Apple’s latest mobile operating system, the iOS 9 will be launching in about two weeks time with the American tech giant’s scheduled event on September 9 and it is likely to come with the company’s latest iPhones and the iPad mini 4, if some reports are right on the money.
Just when jailbreakers thought that they have seen the last of the Apple iOS before the iOS 9, the American tech giant rolled out the iOS 8.4 firmware update on June 30. The jailbreakers got surprised when Apple seeded the beta version of the iOS 8.4.1 some two weeks later.
The jailbreakers were obviously worried of releasing the jailbreak tweaks and other apps for iOS 8.4 because once Apple officially releases the subsequent iOS 8.4.1, some, if not most of their jailbreak tweaks and apps will no longer work on the iOS devices.
That has been the game of Apple with jailbreak developers. The company has been trying to outsmart the jailbreakers and make them second-guess Apple’s next moves as far as its iOS is concerned.
Apple claims that its latest iOS 9 would be very difficult to jailbreak, but that remains to be seen as no iOS have not been jailbroken at all.
Beta version already out
When Apple seeded the beta version of its iOS 9 to developers on August 6, it was already confirmed that its iOS 8.4.1 will be the last firmware update before its next major OS arrives officially on September 9.
So when Apple officially released the iOS 8.4.1 on August 13, less than a month before the scheduled formal launching of the iOS 9, those who took in the iOS 8.4 jailbreak exploits actually enjoyed more than a month of unhampered tweaks and apps.
The closeness of the release of the iOS 8.4.1 to the rollout of the iOS 9 will actually make jailbreakers think twice whether they will come up with an iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak since the tweaks and apps may actually be good for less than one month only.
Just the same, one big name jailbreak developer proceeded with it if only to show the tech community that it can jailbreak anything whatever OS the American tech giant throws at them.
Apple versus jailbreakers
Reputable Chinese jailbreak developer, Pangu, has recently demonstrated a jailbreak for iOS 8.4.1. The Pangu jailbreak team unveiled a proof of concept at the HackPwn 2015 security conference last week, showing that it was able to jailbreak iOS 8.4.1 on an iPhone 6, details Tech Times.
The Pangu Team’s jailbreak was demonstrated just a week after Apple released the software update and also amid the company’s claim of security updates for 40 known exploits coming at the heels of TaiG’s public release of its jailbreak utility for iOS 8.4. TaiG is also a China-based hacking team that offers iOS users jailbreaking tools and options.
When Apple released the new iOS 8.4.1, it rendered TaiG’s iOS 8.4 jailbreak unusable, much to the chagrin of iOS users who took in the jailbreak exploits, notes Christian Today.
Subsequently, Apple has also stopped signing all its products with iOS 8.4, which means that once a user updates to iOS 8.4.1, they will not be able to revert their device to its previous mobile operating system version. This makes it all the more important for users with a jailbroken iOS 8.4 to stay away from the update.
The American tech giant has obviously raised its battle against jailbreakers a notch higher as if to say that it means business when it said that iOS 9 will be difficult to jailbreak.
However, as if to tease Apple that it can jailbreak any iOS, the Pangu Team made some breast-beating of the iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak.
While jailbreaking an iPhone of other iOS devices allows users to gain root access to the iOS file system, Apple does not officially endorse it, as it considers jailbreaking a threat to the security of the iOS.