As Apple are moving on to iOS 10 in their main development efforts, so are the developers of jailbreak tools for the operating system, at least the more prominent teams. Reports indicate that iOS 9.3.4 may be the last one to be actively targeted by jailbreakers at the moment, and after that teams like Pangu are going to work hard on cracking iOS 10 and its upcoming updates.
This means that those who prefer iOS 9 over 10 should stick with version 9.3.4 and avoid updating to anything above, otherwise they may lose the ability to jailbreak their devices. Plus, it seems like the value of iOS 9.3.5 is questionable at best right now, so it doesn’t look like they would be missing out on too many critical features by doing that.
There is another important factor to consider as well, for those who are planning to stay on iOS 9.3.4. Malware developers are likely going to start targeting this operating system’s specific version, as they know that many people will still be on it due to having jailbroken their phones. Combined with the lower security that a jailbroken iOS comes with, those who choose to stay on this version are going to have to be very careful.
It’s also worth pointing out that the rumors about halting jailbreak development have really only been mentioned with regards to Pangu, and other teams have seemingly been more tight-lipped on the issue. It’s possible that someone else may decide to continue working on iOS 9 in the future, but it doesn’t seem very likely now.
With so many people moving to iOS 10, most jailbreak teams would be smart to stay with the flow and focus their efforts on the version that most people are using. The new version of iOS is likely going to pose new challenges for those developers, as Apple have been getting better and better at preventing unwanted access to the operating system, but we don’t doubt that jailbreak teams are going to keep fighting.
Meanwhile, the debate about Apple’s stance on jailbreaking tools continues, and many people remain disappointed by the fact that the company is so actively going after those who develop such tools. Many people seem to have a more liberal opinion of jailbreak developers these days, claiming that Apple are doing more harm to the community than good by interfering with the work of jailbreak developers.
At the same time, we’ve seen some worrying developments around that scene, such as malware aimed at users of certain popular jailbreak tools. It’s clear that there are many maliciously minded people out there who will readily exploit any holes in that situation, which is probably part of Apple’s motivation for being so vigilant.
Some of their users actually seem thankful for the company’s efforts, and claim that the company is doing everything it can to balance things out.
It’s true that Apple now allow people to side-load apps under special circumstances, addressing one of the primary concerns from the jailbreak community. But at the same time, they could probably do a lot more to make their operating system free and accessible to more people. This would be beneficial to power users, who are largely using Android for its heavy customization features nowadays. Apple have an opportunity to turn the tides, but it remains to be seen if they’ll seize it.