Downsides of Jailbreaking What are they?

[dhlizard]

Another downside, after being JB for weeks with no real issues except somewhat of a faster battery drain than before JB, my phone just hosed. It stalled on reset (which had always worked before) so I had to restore as new, re-JB and re-install all my mods and Cydia apps (and I agree stay away from AptBackup and AppSync as they really screw up the file system of your phone).

Oh well, hopefully it doesn't happen again, cause it's a pain to put it back to the way I like it.

 

[foob]

I have a 3G with winterboard, an icon theme (matte nano), 5 rows, 5 columns, 5 icon dock, Reminder (a status bar notifier), GRiP, a custom lock screen, weather icon with transparent theme, battery control, a magnifier theme, custom signal bars, fontswap, and SBSettings. Brightness is always at minimal unless I'm outside a lot, then it's half way. 3G is always on but I turn location and wifi off if I know I won't need them.

I always have high 40s in RAM unless I leave Safari running and with SBSettings, I can free up to 60MB RAM sometimes. The only lag I have noticed is during respring. It takes longer but who cares?

I listen to podcasts almost all day using either RSSPlayer or iFile. After listening from 8am to 11am, I usually have 90% battery left. After listening 12pm to 5pm I usually have 60+%. I couldn't be happier with performance or battery life. Some things will drain it more, like talking on the phone, web browsing, mapping or leaving the screen on, and some things like games or streaming audio/video are absolute battery killers, but that's normal.

I copy important information to my PC but I never sync, backup or restore. When I install a new firmware I erase the phone and install from scratch then copy over anything I have backed up. I think that has helped keep me free from a lot of issues.

In short, there are no downsides to me and I couldn't use the phone without the freedom that comes with jailbreaking. Accessing the file system, using MobileTerminal, writing shell scripts, and using numerous other JB apps that do things Apple won't allow all make the iPhone a powerful portable computer instead of just a cool a phone with a bunch of toys.

 

[0970373]

I recently went back to stock. I didn't really notice any more drain on my battery like others have. I only had iRealSMS, SBSettings, Backgrounder installed though (learned my lesson from Winterboard). The main reason I went back to stock were the crashes. Incredibly annoying. Crashed at least once a day.

I really do miss SBSettings though. I wish Apple would take a que from that app and find a better way to access settings. What's so hard about putting all the connections up front?

 

[UngratefulNinja]

I think if I had to go back to an un-jailbroken phone, I wouldn't want my phone anymore I text, a lot , and I can't stand having to close safari or whatever I'm doing, go to the sms app, text, close sms app, re-open whatever I was doing. I couldn't live without tlert. Also, I'm obsessed with weather so my next most beloved app is Weathericon And the other mods I've made (themes, etc) make me happy with my phone

 

[Acorn]

I have read posts of people after jailbreaking thier phone randomly stop recieving text or phonecalls. also different instances where one day turning the phone on and having to restore it. it just didnt work anymore. This is days after a successful jailbreak too. not during the process or anything.

I dont know about anyone else, but mostly what i want from jailbreak is cosmetic. which isnt worth ruining the reliability of my phone. I need it to work 100% all the time. Not be flaky and one day just need a random restore.

 

[darngooddesign]

I have read posts of people after jailbreaking thier phone randomly stop recieving text or phonecalls. also different instances where one day turning the phone on and having to restore it. it just didnt work anymore. This is days after a successful jailbreak too. not during the process or anything.

I dont know about anyone else, but mostly what i want from jailbreak is cosmetic. which isnt worth ruining the reliability of my phone. I need it to work 100% all the time. Not be flaky and one day just need a random restore.

I know those stories are out there, but in the 2 years I've been JBing the various OSes the only time its happened to me is with Purplerain. I have never had an issue with one of the Dev Team's apps (redsn0w in this case).

 

[bradenwh]

i can say for a fact that themes DO NOT slow down my phone or drain the battery. many themes are literally just replacing background images, icons, and colors... how could that possibly drain the battery?

WinterBoard does not "replace" images. The original images are still there. It simply hooks other images into apps or SpringBoard so they show the images you want instead of the originals. No replacing.
And yes, that could take a hit on battery life or performance, depending on the extent of the theme. If the theme has any JavaScript in it, say goodbye to battery and performance.

 

[ct2k7]

you're helping drug dealers and potentially increasing/introducing security problems on your phone and your network which could cost you a lot of money.

 

[SFC Archer]

Not sure how serious some of the posts are in this thread because no one is really being specific.

I have just become a jailbreaker and have been using my jailbroken 3GS for about a month now.

I do not regret jailbreaking, my battery life remains the same and I have not had any crashes and have 0 lag issues. All loads normally.

I used RedSn0w to jail break twice...once with 3.0 and then 3.0.1. Still no problems or issues.

I am using: LockScreen, Winterboard with iElegance and Glass Orb Color, SB Settings, Categories, MiM, FontSwap and use PkgBackup for restore. I also use BossPaper for my wallpaper changer.

I installed my jailbreak as a new iPhone to insure I did not carry over any settings from previous settings.

There is always risk and each iPhone is different and coincides with its users. I noticed more battery drain because I was always playing with my iPhone with the new found freedom. Even using my iPhone more, I only have to recharge once a day and that is every night while I sleep. Come morning its a fresh, fully charged iPhone and I am good all day.

My normal settings are: Bluetooth on, Location on, Push on, Fetch hourly on, Brightness 75%. My only difference from most users is that I do not have 3G in my area so maintain only Edge and every time I use Safari, I make sure that I close all screens when I exit.

Hope that helps some that may have problems or are on the fence.

PS...sorry drug dealers, i am not helping you because I know if you want to hack something you are going to do it without my help and no more about it then I already do. The statement above mine is totally without merit or support. Criminals will be criminals and will always find a way to break the law and do illegal stuff. Jailbreaking does NOT help them be what they already are.

 

[piblondin]

It depends on what apps you install. When I had my 2G jailbroken with SBSettings and Winterboard, I only got about 2.5 hours of usage per charge. Now I'm still jailbroken but with only GV Mobile and PDANet. I get about 4.5-6 hours per charge now.

 

[SpaceKitty]

Last Sunday, I got my 32GB 3GS replaced after I bricked it.

I restored it from backup the backup of my last 3GS that I returned that same day. Battery started draining 1% about every 15 minutes, allot faster than normal. I used it for three days and would notice the battery would drop a % every few seconds while I would be using an app.

Restored the phone as new and use it for the last two days with only my apps on it. It would go for 1.5 hours before it dropped down to 99%. Normal now. I jailbroke it last night and only added iBlacklist. Woke up and standby is at 8 hours 27 minutes, battery 97%. Back to normal now! I think iBlacklist and 3GUnrestrictor are about the only two things I'll be adding back on this phone. My 3G is still jailbroken with all the apps added and it was restored as a new phone a few weeks ago.