Guide to Jailbreaking
A Baby Guide to Jailbreaking and iOS by ya boy Kendog
This guide is out of date. Go Jailbreak iOS 8.4
Introduction
So you want to Jailbreak your phone, huh? Well you've made the right choice in coming to my guide first. There's a lot to learn about Jailbreaking. I won't be covering advanced things such as SSH and your '/var', that may be for another guide. We will, however, go over some basic things ever jailbreaker should know about iOS. After this guide I hope that you leave with a sweet looking device that should be the way you want it to be--not what Apple intended--as well as much more knowledge of iOS.
DISCLOSURE: Jailbreaking is considered illegal if used to pirate apps and etc. Jailbreaking is against the license agreement that you've signed upon purchase of your Apple device. This means jailbreaking your device will void your warranty and forfeit any right to support.
For more information on the legality of jailbreaking, see this link.
By reading this guide you acknowledge that I, Kenny Tran, the author of this guide, will not be held responsible for any bricked, broken, or unstable devices. If you fuck up trying to jailbreak your phone, that is on you. I am not obligated to come down and try to fix it for you, however if you catch me in a good mood I might consider toubleshooting for you. Be aware that that will be out of kindness and not obligation.
DISCLOSURE: Jailbreaking is considered illegal if used to pirate apps and etc. Jailbreaking is against the license agreement that you've signed upon purchase of your Apple device. This means jailbreaking your device will void your warranty and forfeit any right to support.
For more information on the legality of jailbreaking, see this link.
By reading this guide you acknowledge that I, Kenny Tran, the author of this guide, will not be held responsible for any bricked, broken, or unstable devices. If you fuck up trying to jailbreak your phone, that is on you. I am not obligated to come down and try to fix it for you, however if you catch me in a good mood I might consider toubleshooting for you. Be aware that that will be out of kindness and not obligation.
About iOS8
With the addition of iOS8, Apple is starting to be a little more flexible with the types of apps that can appear on the appstore. You can expect to see third party apps that change the appearance of the phone such as keyboard apps for example. Currently on iOS7, there are no such thing as those tweaks so avoid downloading anything from the appstore that looks like it will customize your phone and make it do all kinds of crazy shit. It won't. Avoid all that bullshit by not downloading it and supporting those shady developers. It pisses me off that apple allows those apps to be on the appstore in the first place.
Jailbreaking the Device
Before You Start
For a complete list of devices and iOS versions that can be jailbroken, use this link to download the appropriate version of jailbreak.
Also, remember to be up to date with the latest version of iTunes (link)
If you are going to update your device before you jailbreak, make sure to do it via iTunes. OTA updates can cause your device to be unjailbreakable.
And another important step: BACKUP YOUR DEVICE. This is important for 2 reasons.
1. When you decide you don't want the jailbreak anymore you can simply restore your device to a previous state without having to factory reset it and lose all your data.
2. In the event something goes bad you can restore it and try to jailbreak it again.
I also recommend to visit the Jailbreak FAQ if you have any questions about jailbreaking.
Also, remember to be up to date with the latest version of iTunes (link)
If you are going to update your device before you jailbreak, make sure to do it via iTunes. OTA updates can cause your device to be unjailbreakable.
And another important step: BACKUP YOUR DEVICE. This is important for 2 reasons.
1. When you decide you don't want the jailbreak anymore you can simply restore your device to a previous state without having to factory reset it and lose all your data.
2. In the event something goes bad you can restore it and try to jailbreak it again.
I also recommend to visit the Jailbreak FAQ if you have any questions about jailbreaking.
Because I don't have an extra device laying around to jailbreak for you, I will have to recommend a Youtube video. I know linking a Youtube video is highly unprofessional of me, but I am just a 16 year old kid who isn't a professional at all and doesn't have $$$ laying around to go buy another device just to walk you through on how to jailbreak. I've been watching his videos for a while and he is probably one of the only youtubers who cover jailbreaking that I trust.
How To Jailbreak iOS 7.1.2 / 7.1 Untethered - Pangu 1.1.0 iPhone, iPad & iPod
After Jailbreaking
Yay! Your device is officially jailbroken! But don't exit out of my guide yet! There's still much more to cover. Time for you to secure your device to make sure nobody can hack it and potentially steal your data. Yes, this can happen. You can do this by changing your default SSH password. Out of pure laziness, I will link another guide.
Tweaks
After changing your default SSH password, you are now ready to begin installing all the glorious tweaks you desire. In Cydia, tweaks indicated by blue text means that tweak must be paid for. Black text means it's free. There are some tweaks that have trial/basic versions however.
Imagine Cydia as a second appstore. This appstore is filled with wonderful apps that Apple doesn't like very much because they give users too much control. We call these apps 'tweaks'. Some must have tweaks are iFile, Activator, MobileTerminal, CrashReporter, HiddenSettings7, CCToggles, CCLoader,LockHTML3, Winterboard, and iWidgets. Of that list, iFile is probably the most important, as it will allow you to access your '/var' and grant you access to all the innards of iOS.
Imagine Cydia as a second appstore. This appstore is filled with wonderful apps that Apple doesn't like very much because they give users too much control. We call these apps 'tweaks'. Some must have tweaks are iFile, Activator, MobileTerminal, CrashReporter, HiddenSettings7, CCToggles, CCLoader,LockHTML3, Winterboard, and iWidgets. Of that list, iFile is probably the most important, as it will allow you to access your '/var' and grant you access to all the innards of iOS.
Repos
Repos, short for repositories, are where tweaks are hosted. Developers will sometimes have their tweaks listed on their own repos for various reasons. It's also important that you do not delete any of the default repos and try to keep the number of repos you have low. If you add a repo just for one tweak, it's best to delete that repo after and if you want to keep receiving updates for that tweak you can go to that listed tweak in cydia, go to 'change package settings' and turn on 'show all changes'.
Themes
Probably my favorite part of jailbreaking. Themes are just that, themes. You can apply themes using Winterboard and download themes from cydia. If you are like me, you will want your phone looking unique and different from any other setup out there. With the right themes, you can have your phone looking like a windows phone or an android. The possibilities are endless.
My Current Setup
Themes/Tweaks used for purposes of theming:
- Nanna - theme
- Abstergo Loading - loader
- Flex - Whitestatus bar
- Alkaline - Battery
- Aromy - Lock sound
- Barrel - Page animations
- Bloard - Black Keyboard
- Boover - Notification Badges
- Bytafont 2 - Typeface
- Cataracs - Lockscreen (http://repo.winneonssword.net/)
- Uniformity - Control center (http://pnre.co)
- Dot Status Bars - Wifi and Signal (http://justadddesign.net/repo/)
- Chroma - UI color
- ColorFlow - Music app color
- Cloaky - Edits status bar
- customLS - Hides lockscreen elements
- DockShit - Changes dock background
- FlagPaint7 -Banner tint
- HomescreenDesigner - Icon arrangement
- Infinidock - 5 icon dock
- iWidgets - Time and temp. widget
- Jellylock7 - unlocks phone
- Stride2 - Draw passcode
- NCWeather - Weather information in notification center
- Spin - Lockscreen music player
- Zeppelin - carrier logo (http://repo.alexzielenski.com/)
- 2x2 Folder Icons - changes folder icons from 3x3 to 2x2
Finishing Up
I recommend keeping a folder on your computer filled with all of your jailbreak utilities. I keep mine filled with custom themes, wallpapers, typefaces, etc. so I always have a backup of them in case I want to update my phone or rejailbreak.
It's important to always keep your tweaks up to date and your phone running as smooth as possible. I recommend iCleaner Pro (repo: http://cydia.anglexwind.net/). What this tweak does is clear your cache to ensure you don't of temporary files taking up unnecessary space in your phone. Another tweak that's important is Switchspring. It allows you to respring your device from the app switcher by sliding up your homepage.
It's important to always keep your tweaks up to date and your phone running as smooth as possible. I recommend iCleaner Pro (repo: http://cydia.anglexwind.net/). What this tweak does is clear your cache to ensure you don't of temporary files taking up unnecessary space in your phone. Another tweak that's important is Switchspring. It allows you to respring your device from the app switcher by sliding up your homepage.
Safe Mode
Sometimes your phone will crash into safe mode. Safe mode can occur if your phone runs out of memory or a tweak is conflicting another. This is why CrashReporter is a must have tweak. When an app or your springboard crashes, it will send you a notification letting you know the cause of the crash.
r/Jailbreak
If you use reddit you should subscribe to the Jailbreak subreddit to get the latest information on Jailbreaking, to discover tweaks, or ask questions about Jailbreaking.