One of the things that sets apart iOS from the other mobile operating systems, is the approach Apple have to the openness of the platform – or rather, the lack of it. Apple’s view is that they should be in full control over the software of their devices, unlike Android which is known for being relatively open to modifications. Of course, it’s been known for a long time that iOS is not entirely secure when it comes to preventing user modifications – and now, reports indicate that a jailbreak is already available for the latest release of the OS, iOS 8.1.1.
The news comes from none other than iH8sn0w – users who have been involved with the jailbreak scene before should already know the name, as he was responsible for a number of previous jailbreaks, and was the person to pioneer certain techniques in the process of jailbreaking iOS devices.
Recently, Apple closed the security holes in their system which made the previous jailbreak methods possible, and while the company seemed sure that they’ve stopped the issue for good, it didn’t take long for the cracking community to prove them wrong. According to iH8sn0w, the current jailbreak has been in development for about one week so far, which makes its development a bit of an impressive feat.
There is only one problem in this case – the new jailbreak method doesn’t work on all iOS devices, it’s limited to those that use a 30-pin connector. Namely, the list is comprised of the iPad 2, iPad 3, and the iPhone 4s. Admittedly, this isn’t a very large selection, and this news might be particularly disappointing to owners of newer iPhone models and other iOS devices with the Lightning Connector, but it’s still something.
According to the hacker, he has no idea if he will be able to find a solution for Lightning Connector devices. The problem reportedly stems from the fact that the Lightning Connector does not support a serial connection mode, which is required for the jailbreaking process.
Users who prefer to keep their devices jailbroken are advised to avoid updating to iOS 8.1.1 until a more stable method has been discovered and released. It should be noted that while iH8sn0w is one of the most prominent people in this scene, he’s far from the only one looking for a hole in Apple’s security wall. And with so many eyes on the target, it’s expected that a proper jailbreak will be released soon enough. Until then, either upgrade to 8.1.1 and have your device locked to the default settings for a while, or keep it at a lower iOS version and wait for updates from the jailbreaking community.