Apple has been stepping up its game when it comes to security. That’s why there are certain things iPhones cannot do such as using a microSD card, connecting to Android phones, opening multiple apps, etc. Yes, iPhones do not have the capability to connect to any android phone via Bluetooth without using a third party Bluetooth app. The main reason why Apple implements this strict rule is for the users’ security. Because of the limitations, many users have resorted to jailbreaking their iPhones.
What is Jailbreaking?
The process of gaining root access to the iOS platform is called jailbreaking. It effectively breaks out the restrictions that Apple has put in place. It allows users to install apps that aren’t available for non-jailbroken devices. It also gives them the capability to tinker with the operating system itself. Unlike Android OS, iOS apps are not allowed to interact with the core level of iOS. iPhone users are not allowed to add or remove, tweak or modify aspects of its operating system. Because of this, jailbreaking becomes a necessity.
Related: The Difference Between Jailbreaking and Unlocking
There are no legal implications if an iOS user jailbreaks his phone. When that happens, he gets to access Cydia. To jailbreak an iPhone, a user will only need a desktop computer to start the hack.
What is Cydia?
Cydia is a package manager mobile app for iOS devices. It enables a user to look for software packages on jailbroken iPhones and install them. In short, it’s a jailbroken version of the App Store. Since the release of iPhones in 2007, hackers have been cracking new iOS versions.
In 2008, jailbreaking piqued many people’s interest especially when Cydia and the iPhone dev team shipped their jailbreak for the iPhone 3G on iOS 2.0. “Saurik“, a name for the popular Jay Freeman is the father of jailbreaking. Not only did he create the first jailbreak, but he also created Cydia, which has been a gateway for people to install apps for iPhones and tweak them.
Cydia became an alternative for apps because it didn’t only specialize in apps. It gave users the ability to install apps and get a new feature (that is not available to apps in non-jailbroken iPhones). As a matter of fact, the extension called “TwitkaFly” has been available to jailbroken phones prior to it being added in the iOS 5 update.
However, in November last year, two of Cydia’s three repositories have been shut down, leaving BigBoss as the only repository left. Many people speculate that jailbreaking is dead, as it is no longer a necessity. So is Cydia dead?
Is Cydia Dead?
Jay Freeman said “What do you get in the end? It used to be that you got killer features that almost were the reason you owned the phone. And now you get a small minor modification.” when he was asked during an interview with Motherboard last June 2017.
People claim that Cydia and jailbreaking is dead because fewer people are jailbreaking their devices. When ModMy and ZodTTD (the two big Cydia repositories) were shut down, it gave them the confirmation that there is no longer need for jailbreaking.
Read more: How to Add ModMyi Repo in Cydia Sources
To add to that, jailbreaking iPhones is now more difficult than ever, because of Apple’s improved security. Hackers are now struggling to find loopholes or vulnerability to successfully jailbreak. As a matter of fact, while many people hoped that there will already be a jailbreak for iOS 11, he said that “this era of jailbreak is just as functional as a real computer so it requires a tooling of high quality – the same stuff used on Linux hardware” is not true anymore.
He said it’s depressing because it used to motivate him to jailbreak his own Apple devices and create Cydia. It took until February 2018 to release the first ever jailbreak release with Cydia, which led to more speculations that Cydia is dying and Saurik is going to stop.
The big surprise was dropped when Saurik released the updated Cydia impactor with fixes last month. This made jailbreakers happy, after thinking that Saurik already left them.
The Verdict
Cydia is not dead…yet. Yes, you read that right. Cydia is still alive, but it’s pretty obvious that it’s dying. Apple has been stepping its game up to improve its OS’ security. Saurik’s work to jailbreak the latest iOS devices is slowed down. At this point, it’s safe to say that Cydia is still alive. BigBoss is still alive and Saurik is still busy working on fixes. Until BigBooss gets shut down and until Saurik stops, then one can finally say that Cydia is dead.
Sources
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/537-jailbreaking-iphone-pros-cons.html
https://www.cultofmac.com/192850/the-history-of-jailbreaking-feature/
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/23/modmyi-macciti-cydia-repos-shut-down/
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/23/modmyi-macciti-cydia-repos-shut-down/
http://www.iphonehacks.com/2018/01/saurik-provides-update-cydia-substrate-ios-11-1-2-jailbreak.html
https://www.grafdom.com/blog/11-things-the-iphone-still-can-t-do
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