Reports on the iOS jailbreak scene tend to move at a lightning speed – just recently, the situation was that nobody had managed to crack the protection of iOS 10, and there was no tool on the horizon for the latest version of the operating system. That reportedly included Pangu, one of the most prominent teams on the jailbreak scene.
However, today the story seems to be different. According to the most recent reports from the scene, Pangu may have actually been successful in cracking the advanced protection of iOS 10, and are preparing to release their tool to the public.
It’s not yet clear if the tool actually supports the full range of iOS 10 devices, or if it’s limited to a smaller number of them. There were previously rumors that Pangu had managed to crack iOS 10, but only on a select few devices, and that was apparently the reason for their refusal to release the tool publicly.
That’s why most people assume that the tool will cover all iOS 10 devices, as otherwise there wouldn’t be much else to add from Pangu’s side, and it wouldn’t make much sense to hear these new claims today. Of course, much of this information is unofficial and coming from unconfirmed sources, so it’s hard to tell what the truth is.
This is a pretty standard case with the jailbreak community, as many people involved in it tend to work in secrecy and don’t even reveal their full names. There are some exceptions of course, but usually people who manage to jailbreak iOS and reveal their identity don’t end up releasing their tools to the public.
Apple have been moving forward with new versions of iOS in the meantime, and they’ve been quietly dropping support for older ones. After the company has stopped signing a particular iOS release, this makes it impossible for legitimate users to downgrade to it anymore, and Apple have been using this as a measure to force people to move up to newer versions.
This has been a controversial measure among their fans, but the company seems insistent on forcing people to stay on a specific minimum version of iOS on a regular basis. They can hardly be blamed either, as recent developments in the software industry have proven that the best approach to an ongoing product like this, is to make sure that as many users as possible end up on the latest version in a reasonable timeframe.
The problem for the jailbreak community is that users may eventually find themselves forced to upgrade to a version of iOS for which there is no jailbreak solution yet, therefore losing the ability to customize their devices.
This has made it particularly important for some to get their hands on a jailbreak tool for iOS 10 as soon as possible, and there is currently a lot of anticipation within the community. As soon as someone comes out with a stable, working program that can target iOS 10 devices, they will enjoy quite a lot of popularity.
However, same have issued warnings to the iOS community for this very reason. According to some skeptics, the situation creates a perfect opportunity for hackers who want to attack iOS 10 device owners, due to the large number of people actively looking for a jailbreak tool at the moment. The sketchy nature of the tools themselves means that users likely won’t raise their eyebrows at warnings from the operating system.