The Pros and Cons of Unlocking an Iphone With Jailbreak Software

| Saturday, February 12, 2011
By Don Serrels


So you've discovered the world of jailbreak software, but you're on the fence on whether it's a good idea. Well, I'll tell you what some of the top arguments are for jailbreaking. And some of the arguments against...

Pros:

Access to T-Mobile GSM Network

Apple has awarded ATT exclusive and prohibitive rights to service the iPhone through 2012, when their contract will be up for renewal. ATT has been plagued by problems the last few years, which has made many people think twice about getting locked into a 2 year contract (or longer) with them. Jailbreak software can unlock your phone to give you access to other carriers. T-Mobile is the most willing to allow you to use iPhones on their network, and they have great coverage in many areas where ATT doesn't.

3rd Party Unauthorized Apps

The App Store has a lot of really sweet apps in it, but jailbroken phones can utilize even cooler apps that tend to be more creative than the official ones. Cydia is like the apps store for unofficial apps, and using it is one of the main reasons that so many people want to jailbreak their phones.

Completely Reversible

If you're worried about there being negative consequences after you unlock or hack your iPhone, you can reverse it very easily and "un-jailbreak" your phone. All that you need to do this is to restore iTunes using your PC and a USB cable.

Reasons Not to Jailbreak:

Bricking

Anytime you tamper with an advanced electronic device such as the iPhone, you risk screwing up and "bricking" it. Bricking means that your phone is completely unusable and unfunctional. It can be fixed by simply wiping it and restoring it to factory defaults, but it's still a little bit of a pain. Might be a deterrent for some people.

Warranty: Voided?

Though it's now legal to jailbreak your iPhone, doing so still voids your phone's warranty. Without a valid warranty, Apple will not cover any damages or other malfunctions related to your phone. So if you have the tendency to break Apple products or have buggy experiences with your device, you might want to reconsider.

Concerns Over Security

The website MacRumours has published a flaw that they've discovered in some recent jailbreaking processes that leaves a hole which hackers could exploit to plant malware onto phones. This exploit comes out of the IOS PDF app. They say "The remote website presents a PDF that has a specifically crafted font embedded, and it is the processing of the embedded font that has the security issue." Something to think about, you know?




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