10 Pros and Cons of Jailbreaking Your iPhone or iPad

Introduction

At one time or another, many people with Apple iOS-based devices such as the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch have looked into "jailbreaking" them. Jailbreaking means bypassing the restrictions Apple puts on the operating system and <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/1433-iphone4s-jailbreak.html">taking full control of the device</a>. With a jailbroken device, you can install apps and tweaks that aren't authorized by Apple but you also remove the tough security protections that Apple has built into iOS. The process of jailbreaking your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch is legal in the U.S. for the time being, although its future is uncertain. What is certain is that Apple considers jailbreaking a violation of its warranty, so if something goes wrong during the process, it's up to you to fix it. Here are five benefits of jailbreaking followed by five serious risks.

A world of new apps

You can install apps that aren't available from the <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/1436-fake-iphone-app-camera.html">iTunes App Store</a>. For example, Cydia is a framework that lets you add other unauthorized apps, such as games and networking apps. "Apple is fairly restrictive. A lot of applications don't make it into their marketplace," said Tim Armstrong, a malware researcher in the Boston office of Moscow-based Kaspersky Labs.

Free tethering

Ever wanted to use your iPhone or cellular-enabled iPad as a broadband modem to connect your laptop to the Internet? AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint offer this service, called "tethering," but charge a lot for it. Owners of jailbroken devices can do it for free, thanks to unauthorized apps such as <a href="http://intelliborn.com/mywi.html" target="_blank">MyWi</a>, available through Cydia. "Phone providers don't want you to use apps like the tether app, but people do it anyway," Armstrong said.

More customization options

If you want to alter your iPhone's or iPad's look and feel, there are plenty of themes available on Cydia to change your icons, <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/331-china-stops-money-sucking-pre-hacked-android-phones.html">wallpaper</a>, dock and status, according to Armstrong. There's also a powerful customization app called WinterBoard that lets you do all of the above, plus customize sounds, all in one go. However, it won't work on an iPad, according to Brent Morris, a security analyst at VyStar Credit Union in Jacksonville, Fla.

Access to the iOS file system

Jailbreaking exposes the inner workings of an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to its user, which can be very useful. For example, installing a secure shell (SSH) client lets you securely move data between two devices on a network. Using SSH, you can connect your jailbroken iPhone to your computer and fix corrupted files, or install games that aren't available in the iTunes App Store. "SSH is almost like a tweak to jailbreak," Morris said. "However, since SSH gives anyone the ability to remotely connect, the first thing you must do is <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/1256-25-worst-passwords.html">change the [administrative] password</a>. The default password is 'alpine' and everybody knows it. So if you don't change it, everyone can get into your phone."

Change wireless providers

You can <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/1623-fbi-warrant-pimp-android.html">"unlock" your jailbroken iPhone or iPad</a> to go from one cellular provider to another at will, as long as they're both carriers that use the GSM wireless standard. All you need to do is change the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card. "If you want to use the other carriers, you have to jailbreak your phone," says Tony DeLaGrange, an instructor at the SANS Institute, a nonprofit firm in Bethesda, Md., that provides information security training. "My neighbor jailbroke his iPhone years ago for that reason because he liked T-Mobile." Unlocking won't work for Sprint or Verizon Wireless iPhones or iPads, which use the CDMA wireless standard. For those, you'd have to bring your device into the desired carrier's retail store, where a technician could "flash" its firmware to the new network and Sprint and Verizon Wireless have policies against that. MetroPCS, a smaller U.S. CDMA carrier, has a more lenient policy, so it's possible you might be able flash a jailbroken Sprint or Verizon Wireless iPhone to the MetroPCS network in the future. Things get more complicated with <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/1247-hacker-iphone-t-mobile.html">the iPhone 4S</a>. Each unit can use either GSM or CDMA, but the CDMA radio is switched off on handsets meant for GSM networks. It's unclear whether any jailbreakers have managed to enable it. Sprint and Verizon Wireless will activate the GSM radio and unlock the SIM card slot if you tell them you're traveling to a country without CMDA coverage. However, both also will block GSM coverage as soon as you return to the U.S. American users shouldn't forget that if an iPhone or cellular-enabled iPad is less than 2 years old, its owner is probably still subject to the carrier contract he signed when he got the device. Early-termination fees can be hefty, making switching carriers economically unwise.

Unscreened apps

Jailbreaking absolutely makes your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/835-apple-iphone-ipad-vulnerability-exploit.html">an easier target for malware</a>. It completely removes the walls that Apple built into both iOS and the iTunes App Store. All documented malware for iOS has affected only jailbroken devices. "You can install an app from any website you want, and you'll never know if you're downloading a program that contains malware," Armstrong said.

Undermined security

You really don't know how secure your device is after it's been jailbroken. That's because you've fundamentally changed the whole operating system, according to Armstrong. "A lot of people don't realize what they're doing," he said. "When you launch the jailbreak, you're defeating <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/333-how-much-more-secure-is-the-verizon-iphone.html">the security of the phone</a>. Once you do that, every application has full access to the phone and you put trust in the people who create the apps."

Little anti-virus protection

There's not much <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/850-new-anti-virus-app-removes-malware-from-iphone-ipad.html">anti-virus software available for the Apple iOS</a>, and the few products that do exist are limited in their abilities. "That's because Apple locked down the operating system," Armstrong said. "But if you jailbreak your iPhone, it's buyer beware."

System update whack-a-mole.

Jailbroken apps are not always supported in new versions of the Apple iOS, and each system update pushed out by <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/892-new-apple-update-fixes-operating-system-security-flaw.html">Apple usually will erase jailbreaks</a> and apps that depend on them. You'll have to <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/1362-corona-jailbreak-apple-ios501.html">jailbreak the device again</a>, reinstall the unauthorized apps and hope they all still work.

System instability

Buggy <a href="http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/844-apple-iphone-ipad-jailbreak-trojan.html">unauthorized apps</a> can crash an iPhone or iPad or even "brick" them render them unusable. "I recommend if you jailbreak, you stick to the sources Cydia provides," Morris said. "If you download any app, you need to do research on the creator of that app. Make sure people are happy with that app."

Conclusion

If you do decide to jailbreak your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, be sure to carefully research the apps you want to install, because you'll be entering a world of no restrictions. You have to see how exposed you're going to be, Armstrong said. "Jailbreaking phones are for people who like to go on the edge," Morris said. "They want to push the edge. They really want to change, or run a particular app, or they want to see how far they can take it and they're tired of Apple having this much control. "But you have to weigh the benefits and decide if it's worth it to jailbreak your iDevice."