydia. Eg: Staff Mode for Instagram, 5 icon dock, remove ads... Plus many users have saved tweaks to Flex's cloud.
  - dmazin 13y ago
    Staff Mode for Instagram?

chakalakasp 13y ago

I have unlimited data with Verizon. Jailbreak = wifi hotspot on phone.

DavideNL 13y ago

i want f.lux sooo bad, i would definitely jailbreak only for f.lux. However, what keeps me from jailbreaking is 'using my banking app' on my iPhone :'( Unfortunately the jailbreak also opens the phone operating system to spyware/viruses etc.

crystaln 13y ago

I've never been a jailbreak user - it simply wasn't worth the trouble. However there is one reason I would want to jailbreak - f.lux. Interestingly, this seems to be a common thread among jailbreakers. One of these two reasons almost always applies: - libertarian hackers who want to do stuff most people don't care about OR - installing f.lux Seems Apple should notice this and integrate f.lux-like behavior or APIs allowing such behavior. Unfortunately, given that the display looks less attractive when f.lux is enabled, they probably never will. That's a shame.