Goodbye! iPhone jailbreaking is dead

I believe many friends still remember "PP Assistant".

PP Assistant is an early iOS App download platform that also integrates a large number of iOS tools. It is a "magic tool" in the hearts of many Apple fans.

This is nothing. The most amazing thing is that PP Assistant has teamed up with Pangu (a domestic iOS jailbreak team) to launch the world's first perfect jailbreak tool for iOS 7.1.1.

As long as you install PP Assistant, you can achieve "one-click jailbreak", turning a complicated jailbreak into a completely fool-proof operation.

However, as the demand for jailbreaking decreases, PP Assistant appears less and less frequently on iPhones.

Recently, Xiao Lei saw a piece of news that PP Assistant will officially shut down the iOS version of its products on February 28, 2020, including PP Assistant iOS version, PP Assistant iOS PC version, etc.

After seeing the news, Xiao Lei couldn't help but sigh.

Because the shutdown of PP Assistant means that the artifact in the hearts of Apple fans is about to become history, and Xiao Lei’s youth is about to say goodbye.

The jailbreak era is gone

Speaking of jailbreaking, this was a "trend" in the past few years.

When many people get a new phone, the first thing they do is not to post on WeChat Moments, but to jailbreak it.

Advertisements on street stalls include not only screen protectors but also jailbreaking products.

During his high school years, Xiao Lei also spent a lot of time on various forums, always trying to find some new plug-ins and new themes in the forums.

I have also stayed up all night waiting for the new jailbreak software to be released in the middle of the night, and then excitedly installed a bunch of plug-ins.

Some kids may not understand why an iPhone needs to be jailbroken. Why should a good iPhone be jailbroken?

Well, this has to start from the previous iOS system.

At that time, the iOS system had many imperfections, which, looking back today, even seem a bit inhumane.

For example, before iOS8, there was no location for incoming calls. Sometimes when a call came in, you didn’t know where the phone number came from.

Therefore, we can only jailbreak and install plug-ins such as "kuaidial" to realize the call attribution function.

Also, the cellular network switch was not available before iOS 11. For non-jailbroken iPhones, you can only manually turn it off by going into the settings.

However, for jailbroken iPhones, you can install control center plug-ins such as "CCsetting" to add a traffic network switch.

Many people need third-party input methods, gesture operations, SMS interception and other essential functions, which can also be achieved by installing plug-ins after jailbreaking.

At the same time, jailbreaking can also beautify the system, such as changing the theme, changing the operator name, changing the App icon, etc.

Xiao Lei still remembers that he found a plug-in that could make all the App icons fall off. After installing it, he immediately showed it to his friends and felt like he was the coolest guy on this street.

In fact, another big reason for jailbreaking is that you can get paid apps for free.

At that time, we were used to free and cracked products, and we did not have such a high awareness of copyright as we do now, so we could not accept paying for apps.

But jailbreaking can bypass the App Store and install some apps that originally required payment.

Why is jailbreaking not necessary now?

Times have changed. After a few years, no one pays attention to jailbreaking anymore.

For example, the jailbreak for iOS13-iOS13.3 was recently released, but even loyal Apple fans don’t know all about it.

Jailbreaking used to be almost a must for installing a computer, but today it has become a relatively niche thing.

We no longer need to jailbreak, largely because of the continuous improvement of iOS (it may also be because Apple fans complain too much).

iOS has gradually added features such as call location, text message blocking, and cellular network switching in the control center.

Software permissions are also gradually developed to developers, such as third-party input methods.

It can basically satisfy iPhone users, so there is less demand for jailbreaking.

At the same time, Apple also carried out a wave of "reverse operations" and implemented a vulnerability bounty program, spending money in exchange for information on iOS system vulnerabilities discovered by hackers.

That’s not enough. Apple also recruits some powerful hackers as their employees to provide advice on system security.

Emmm...it turns out that if you have money you can do whatever you want.

Security issues caused by jailbreaking

One of the main reasons why people are reluctant to jailbreak nowadays is security issues.

Because the jailbroken iPhone bypasses Apple's system mechanism and has read and write permissions at the bottom level of the system.

Without the protection of Apple's security system-level security mechanisms, it is very vulnerable to hacker attacks.

In addition, after the jailbreak, the iPhone cannot perform system updates and upgrades via OTA.

We all know that iOS updates, in addition to adding new features, have another reason, which is to fix bugs (system over-smoothness).

Therefore, some security vulnerabilities will be updated through OTA. After jailbreaking, iPhones cannot get security updates through OTA, and security risks will accumulate.

Unlike before, now we are completing more and more large transactions on mobile phones, such as QR code payment, facial payment, fingerprint payment, etc.

At the same time, there are many relatively private things such as passwords, photos, videos, etc. stored on mobile phones. Once these are leaked, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Although the current iOS system is not very good, there are still many areas that need to be improved.

For example, the call recording function has long been a standard feature on Android, but it has never been available on iOS (of course this also involves privacy issues).

Even now, these missing functions can be achieved by jailbreaking and installing plug-ins.

But none of us are willing to take the risk of jailbreaking. Between security and small functions, the balance in our hearts naturally leans towards security.

Although Xiao Lei's iPhone is no longer jailbroken, and the Android phones next to it will no longer use third-party ROMs, simplicity and ease of use are the future development trends of mobile phone systems.

Booting, SHSH, imperfect jailbreak... these things used to be what Xiao Lei had to watch every day, but he may never come into contact with them again in the future. They have become nouns in his mind one by one.