To Jailbreak, or Not to Jailbreak…

  Today we’re going to get into a little bit of a grey area here. Now we love iOS at ScreenTek, and we use it every day. However, sometimes you need just a little more than what iOS has to offer and jailbreaking is a great way to get it. So maybe you’ve never heard of the term, or perhaps you’ve heard of it, but think jailbreaking is illegal or will turn your phone into a brick. Relax. ScreenTek’s here and we’re going to help. Call them crazy, but Apple puts restrictions on its iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Apple TV. This allows them to ensure the integrity and uniformity of the operating system. Unfortunately, it also keeps a lot of great features off of iOS and leaves users at the mercy of iTunes. Jailbreaking allows users root access to their devices and enables them to remove this restriction, thus allowing for more freedom and control. There are lots of advantages to circumventing Apple’s restrictions such as complete customization, wi-fi tethering, feature upgrades, and using apps that aren’t allowed by iTunes. Now before I sound like I’m too biased, jailbreaking isn’t for everybody. There are lots of downsides to jailbreaking as well. For one, jailbreaking essentially turns your phone into a regular computer. This meaning if something goes wrong, the solution won’t be simple, and will not be solvable by those Apple geniuses. Stability and safety will go away with jailbreaking, as will the support. Additionally updates become a hassle. You won’t be able to update as quickly or as easily because you’ll lose jailbreak and access to all those great apps. Jailbreaking doesn’t always work, and if you can’t get it to work, a full restore might be in your future. Granted I’ve never had to restore my iPhone or iPad with a jailbreak, but I know some people who have. If backing up and restoring your media doesn’t sound appealing, you might want to leave jailbreak alone. The last reason not to jailbreak, and in particular the biggest one in my opinion is that not all apps are free, and those that aren’t can be really expensive. Believe it or not the apps that are sold through iTunes are reasonably priced, and you won’t always get that in the Cydia store. So as you can see there are many reasons to jailbreak, and maybe even more reasons not to. The choice is completely up to you, but I like it because I’m a horrible control freak, and I expect way too much out of all my technology. However, it’s obviously not necessary to enjoy your device, and if you’re looking for a way to get a lot of customization out of your phone without changing it, you might want to consider Android.