What are some compelling reasons to jailbreak?

By Unregistered User (not verified), 5 February, 2013

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Hi all, I'm sat here reading all the articles about the new jailbreak for iOS 6.1, and am struggling to find a compelling reason to jailbreak my iPhone. Could somebody help to convince me that there are good reasons to jailbreak? I've done it in the past, and then just sat looking at my phone asking myself "now what?" Specifically, are there any tweaks or Cydia apps that would help me as a blind iOS user? Thanks

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By Isaac Hebert (not verified) on Friday, February 22, 2013 - 14:44

You can have a unlimited amount of pages on you're home screen. You can use apps that are not signed by apple.

By Unregistered User (not verified) on Friday, February 22, 2013 - 14:44

I was just looking at this list for inspiration: Best Jailbreak Apps And Tweaks For Your iPhone

And, I have to admit that I am still struggling to see anything that makes me want to jailbreak. But, maybe that just says something about how I use my iPhone.

With Apple already releasing a beta build of the next iOS update, I can't help but wonder if that will close the exploit that is used in the current jailbreak and I would soon need to decide if I want to update or keep my jailbreak.

By rdfreak on Friday, February 22, 2013 - 14:44

I've decided to try jailbreaking my iPhone 5. For a long time I was very against the idea, mainly because of the negative way it sounded. I've decided to try it mainly for the fact that I heard when we want to transfer files, we don't have to use iTunes but can just use win Explorer. Also we can play ogg files without the hastle of having to edownload another player. Most of my maudio files are in ogg format. There's various other small benefits I'd heard about, but will see how we go. :)

By calculus on Friday, March 22, 2013 - 14:44

Jailbreaking allows a user to install third party applications,software,themes and removes the limitations that are on the apple device.In short it gives the user the root access to iOS

By Aaron Linson on Friday, March 22, 2013 - 14:44

I've tried Jailbreaking my iPhone 4 when I had it just to see what would happen and if I could use it. After having it for about two weeks I took the jailbreak off. For me there was no compelling reason for me to jailbreak. If you are having trouble deciding whether to do it or not then maybe you shouldn't. One of the other reasons why I don't jailbreak is because if apple closes the hole then you have to wait for the next update. Just my thoughts on the subject. iOS gives you the best experience possible and I really don't see why people jailbreak anyways. Yes there are different sound schemes and such but that's pretty much about it.

Their is a tweek that you can use to stop drop calls all together.

By Toonhead on Friday, March 22, 2013 - 14:44

I thought about trying the whole jb thing, but I also see no compelling reason to do it...yet. If there was something I could do with a jb that was really important to me I'd do it in a split second. But as of right now, I also see no compelling reason to do it. This doesn't mean I'm telling others not to, I'm simply saying that I, personally, don't see a need for it. at least not yet.

By DPinWI on Friday, March 22, 2013 - 14:44

I was using the Rockbox voiced MP3 players before Apple made the accessible iPod nano. The RB stuff worked, and it was amazing how much time and effort people put into it. But it seemed to require constant maintenance from me. The player would stop talking, and I'd have to reflash it, or restore it, and I just wanted it to work. The nano didn't have neither the amount of features nor options, but it worked consistently. When the iPod Touch 4g was announced, I jumped on it. Yes, there are a few long standing bugs I wish Apple would squish, but for the most part, it just works. I haven't had a need for any tweaks I've seen and I'd rather use it than mess with it.

Hi, I have jailbroken my IPhone 4s just because i was curious about what was on the other side of the walled garden, as they say. I have some of the "must have" apps and tweaks, but when all is said and done, i don't really know why i bothered. Sure enough it's wonderful that you can put sub folders in folders and have unlimited pages of apps, and surely it's nice that you don't necessarily have to get into your apps to tweak them via settings, but i also have found that my phone has become a tiny bit more unstable. Not so much that it is a deal breaker, but still a bit more unstable. The fact that there could at least in theory be viruses lurking around doesn't make me any more secure. I will look at Velox, to see what it has to offer, but i doubt i'll be jailbreaking again once IOS 7 comes out. Just my 2 cents.

By Andrew on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - 14:44

My 4s is no less stable then it was inside the wall, as you put it. I would never go back. Activator and velox are two I cannot live without. Activator let's me be more efficient with my gestures and velox is great. For instance, with the Calendar view in velox, you can see your calendar events up to one month out; Apple only lets you view a calendar event 24 hours in advance within the notification center. I have to plan things out longer then that and I need to be able to see things at a glance; with the calendar view in velox, I can do this. With the settings app in velox, you don't have to even enter the app any longer to turn on/off Wi-Fi, blue tuth, or do not disturb among others. Been waiting a long time for something this straight forward and simple to come along that does this! I also have google now and SIRI on the phone, each providing me with their respective advantages. It's really unbelievable. The best part about all of this is that 85% of Velox is accessible and the dev will work on bringing the app up to speed with the remaining 15%. All of the other JB apps and tweeks I have are accessible too! It's a good time for the appleviz community. -Andrew-

Hi, It's interesting to read the discussions here for or against. I feel like with so many things nowadays, (which only says something about my age i guess:-)) that in the case of Activator, it's just way too much to fiddle with. Too many settings, too many choises, so i have it because you must have it unless you want to degrade your cool factor but i do not for the life of me know what to do with this beast. Same with springtomizer and InteliscreenX. Yeah i heard about the file transfer too, but am probably too stupid to figure out how it works, i can't get it to work, heck i don't even know what apps to use for this. Andrew, would be interesting though to know what tweaks you've got and what they do or can help me with, is there for example a tweak that lets me add/view/edit calendar events without actually going to the calendar, that is open those dialogs from anywhere? Another question is what is the point of being able to open third party apps if they happen to be viruses? Disclaimer: Please don't get me wrong, the fact that i sound angry just means i want to know more and learn more before the holes close so i can make an informed desition to stay jailbroken or perhaps enjoy the new features of the upcoming IOs7.

I seem to remember hearing about an app that quickly lets you starts calendar entries and a whole bunch of other things from the notification center that also had activator actions but I never looked at it as I rairly use the calendar... and if I do then I just end up giving siri the event info. As far as opening 3rd party apps, I'm really not sure where people get the idea that as soon as you jailbreak suddenly the whole internet and probably 90% of Cydia is looking to snag all of your precious contact info and Credit card numbers. That is simply not true, because even though there are millions of jailbroken devices it's still a minority to people who run stock iOS. And the only way you can get infected is if you install something yourself. As long as you change your root password and stick to well-known developers and the repos that are in cydia by default, you will be perfectly fine. Also, all of the banking apps (at least here in Poland) never store information on your device, they always pool it from the server and you always have to log in again when you quit the app... and I'd imagine the connection is encripted as well. Myself, I use my jailbreak to be able to ditch iTunes and still be able to have music on the device, lift some really stupid restrictions Apple has on the springboard like folder size being only 12/16 apps and an 11 page limit, get full filesystem access, and remove ads from websites, apps and even Google's Youtube app. Some people also use it to tweak Voiceover and have a pronounciation dictionary and speeding the speed up passed apple's 100% setting.

Ok, probably way beyond the scope of this thread but how do you change the root password? And if i change the root password, will something evil happen if i decide to unjailbreak?

By vallim on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - 14:44

I have multiple apple devices, the iPod is Jailbroken and I enjoy the versatility this brings, but my iPhone, which I use for business isn't and I will not change this. I have found that Jailbreaking does leave the device a little unstable on occations and there are apps that I miss on my iPhone which isn't, but this is the price one pays for a rock solid reliable platform. At least this is what I have found in my experience.

The first rule of jailbreaking is that it's not necessarily for everybody. But if you do want the additional control and customisation then it can be a great option. I only did it for the first time when the Evasion jailbreak for iOS6 came out in February, but I haven't looked back. As Peter said, the risk of viruses is minimal, particularly if you stick to the default repos and avoid pirated apps. The iDownloadBlog website and their podcast Let's Talk Jailbreak has been a great resource for me. The AppleVis user Musicruz did a step by step podcast on changing the route password, so I'd recommend you check that out for more information on that. I've found a number of tweaks that I would now hate to give up. Activator and Velox are very useful. SB Settings also gives quick access to Settings, something I think Apple will have to introduce in iOS7. Zephyr is a must have tweak which allows for gestures to switch between open apps and to close apps. Googiri lets you merge Google Voice with Siri, it's very impressive and free. Kill Background lets you easily kill all the apps in the app switcher in one go. CleverPin automatically disables the passcode when you're connected to your home wi-fi network. YourTube adds a download button to the standard YouTube app and lets you export audio and video. I also love being able to have larger folders and have folders inside folders. That's a few of my favourites anyway. I'm sure I could survive without the jailbreak as I loved my iPhone before it, but I'd rather keep it :)

By Tangela on Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 14:44

Like many of the commenters here, I am considering a jailbreak. Before I do, however, there are a few things I want to be sure of from the community at large. Is it possible to change the default keyboard? For example, if I have fleksy or one of the braille apps, can I use that as the default keyboard in place of the qwerty? Is it possible to download and use other speech synthesizers such as acapela or ivona, or even the hq voices on mac that did not make it into IOS? Is it possible to change the default browser? For example, can websites be opened in crome by default rather than safari? Finally, will I still be able to use all the apps I have installed from the standard apple app store, and will I be able to continue to download new apps and app updates from there? Thanks, Tangela

By Andrew on Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 14:44

Hello, Answers to your questions are as follows. Keyboards, there are other keyboards available, but as to the specific ones you want to use, not that I'm aware of. You have to have a developer that makes a specific keyboard app/tweak before you would be able to use it. I do not believe that flexy is one of them as of yet, but there are others. ChangingVoices, that is a huge "no." At least from my perspective. I mean, it can be done, but I cannot tell you how to do that, you would have to find an individual off list to help you with that one. Applevis does not like people to talk about changing voices on the site at all. Browsers, Yes, I have my default browser changed to crome. All links I click on open in crome and my default maps app is google maps as well. This can be done easily. You have 20+ browser options to choose from and a couple of map options. I use the tweak called browser changer for this one; keep in mind though, not all of those will be accessible, but it can be done. Finally, jailbreaking does not in any way shape or form affect your ability to download and use apps from the apple app store. There is absolutely no difference in using the apple apps store pre-jailbreak to post-jailbreak. That is a huge misconception. -Andrew-