We have some very smart (and very cool) folks that write for us here on JAiB, who are also very knowledgeable about all things iPhone of course. So I thought it might be fun to take a leaf out of the book of one of my favorite tech sites – Gear Diary – and do some occasional sharing of The Team’s thoughts.
Today, our topic is jailbreaking – and what makes it worthwhile, or not, for some of our contributors. Most of us have been jailbroken at one time or another – but I think all of us recognize that it is often a tough call on whether to do it, or to maintain a jailbreak when iPhone OS updates (that break JB) come out. Read on for some quick thoughts from several of us on this subject …
Alicia:
Never jailbroken. Never would either. I guess as a matter of principle. I wouldn’t "mod" my mac either, I like it the way it is, except for a few decorative embellishments.
Thomas:
My main deal is accessibility. I use apps like SBSettings and Stacks V3 to make my own ideal iPhone UI. That’s all of my apps on one home screen with one-swipe access to all of the radios.
Then there are apps like Elert and iRealQuickSMS that let me reply to and view messages without leaving the app I’m in — super useful for gaming.
Patrick:
Two main reasons why it is worthwhile for me: app switching and apps / home screen organizing. App switching is a huge advantage and is continually useful every day. And now thanks to PogoPlank I can run 170 apps, have just one home screen, and find and access all my apps much more easily and quickly.
Joe:
I have jailbroken before, mainly for backgrounder and winterboard, but can (and do) easily live without them when Apple comes out with a new firmware update that has things I need much, much more (like copy/paste, which was crappy with that JB app).
Currently stock and don’t feel a compelling urge to JB right now, mostly due to two reasons:
1. I use the iPhone much less here for things I’d want to have JB apps for — at least, the ones I know of.
2. Just the possibility of bricking a 3GS in Iraq sends shudders up my spine.
Josh:
I’ve been both jailbroken with every major OS version and non-jailbroken. I will jailbreak for a week or so to try out some new great hack or JB app, but I always return to stock eventually.
Like Michael said below, I don’t want the additional drain that I’ve noticed the JB puts on the battery. I don’t fully understand the technicalities of the jailbreak, but I have, without a doubt, measured a noticeable decrease in battery life when jailbroken. I also experience a significant reduction in OS and app stability, even with just a minimum amount of JB apps installed.
This instability even carries over to non-JB apps which are never a problem on a stock iPhone. For example, Navigon works perfectly on my stock iPhone, never crashes, is responsive. On a JB iPhone, with SBSettings, elert, tlert, qTweeter, and Backgrounder, Navigon continuously crashes and is very unresponsive, to the point of being unusable.
If I reduce the JB apps I’m using, then it starts to become an issue of why even bother? Isn’t the point of JB-ing to be able to do things that Apple doesn’t let the stock iPhone do, like run apps in the background (I only use this for streaming Pandora while doing something else), add some additional functionality to stock apps, or tweak the homescreen layout. I find it hard to justify JB-ing when even such a small amount of tweaks to my iPhone causes it to be so much more unstable and sluggish. The additional functionality isn’t worth the trade-off, in my opinion.
There are some very cool things that can be done with a JB iPhone, and I only wish it could be more stable and didn’t place such a hit on the battery. I wish someone could explain to me why a JB iPhone, even with no other apps on it, seems to drain the battery faster than a non-JB iPhone, same version and the exact same stock apps, nothing else, when placed side by side and kept running until drained. The JB one is always dead way before the stock one. I don’t understand why this would be.
*** A quick note on Josh’s headaches and issues. He is using an iPhone 3G. Although I’ve not had issues as severe or frequent as Josh’s when using previous generation iPhones, many of us agree that the whole jailbreak experience, and its impact on stability / performance etc, is far, far better on an iPhone 3GS.
Michael:
I’ve never gone the JB route so can’t comment on why its good.
But basically why I haven’t is that I don’t want to experience any (more than normal) battery drain – and the possibility of it completely going pear-shaped put me off.
So there you have it – our quick thoughts on jailbreaking and what does or doesn’t make it worthwhile.
Now we’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject. What makes it a go or no-go for you guys? Oh, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether this sort of sharing of team thoughts is something you’d like to see more of.
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Eh. I don't think these individuals have experienced jailbreaking on an iPhone 3GS. I notice zero difference in battery drain because I am smart about what I do when jailbreaking. Simply running blackra1n to jailbreak your iPhone will not drain your battery more than never running it. I'm sorry, but they're wrong in that aspect. If you install Backgrounder (which I feel is probably the biggest culprit for battery drain, and for good reason! It's running applications IN THE BACKGROUND!). However, Backgrounder has settings to enable when it's used. I just don't think people see the true potential in 'unleashing' all the power the iPhone has to offer that Apple is prohibiting. Use a jailbroken iPhone 3GS with a good, clean and proper jailbreak set-up for a day and I think they'd be singing a different tune.
Just my $0.02.
Hmmm – Thomas and I are using 3GS's for sure, and it was noted in the post that most of us agree there is a big difference in results between the 3GS and earlier models.
You are stoopid
You're right, as Patrick mentioned I have a 3G, not a 3GS.
My concerns are in regards to jailbreaking on a 3G, therefore I'm sure the 3GS experience is going to be better as the device is faster with more memory. I would love to try a JB on a 3GS if someone wants to send me one! 
SBSettings, Winterboard, BossPaper, Backgrounder/Kirikae, BiteSMS, and Categories are the reasons I jailbreak. I have a 3GS and have not had any issues, I am running 3.0.1 firmware.
I'm sorry Josh has had such a poor experience when trying a jailbreak. I personally have not had near as negative an experience. I am somewhat new to the iPhone world. I bought a 3G a year and a few months ago. I had it jailbroken in less than a week and have never once preferred being stock. I then bought the 3GS the first few days it was out. There was no jailbreak available on it for a few weeks, so I had to live with a stock setup. I missed my jailbreak every minute of those few weeks. Learning the ins and outs of jailbreaking slowly on my own since my first 3G, I have for sure experienced my share of instability issues, but overall I have not seen a general and constant negative impact on my phone at all.
Every once in awhile, I'll try out an app that has clearly been poorly coded and does cause crashes, memory issues, or excessive battery drain. When this happens, 99 times out of 100, all that's necessary is to remove the offending app and the phone is as good as new. Additionally, a large number of the jailbreak developers listen closely to user feedback and work out the problems very quickly and get a fix in a matter of days. (Boy it's nice not having to wait for the Apple review process in such cases!) I would be willing to bet the cost of a large pizza that the jailbreak itself causes such a minimal impact to performance and battery life that it's near impossible to measure. Yes, if you have SBSettings and MobileSubstrate, there will be a very very minor decrease in battery life. Yes, if you have Winterboard, there will be a (significant in WB's case) difference in available memory. Every little thing you use that tweaks the phone IS going to have an impact. However, that impact in most cases, is extremely low and more than worth it for most people.
I have a pizza waiting for you if you take your phone, jailbreak it but don't install anything through Cydia/Icy/RYP/whatever, and have a noticeable battery drain. I'll even add on the Navigon test. If your freshly jailbroken phone crashes while running Navigon, the pizza is yours. Be fair and honestly keep it a vanilla jailbreak AND do it from a fresh restore, not a restore from backup. Restoring from backup is known to cause many many instability problems. Yes, I am openly admitting that the more you install, the more chances you have for instability. With power comes great responsibility. When using a 3G or 2G with extremely limited resources, a great deal more restraint is needed. You do have to pick and choose which tweaks are important to you. You do have to juggle things around until you find something that's still stable and as close to what you want as possible.
I personally would MUCH rather have the opportunity to put in the extra effort to manage said balancing act, rather than be stuck with whatever Apple decided was good enough. A stock iPhone is NOT good enough for me. The day I am unable to jailbreak will probably be the day I start looking at other devices. Maybe I won't find one that does what I need, but I know for sure a stock iPhone doesn't.
Backgrounder, Lockinfo, and iRealSMS are absolute must-have features for me. Backgrounder on a 3GS is a whole new ballgame compared to the 3G. It actually lets the phone do what it should. I also can't imagine using the phone without other incredibly useful tweaks such as UAFaker, iFile, Safari Download Manager, Notifier, mQuickDo, and SBSettings. I am truly glad that you feel your phone does what you need it to do, I just don't understand why people are happy to have so many unnecessary restrictions placed on the usage of a device they paid for. If the restrictions were honestly there to protect the carriers or other users, I can somewhat see the point. But when the apps do nothing but make somebodies life easier, what is gained by restricting it?
Anyway, I'm getting way off topic now. The iPhone is amazing, but can be so much more via jailbreak. The jailbreak process itself is currently perfectly safe and any problem can always be fixed with a simple restore. It also, by itself, does not cause stability or battery life issues. I have everything mentioned above installed on my 3GS plus quite a bit more and my battery still lasts throughout the full workday unless the fiance is texting me a ton. I -never- have crashes at all unless I'm trying something new or beta testing the new iRealSMS. Memory is never a problem even when I'm backgrounding Pandora, texting the fiance, surfing the web, and get a phone call. Some self-restraint and control is absolutely necessary, so jailbreaking not for everyone. It will be a very sad day when it is no longer possible.
Sorry. Guess comments longer than the article are a bit much. Didn't realize I typed so much!
No worries Brian – as usual you comment delivered quality as well as quantity.
Sorry Brian, I had typed up a nice, long comment (blog post) to this, and then something happened and it disappeared. If you got it via email notification, great, otherwise I'll have to type something back up when I have another chance.
Cheers!
Jailbreaking since day 1.
Can confidently say that without a jailbreak I probably wouldn't use an iphone.
The added accesibilty and function of intelliscreen, stacks, spotbright, sbSettings and tlert are what complete the iphone experience IMO
As you noted, I would say that nearly all of Josh's issues come with the fact that he is on a 3G.
I see no reason to not jailbreak on a 3GS. If I pay $300 for a netbook, I expect to be able to change the background, icons, and install whatever I want to it. If I pay $600 for a phone less powerful than a netbook, I expect to be able to do the same, at a minimum. I think this is the #1 reason people JB.
The firmware updates are a nonissue since apple hasn't unleashed any significant updates since 3.0 and if you can wait 6 months to get an update, you can wait 2 weeks for a jailbreak solution. I run iRealQuick SMS, Winterboard, SBSettings, and LockInfo and notice no battery drain compared to non-jailbroken state. As many have said before people who JB tend to use their phones more heavily, thus the drain is not necessarily due to the JB itself. Backgrounder and other CPU intensive apps are obviously a little different.
I actually had an iPod touch JB'd first. I would have never bought an iPhone if I was not able to JB. Thus, if this one breaks and I can't find a JB-able iPhone, andriod or google phone it is.
Who's up for starting the 'Get Josh on a 3GS fund'???
Hahahahaha!!! I do want one, seriously, but don't want to spend the money now, then have to spend it again next summer if Verizon launches a 4G version (just rumors but I'm waiting to see)!
I think really the only reason I have yet to JB my iPhone is due to fear…. I am too scared that it would be my luck & I will turn my 3Gs into a brick or paper weight. There is soooo much I would love to take advantage of such as 1 homescreen for all my apps, stacks for organization, turn off some stock apps, plus GOOGLE VOICE!!! I would KILL to have a Google Voice app on my iPhone right now. I use it everyday & it is such a pain to use the stupid web app they have right now. What are the chances of screwing up your iPhone trying to JB it?
1 : 1,000! Don't be afraid, come to the darkside!!! Don't you just wanna try out all these cool things the crew is always talking about on here?? I wished you lived near here, i'd do it for you. With the new firmware and blackra1n it LITERALLY takes 10 seconds to do. And voila!! Your beloved iphone becomes an iphone all jacked up on steroids ready to take on the world! Just give it a shot Frank, you'll be glad you did.
@Josh: If you've waited this long you might as well wait for the newest iphone this summer….that's still pretty unbelievable that u have a 3G! LOL
@All: Love the Team thoughts…I think it is a welcome and great addition. I'm a firm believer in the power of multiple minds together, so the more perspectives about a topic, the better! Keep it up!
And no more postponing the Talkcast!! LOL
Hey Shobizz – very glad to hear you like the team thoughts stuff. Promise the Talkcast will be good to go on 12/2 – AND we've got e helluva cool guest as well
(top secret for now)
I am really thinking about jailbreaking tonight…. I would love to customize my iPhone & download Google Voice. I am looking online now to find the best way to do this….
Frank the blackra1n method seems to be the easiest I've found. Takes just a moment and you don't have to build a custom OS image to install. Good luck!
LOL I got a 3GS the day they came out, turned out to be defective, then the wait time for a replacement was so long because of the shortage, that i just went back to my 3G. I'm just waiting to see what happens next summer, with the rumors of a Verizon 4G device. I will drop AT&T the moment Verizon offers an iPhone.
Ok I am officially a rebel… I jailbroke my iPhone about 5 minutes ago & WOW!!! You guys were right it literally took like 5 minutes to complete the entire process. I downloaded Google Voice immediately and I could not be happier!!! This is exactly what I have been wanting on my iPhone…. Ok guys now I have to go and play… Thanks everyone for the advice
Great stuff Frank. Have fun playing and let us know how it goes and all your discoveries.
i recently bought the iphone 3gs, before i had a first gen ipod touch and had it jailbroken and fell in love with it features. now i just jailbroke my 3gs and once is been downloaded, as soon as i download any app off of cydia my iphone automatically goes into restoration mode and i have to restore it. does anyone else have this problem?
Any chance you chose to also install the Icy app store when you jailbroke? If so, I know that has caused some people very severe issues. If you did, you could try removing it via the Blackra1n app if you kept it around, or just try re-jailbreaking and de-selecting it. If you did not jailbreak with blackra1n and / or did not choose to install Icy, then ignore this advice
If you still need help, tell us what method you used to jailbreak, so we can locate the problem.
Jailbreak all the way. SBSettings (of course), iRealQuickSMS (so much easier), yourtube, orbit, qtweeter, 3G unrestrictor, tethering capabilities, and categories are well worth the one button jailbreak. A jailbreak is so easy to do and with apps like appbackup, re-jailbreaking is easier than ever.
If you're not jailbroken, you're not getting the full iPhone experience.
long comment myself
I had jailbroken my 3GS and was enjoying it. I did notice a battery drain, but not unlivable. Then through a sad series of events my iPhone wound up being nicely laundered. Very clean. Sadly, non-functional. And if that's not the stupidest iPhone destruction story you've all ever heard, I fear for the world.
So I now have a new 3GS, but don't want to deal with the hassle of a tethered jailbreak. So stock it is for me!
Oh Yikes – that's awful Lesley. So sorry. Can't argue with ya on the 'doh – that's not clever' side of things
As a developer, my reasons for wanting to jailbreak are perhaps different from the average user. I don’t really care about theming or quick access to SMS or ringtones.
The iPhone isn’t simply a phone – it’s a computer. It even runs the same basic operating system as a Mac: Darwin. It has the capability of doing the same things as a normal computer, and yet it can’t as Apple has severely restricted it. I can’t SSH into it, I can’t write applications that integrate with the OS… I can’t even run my own code without paying Apple, and even then I can only do it with OS X/Xcode (I’m primarily a Linux user).
Jailbreaking is basically nothing more than a few patches to allow unsigned code (i.e. code that has not been stamped with a developer’s $100 a year certificate) to run on the device and to give full access to the file system. Jailbreaking won’t drain your battery, it won’t contact the authorities, it won’t beat up your grandmother.
Yes, not all jailbreak-software is 100% stable; even my projects have had (and still have) their fair share of bugs. But at least these developers are trying. There are still a *lot* of neat/useful things that could be done via jailbreaking – if only more developers would make the attempt instead of wasting time pumping out throw-away AppStore apps.
Yes, I am having a lot of fun… It's rediscovering my iPhone all over again. I was wondering if anyone could list some essential JB apps I should download. Thanks
You could take a look at our list of 15 favorites:
http://tinyurl.com/yftr6qg
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