I just bought iPad few weeks ago and the first question that comes to my mind is, should I jailbreak my iPad? So, should I? Yes, I should and let me tell you why…
Reasons why you should jailbreak?
(1) It is now legal.
First of all, it is LEGAL to do that (under Digital Millennium Copyright Act - DMCA of 2010).
(2) Access to more applications.
You can download or purchase third-party applications or games that are not approved by Apple. After you jailbreak your iPad, iPhone or iPod, there is an application called “Cydia” which consists of list of third-party applications. So jailbreaking your iDevices not only limit yourself to applications that approved by Apple.
(3) It is reversible.
Anything that goes wrong with your jailbreak, you still can reverse back to the original firmware. This also means Apple claims it to void your warranty is no longer a concern. To do that, you just need to “Press Restore” in your itunes. There is an option to backup your data before you restore but what I wouldn’t want to do that as I”m not sure whether what would happen to your non-approved applications after you restored them back to the original firmware. Just make a clean restore will do…
Reasons why you should NOT jailbreak – Really?
(1) Download paid applications for FREE
A website such as “AppTrackR dot ORG”and “iPhoneCake dot COM” are pretty famous for you to download cracked applications or games. However, you shouldn’t jailbreak your iPad, Iphone or iPod just because you can download those paid applications for free. That is in fact ILLEGAL in my opinion. So, don’t do that! :) Of course this is subject to argument as some said this is in fact legal – something similar to “thepiratedbay dot org”? Well, make your own judgement! I would recommend you NOT to do that.
(2) Voiding Warranty
I’m not sure if this is still valid as you can now reverse back to original firmware. Honestly, I don’t think you need to reverse back because I’ve never heard people complaining any issues (due to hardware failure) after they jailbreak their iDevices. So this is what I will recommend you to do before jailbreak your iDevices:
- Make sure all the hardware functionality are working (e.g. microphone, speaker, wifi, audio jack in (headphone, earphone) and etc.).
- Try to play around with your original iPad for a week before you jailbreak, then it should be safe enough that you shouldn’t encounter any hardware failure.
(3) Untethered jailbreak has not been released
I mention this is because this was one of the reasons I worried before I jailbreak my iPad. In case you do not aware, there are 2 type of jailbreaks – tethered and untethered jailbreaks. Tethered jailbreak is usually released first which means you need to boot in iPad, iPhone or iPod from your Windows or Mac. Well, this seems troublesome but you shouldn’t worry at all because you shouldn’t reboot your iPad very often. What you really want to do is to close those unused applications:
- Double touch your “Home” button and it shows you a list of applications run at background.
- Touch and hold the application until you see the negative sign (i,e. “-“) on the upper left of the application icon.
- Touch the “-“ sign to close those applications. Go back to home screen by touching the “home” button again.
[Update: 27 April 2011] However, the hang issue still can be avoided. The reason why it hanged is because I always turn the iPad to the "Standby" mode (i.e the power ON button) when I'm in the middle of something (e.g. playing the games halfway). To reduce the chances of hang (i.e. almost 100%, I don't experience the hang issue anymore), pause the game, quit & save the game or go to the main menu of the game, and lastly click the the "Home" button before you standby your iDevices. Hope this helps! :)
(4) Security Issues
You worry about your iPad security issue because those applications that you install no longer are certified by Apple. But, let me ask you this – have you every installed applications that are not from Microsoft when you use windows OS? If yes, then you shouldn't worry much about security issues in iOS (Apple) then.
Jailbreaking is just enable enable your iDevices to support third-party applications and not only limited to applications that are certified by Apple. This is exactly same with installing your Microsoft Windows OS in your laptop by default which allow you to install any kind of applications. So you shoudln’t worry much about this.
If you really concern on security, please pay attention to the applications that you download and make sure it is from the reliable source just like the way you do in Windows. For me, I’ve never trusted Safari web browser, so I will never use sensitive information (e.g. email account, credit card, bank account) with my iPad.
Conclusion - Jailbreak or Not?
So, what is your decision? Jailbreak or NOT? No, if you intend to download illegal crack applications or games. Otherwise, I think you should. Agree? FYI - iClarified is the best reliable source to jailbreak your iPad, iPhone or iPad. This is what you need to do:
- Select the device that you would like to jailbreak
- Select the software that you would like to use to jaibreak (e.g. GreenPoisnOn or RedSnOw). Personally I have only tried using RedSnOw and so far it is perfect. So I will suggest you to use that as well.
- Make sure you follow the exact instructions after you have selected to software to jailbreak. The instructions listed in iClarified are very clear and useful.
[Update: 1 May 2011] If you want to know how to upgrade your already jailbroken devices, see my latest post: How to Upgrade Jailbreak?
