The moment many iOS 7 users have been waiting 4 has finally arrived. In a surprise announcement on Sunday (and just in time for the holidays), the Evasion team has released the first untethered jailbreak for iOS 7. The update is compatible with any and all iOS devices running iOS 7 firmwares up to 7.0.4.
The entire process of installing the jailbreak takes only a few minutes, and seems to work fairly well. Unfortunately, the jailbreak is not without some deep concerns. According to the creator of Cydia (the unofficial market for jailbreak apps), the version of Cydia provided in the jailbreak is NOT official. In fact, he was not even notified that the jailbreak would be released.
Fueling a host of privacy concerns, the jailbreak exploit also includes the Chinese App Store Taig, which enables easy piracy of official App Store alls within the jailbreak. The Evad3rs defend this choice, however, under the banner of offering a greater level of consumer choice.
Finally, the Evad3rs team offers the following important warnings and considerations which anyone should heed before attempting to apply the jailbreak to their device:
Important! Read me!
- Backup your device using iTunes (or iCloud) before using evasi0n. If something breaks, you’ll always be able to recover your data.
- Please disable the lock passcode of your iOS device before using evasi0n. It can cause issues.
- Avoid all iOS and iTunes related tasks until evasi0n is complete. Why not just enjoy a brief break from the computer to stretch your legs?
- If the process gets stuck somewhere, it’s safe to restart the program, reboot the device (if necessary by holding down Power and Home until it shuts down), and rerun the process.
- If you get an error on OS X 10.8 saying that evasi0n can’t be opened, control-click (or right-click) the app and on the revealed context menu, choose ‘Open.’ On the ensuing dialogue box, choose ‘Open’ as well.
Finally, we’d like to add a warning of our own. Apple has officially declared that jailbreaking your iOS device is not supported IN ANY WAY. It will void your warranty, and can cause a number of problems that could affect the wquality of your experience, compromise device security, or even damage your device. We agree with and echo Apple’s official warning:
iOS is designed to be reliable and secure from the moment you turn on your device. Built-in security features protect against malware and viruses and help to secure access to personal information and corporate data. Unauthorized modifications to iOS (“jailbreaking”) bypass security features and can cause numerous issues to the hacked iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, including:
- Security vulnerabilities: Jailbreaking your device eliminates security layers designed to protect your personal information and your iOS device. With this security removed from your iOS device, hackers may steal your personal information, damage your device, attack your network, or introduce malware, spyware or viruses.
- Instability: Frequent and unexpected crashes of the device, crashes and freezes of built-in apps and third-party apps, and loss of data.
- Shortened battery life: The hacked software has caused an accelerated battery drain that shortens the operation of an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch on a single battery charge.
- Unreliable voice and data: Dropped calls, slow or unreliable data connections, and delayed or inaccurate location data.
- Disruption of services: Services such as Visual Voicemail, Weather, and Stocks have been disrupted or no longer work on the device. Additionally, third-party apps that use the Apple Push Notification Service have had difficulty receiving notifications or received notifications that were intended for a different hacked device. Other push-based services such as iCloud and Exchange have experienced problems synchronizing data with their respective servers.
- Inability to apply future software updates: Some unauthorized modifications have caused damage to iOS that is not repairable. This can result in the hacked iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iOS update is installed.
Apple strongly cautions against installing any software that hacks iOS. It is also important to note that unauthorized modification of iOS is a violation of the iOS end-user software license agreement and because of this, Apple may deny service for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that has installed any unauthorized software.
For more information, or to download the jailbreak, check out the official Evad3rs website.
