Is there any way to check to see if your phone has been jailed? Jailblocked? Jailbaited? Sorry, I don’t know the word, I only just heard of it hours ago. Most anything regarding digital technology is still new to me. Thank you very much!
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Can you tell for certain if iphone11 been jailbroken?
- Thread starter Justmee1
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I assume that there are some clandestine jailbreaking/hacking methods used by nefarious people that we don't even know about and that are difficult to spot. So…based on my assumption…it might be next to impossible for a regular user to know "for certain".
If it worries you then you should restore your iPhone software as new, NOT restore from a backup, and then manually get your settings and apps back.
If it worries you then you should restore your iPhone software as new, NOT restore from a backup, and then manually get your settings and apps back.
Jailbreaks, post iOS 9.1, are semi-untethered. What that means is that you boot the device as normal, then use an app installed on the device to jailbreak. Semi-untethered requires this every time you reboot.
I'm not sure what the state of jailbreaks are right now, but semi-untethered used to rely on developer certificates, so periodically you had to 'reauthorize' the JB app on the device or it wouldn't work.
So, assuming a run-of-the mill jailbreak, you're looking for an app (usually with a strange name) that does this. Other than that, as @BrianBaughn states, it may be difficult to spot. But that sort of thing would indicate that you are a high value target. No one is blowing an Israeli military/spy grade jailbreak on your device to get your grandkid's baby pictures.
Some things to note, because I detect fear.
• Jailbreaks are nothing to fear. The kind of thing you seem to be implying, that you'd be randomly jailbroken so people could steal stuff off your device, is possible in a casual, average environment only if you present some value to the person doing this. And by value, I mean stuff that foreign governments would want. Your average thief has neither the time nor inclination to make the kind of effort required to steal data from you. Could you visit some website that happens to do this to you? Sure, if you're inclined to be poking around in sketchy areas of the internet.
• Jailbreaks are legal. In the USA at least. The Librarian of Congress has renewed exceptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for years now. The term 'jailbreak' comes from UNIX and implies a program that can operate outside of it's constraints. There is nothing inherently 'wrong', 'illegal' or 'evil' about it.
• Apple encourages fear of jailbreaks and they promote the 'bad' things about it as examples of why you shouldn't do it. Because they don't want you doing it. Why? Because it takes your device out of their control. Yet, for years now they have been ripping off jailbreak devs and implementing their JB tweak ideas into iOS. And several years back they allowed jailbroken devices to get repairs and service. It's policy now.
Hope this helps.
I believe banking apps could detect jail-broken devices. They'd sometimes say that when running a dev beta though, so I doubt their methods were particularly complex.
Jailbreaking isn't really popular any more; the excitement has gone and phones are mainly just a tool nowadays.
If you're worried about having a jailbroken phone, just do a DFU restore then log into iCloud to get your data back. Skipping a full restore might be a good idea, although I don't think apps have been backed up for a long time - it just triggers a download from the app store which (one assumes 😁) doesn't carry the necessary jailbreaking apps.
If you're happy to have a jailbroken phone and the apps you need all work, then you don't need to do anything. Unless you're running a very old iOS version, it'll be obvious if your phone is jailbroken or not as you'll have the necessary apps installed and visible.
Jailbreaking isn't really popular any more; the excitement has gone and phones are mainly just a tool nowadays.
If you're worried about having a jailbroken phone, just do a DFU restore then log into iCloud to get your data back. Skipping a full restore might be a good idea, although I don't think apps have been backed up for a long time - it just triggers a download from the app store which (one assumes 😁) doesn't carry the necessary jailbreaking apps.
If you're happy to have a jailbroken phone and the apps you need all work, then you don't need to do anything. Unless you're running a very old iOS version, it'll be obvious if your phone is jailbroken or not as you'll have the necessary apps installed and visible.
It's possible for banking apps to detect a JB, yes. I did have one of my banking apps do that once. But for the most part, I was able to use them fine.
I would argue though that popularity has less to do with jailbreaking now, than does relevance. It's still out there, and the JB subreddit on Reddit is still active. But semi-untethered jailbreaks killed a lot of interest. That and devs losing interest in doing tweaks and apps. Also, some devs got out (the creator of BiteSMS famously walked out and abandoned the company) and attempts to recreate existing tweaks only had partial success.
Apple also started employing a lot of former JB tweak devs and a lot of former jailbreak tweak ideas got adopted in to iOS. Many people stopped jailbreaking because Apple started providing the things they were jailbreaking for. That isn't me, I'd still be jailbroken. But semi-untethered jailbreaks are a hassle and no devs holding valuable exploits have been willing to burn them on a fully untethered jailbreak. There's too much money in that now, least of all because Apple will pay for exploits (which they then fix).
Apple also became more open, in the sense of allowing things people have been clamoring for for years. Can you put an app on your device almost anywhere you want now? Jailbreak tweak since at least 2010 if not before. Dark Mode? JB tweak. So on and so on.
Jailbreaking is just largely irrelevant now.
There were two reasons I initially jailbroke my 3GS.
Firstly, I wanted to see the Wi-Fi passwords that were on my device, and secondly I wanted smaller icons so I could fit more on a page.
The first issue was solved ages ago - firstly by keychain on a Mac and finally by being able to see the passwords on the phone itself. The second issue (icon size) is still an issue although after all these years I've gotten used to the toy-phone look.
Firstly, I wanted to see the Wi-Fi passwords that were on my device, and secondly I wanted smaller icons so I could fit more on a page.
The first issue was solved ages ago - firstly by keychain on a Mac and finally by being able to see the passwords on the phone itself. The second issue (icon size) is still an issue although after all these years I've gotten used to the toy-phone look.
I came to iPhone by way of a heavily customized Windows Mobile phone. So customized, it fooled a carrier tech into thinking I'd replaced the stock ROM on the device (I hadn't, it was all software). So, while I wanted a lot of the benefits of iOS, I was also surprised by a lot of the restrictions. Jailbreaking meant I could have my cake and eat it too.
To be fair, for years I spoke here on MR about how people just accepted the watered down stuff Apple offered because it met a condition they had to leave jailbreaking behind. I appear to be a hypocrite because I also abandoned jailbreaking by late 2020 (particularly when iOS started to offer Dark Mode). However in my defense, as I have explained earlier, I left because I hate the hassle of semi-untethered jailbreaks. I do miss the customization of dark mode that I had with Eclipse, as well as certain other things.
It's just a shame that a lot of it isn't worth the effort now.
Thank you Mr. London, I have read your words and comprehend ne’er many of their meaning, but thank you very much for your time.
Perhaps one day I will know more about Eclipses other than a car made by Saturn and a astronomical event.🪐🌏
LOL. You're welcome…only no need for Eclipse now, unless you are on a version of iOS before Dark Mode was offered.
Thank you for your thoughts. As a self-indulgent wink to my ego, im going to tell myself that the threats around me are too inferior to put forth the effort involved for a jailbreak. At least until they sense my