Hi. My name is Adam, and I own a jailbroken iPhone. Many people shudder at sheer mention of the word “jailbreak”, but they really shouldn’t. Jailbreaking is merely the means to an end; an end which allows you to open the iPhone up to its many possibilities and functionalities which, frankly, Apple doesn’t give you access to.
By jailbreaking right this second, you can have access to video recording, total customization, MMS, tethering capabilities, and copy/paste. You may be asking yourself: “Why doesn’t Apple just let us have all of this stuff?” My theory is that they are over-protective and are worried about giving the consumer too much power over their device; Apple likes to have total control over what their products do. But I digress.
If you have read this far, you are hopefully seriously considering to jailbreak your phone. The most common cons that people come up with when I try to convince them to jailbreak are that: it voids the warranty, it corrupts the phone’s data, it isn’t really that great… And the list goes on. Let me just say right now that jailbreaking is totally reversible. If your phone’s battery life begins to decline or another issue arises that is covered by warranty, simply restore your phone to a previous backup.
After doing that, you’d have a phone, with all of its original data (besides the jailbroken stuff), which Apple is fully responsible for replacing. This brings me to that second point. An un-jailbroken iPhone and a jailbroken iPhone have the same potential for data corruption, but that is why they invented a little thing called a “back up”, which is an extremely simple process that works for jailbroken phones, as well, so you never have to worry about losing a single byte of data.
As for the point that “jailbreaking isn’t that great”, it really is that great. After reading about my top 5 jailbreak apps (which are all FREE), I’d be surprised if you don’t decide to jailbreak right now.
Winterboard
Winterboard is my favorite iPhone app because it makes my iPhone my iPhone. It is a simple, free app that allows for complete customization of the iPhone through different battery icons, springboard icons and backgrounds, carrier icons, wifi logos, slider images, system fonts and colors, and almost everything else imaginable. Here is just a small example of what Winterboard can do:
From this example you can see just a small sample of the unlimited possibilities that Winterboard provides. This screenshot shows a numeric battery which is a much better indicator of battery life than an image, the ‘AT&T’ carrier logo changed to ‘Adam’, and a theme called Illuminous that makes the icons softer and the background a different image. As you can see, Winterboard is a must-have if you want to liberate your iPhone and make it much more personal.
Cycorder
Cycorder is a pretty straightforward app. It allows you to record video on Apple’s mobile device. The videos come out pretty clear, and the only downside is that moving the videos to your computer is a fairly complicated process. Other than that, the free app does exactly what it should (and exactly what Apple should allow everyone to do), and that is video recording.
Backgrounder
Backgrounder is another great, free app that is only available if you jailbreak. It allows you to run apps in the background. This means that you can, for instance, sign in to an instant messenger app and, after activating Backgrounder, you can close the app but still receive messages and appear logged on to your friends:
Apple allows this in their own apps since you can listen to music, load web pages, load mail messages, etc. while also closing and opening other apps on the phone. Although this functionality will supposedly be implemented to all users through the 3.0 update, this is something that I definitely can’t live for 20 minutes without. (Read more about Backgrounder here).
Clippy
This is another free app that opens up a long-awaited feature that Apple is addressing in the 3.0 update: copy/paste. Although the UI isn’t too great, Clippy gets the job done. It allows for copy/paste in a manner that is very similar to Apple’s upcoming copy/paste method, but you can get it right now! Before installing Clippy, there were several instances per day where the lack of copy/paste made me very frustrated. Life would be difficult without Clippy, too.
Jailbreaking is a win-win situation. You can customize your phone, as well as add video recording, the ability to run background apps, copy/paste, and so much more. It is your choice to jailbreak, but there really isn’t any reason not to; it is completely reversible, it is incredibly simple, and it opens up all kinds of wonderful new things for you and for your iPhone.
Retraction: I have removed the Installous portion of the post. I do not endorse pirating, and I felt it was bringing on too much negative attention.
Nice post!
Regarding Cycorder, if you have a PC then it’s pretty simple to move the videos (or any file) from your iPhone to your computer. Just use DiskAid, a free file browser for the iPhone. It’s as easy as drag & drop!
Thanks, Squampton! I didn’t know it could be so easy to remove Cycorder videos.
What a pleasant article! i knew about and have used 4 out of 5 of those apps and enjoy them, what i didnt know about was installous and am really wanting to try it. Unfortunately its not in cydia or not searchable or not searchable by name under all apps….fail
what i do recommend is iphonebrowser to search for docs and pics. i know the previous poster suggested diskaid, and its great…but give iphonebrowser a try if you dont dig diskaid.
winterboard is great and sure fire win when and a necessity as far as i am concerned when it comes to jailbreaking…
backgrounder is pretty good, but the version i was using was not performing as well it should have been…maybe i was using an earlier version and its been awesomized since i deleted it….i never got palringo to stay open in the background enough to not show me as logging out…. id10t most likely on my part…
cycorder….cant lose….iphone if anything lets the app down as the camera is pure crap compared to whats cutting edge on the market right now, even for the 1 year old 3g version of iphone the camera is pure crap….when iphone revs hardware and cycorder works with the new good stuff…we will truly see the awesomeness of cycorder……
Hey, Anthony.
I’m glad you liked the article. You can install Installous by adding “http://cydia.hackulo.us/” as a source.
Thanks for the recommendation, iphonebrowser looks like a winner!
I agree that Winterboard is great, backgrounder is good (it can use some work, but it gets the job done), and Cycorder is amazing (the iPhone’s camera is not).
Thanks again, Anthony!
I recently bought an iPhone and have all the current software upgrades. Is the “incredibly easy” link that points to the how-to jailbreak an iPhone (http://www.appleiphoneapps.com/2008/07/how-to-newbies-guide-to-iphone-3g-jailbreak/) still applicable to my phone even though the how-to was written in 2008?
Thanks!
Hey! I had jailbroken my itouch 1g. But prob is i cannot run cydia since I dont have any wi-fi on my itouch. Is there a way i can run apps without internet connection? Please let me know.
Thanks a lot.
There is a way to install 3rd party apps to your touch or iPhone via your desktop (no 3G, Edge, or Wi-fi required) It’s from RipDev and it’s called InstallerApp!
http://ripdev.com/installerapp
My favorite is Lockdown.
It can prevent other people from fiddling other
things while your iphone is in there hands.
It can be set which apps are locked or unlocked.
Great thanks to Chris Stroud for this.
If you don’t endorse Installous then why link to it? What right do you have to ‘try’ apps if the developer doesn’t want to give a free trial version? You have none. Its illegal. I have no problem with unlocking a phone, after all you own the device. But you shouldn’t illegally download apps with it. It is for this reason in my opinion that apple fights jailbreaking with ferocity. You’re pirating. Plain and simple. Weather you actually go on to buy apps that you like is immaterial.
I tend to agree here, I don’t condone nor agree w/ giving any press to Installous. I’m kind of dissapointed that it was included in this list.
First off, I have no problem with Jailbreaking (though I don’t do it myself, haven’t found a real need). WhenI read this article and got to the part about Installous it infuriated me. I’m glad to see I’m not the only person. I completely do not understand how people can justify pirating by saying “I only do it to try them out”. You’re still pirating, plain and simple! By saying you use it you’re fully endorsing it’s use, and not only that you’re advertising it here.
“Hey folks, there is an app to pirate apps. I use it, but you shouldn’t. I pirate apps, but then I buy them if I like them, so it’s not really pirating.” Really? Seriously?
Completely clueless.
i think this a good stuff for my phone
i really nead this program for my iphone
Hey i like the top right of ur iphone example where there battery symbol usually is. How can i get that mesasge/speaker/battery percentage on my iphone? please email me @ zabzab21@hotmail.com
Lets play devils advocate and not run with the pandemonium…..
post the source where it says its illegal to download apps not purchased from the app store. It would be even better if you screenshot the portion of said article and posted it.
after reading this article last may and doing some footwork on what installous is, i find it very creative app development. Did i choose to use installous? No. Do i yell at the author on the internet? No. if Apple is so worried about people pirating apps then why do you think they dont spend more of their billions on protecting them?
I still would love someone to post up where it says its illegal to download apps from another place besides the app store. I would love to see where it says its illegal to run a site like hackulous and run a program like installous.
I am not trying to infuriate the children of the internet, just want someone to prove its illegal.
thanks in advance!
It has nothing to do with the apps that are put there by people that WANT their apps listed within Installous. That’s their right, and I have absolutely no problem with it.
Whats not just illegal, but even more so wrong and hurtful to the people putting time and effort into these apps, is this “try before you buy” mentality, the dishonest posting of PAID apps that would otherwise only be on the Apple App Store to this unofficial source. People are taking paid apps off the App store and posting them via Installous; people are getting things free that they should otherwise be paying for.
People feel like they have some sort of entitlement to “try” an application or use it for free with whatever excuse they can come up with, but they don’t. Beyond the illegal part it’s wrong to take someone elses work without paying for it. If the developer CHOOSES to post it on the App Store or via Installous for free, then great, but folks don’t have a right to take a paid app (or any other software for that matter) and make it available somewhere else gratis.
Sorry, it’s a bit of a rant, but I guess being a software developer this stuff get’s my blood boiling.
Also, thank you Adam for editing the original article.
Matt you bring up a good point about entitlement and morality and the ethical mistreatment of software. The topic as a whole is so nebulous when it comes to what is right and what is wrong as nothing is on paper. We can take a look at what the RIAA is doing with music and piracy, but are losing the fight.
I want to know what Apple is doing to protect the software from being pirated? Do you think Apple cares? I havent seen a press release or legal action from Apple yet on the topic? Anyone have data to share?
got some really good info here thanks!
i know jailbreaking is reversible but how exactly can i do that if something wrong happens to my iphone after jailbreaking?
thanks in advance for your help!
hey i like that theme. what is it called? also what can i do to get the five icons at the bottom