It’s been nearly 2 months since Apple killed the iOS 8/8.1jailbreak, and in that time we’ve seen the public release of iOS 8.2 and multiple betas of iOS 8.3. So with that in mind, along with the hundreds of questions we’ve received on the subject, we decided it was time to take a look at the current state of thejailbreak.
Before we start talking about iOS 8.2, it’s important to know how we got here. ApplereleasediOS 8 on September 17 of last year, and iOS 8.1onOctober 20. By October 22nd, the Pangu team hadreleaseda jailbreak available for both firmwares.
Less than a month later, Apple released iOS 8.1.1, which effectivelykilledthe Pangu jailbreak. But another Asian group of hackers, TaiG, swooped in to save the day, androlled outa jailbreak that not only worked for 8.1.1, but also 8.1.2 as well.
Unfortunately, though, the TaiG jailbreak utility was only available for Windows, and that’s where the PP jailbreak came into play. On January 18, weconfirmedthat the PP software for Macs was able to jailbreak devices running iOS 8.1.2.
Then Apple released iOS 8.1.3, and once againresetour game.
We haven’t had a working jailbreak since Apple released iOS 8.1.3 on January 27 (unless you countiOS 8.2 beta 2), and we are now on iOS 8.2. There’s no word on when 8.2 will be jailbroken, and with iOS 8.3 already being tested by developers, it seems like we won’t be seeing anything for a while.
But thereishope. Over the weekend, Semaphorereleaseda beta version of his downgrade-aiding tool TinyUmbrella. This is the first TU release we’ve seen in many, many months, and it’s believed it signals that we may soon be able to manuallydowngradeto jailbreakable firmware on our iOS devices—something we haven’t been able to do in years.
Even more promising is that the TaiG team hasannouncedthat it’s organizing a jailbreak convention of sorts, entitled ‘Mobile Security Summit,’ slated for March 27th. Rumor has it that the team may use the event to launch a new iOS 8.2 jailbreak, but even if that doesn’t materialize, the fact that some of the brightest hackers from around the world will be hanging out definitely works in our favor.
What does all of this mean? Nothing yet. It’s important to reiterate that there is currentlyno public jailbreakavailable for iOS 8.1.3, 8.2 or 8.3. So if you see someone on Twitter, a video on YouTube, or a website claiming otherwise, chances are it’s a scam. We report on jailbreak releases almost instantly here on iDB, even if it happens overnight, so you can bet that if something legit comes about, we’re on it.
All of this being said, the future of jailbreaking looks very bright. We now have multiple jailbreak teams in Asia working on exploits, and developers continue toupdatetheir classic tweaks andcreatenew ones. So sit back, relax, and be sure to continue to check back with iDB for the latest in jailbreak news. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear any new developments.
