Why Should I Jailbreak My iPhone?
by JD Abbey
March 24, 2009
With my recent How To articles, I have been asked WHY someone should jailbreak their iPhone. But when it comes down to it, I did it because I wanted access to all the functionality possible with this device. The technology included in this phone has great possibilities. My iPhone has more options and apps than all of my previous mobile phones combined. However, there are still some areas where apple could improve the functionality of the iPhone.
I would truly like this phone to replace all of my daily gadgets. The GPS in my car has turn by turn navigation, my digital camera has a video recording option and my net book allows copy and paste. These are just some of the software based functionality that Apple has refused to include in the current firmware for the iPhone. Apparently others feel the same way I do and they have created apps to add this functionality to the iPhone. But, given the strictness of the App Store, all of the apps with these options have been turned down by apple.
The reason for jailbreaking your iPhone is pure and simple - to have the ability to install 3rd party apps not sold in the App Store. I know there are thousands of apps available in the app store, but apple has been very restrictive with their rules regarding which apps can be made available to users. A few of the functions that jailbreaking can supply include, video recording, tethering, multi-format video playback, copy/paste, turn by turn talking GPS navigation, Bluetooth file transfers, power management, MMS, Voip over 3G, instant messenger in the background, brighter flashlight, customized menus, and stolen phone recovery. I will add a list at the end of the article detailing which apps can be used for each type of functionality.
After all the Apple bashing I may do in this article, I have to admit, the iPhone has the potential to become the best possible phone on the market. And Jailbreaking brings the iPhone out as the leader of the pack.
If jailbreaking is so great, why doesn't everyone do it? Well, in a world of OS X and Windows, we are used to using non-customizable and unstable computer environments. Given these issues with computers, we all fear our devices crashing, so we try never to fiddle with it too much. But instead of just telling you that the iPhone is different, why don't we go over the most common reasons I hear on why people do not jailbreak their iPhone.
1. I don't like to break the warranty.
While jailbreaking your iPhone does break the software licensing agreement, it does not break the warranty of the phone. And technically once it is restored back to it's standard configuration (unjailbreaking), you are no longer invalidating any agreements. If you ever have any hardware issues, just unjailbreak your phone and send it in. As of yet, jailbreaking your phone is not illegal.2. I'm afraid it will kill my phone and lose all of my information
As for jailbreaking being the cause of a bricked phone, I have found less than a dozen instances of people having unrecoverable issues and they happened with older jailbreaking methods. From the research I have done, even the worst jailbreak failures can be easily fixed by putting the phone in recovery mode and recovering with iTunes. Then you just re-jailbreak. Regarding information loss, you should always backup your contacts through iTunes or through Gmail.3. It is only for people who want to be different
Jailbreaking is not only for people that want to be different and personalize their phone. While it offers many options to customize your menu and tailor it to your personality, there are many apps that offer basic functionalities. I do not think that being able to record video, copy/paste, or talking turn by turn navigation is a matter of trying to be different.4. It's only for people with too much time on their hands
Jailbreaking is not for people with too much time on their hands. Once you have jailbroken your phone and you have it set up, it takes the same amount of time to install an app from Cydia as it does from the app store.5. Only total tech savvy hackers can jailbreak without help
To be honest, jailbreaking is extremely simple. If you have a newer computer and a high speed internet connection, it takes a half hour to do the whole process. Most of that time is waiting and the instructions in the jailbreaking programs are extremely simple to follow. My mother was able to jailbreak her phone in no time by following the instructions. With the new options coming to us in iPhone firmware 3.0, a few of the jailbreaking perks are obsolete, however there are many options to personalize your phone that will never be included by apple. Here are a few examples of functionality that can be added by jailbreaking and apps that will add this functionality.| Functions | Apps |
|---|---|
| Video Recording | Cycorder |
| Tethering | PDANet, iPhone modem |
| All Format Video Playback | VLC for iPhone |
| Copy/Paste | CopiercIN |
| Turn by Turn GPS | xGPS |
| Bluetooth file transfers | ibluetooth |
| Power Management | SBSettings |
| MMS | SwirlyMMS |
| Voip over 3G | VoipOver3G |
| Run Programs in the Background | backgrounder |
| Brighter Flashlight | Flashlight by bigboss |
| Stolen Phone Rcovery | iLocalis, findmyi |
| Themes Manager | Winterboard |
