A jailbreak for the iPhone 5 is, after all this time, about to become a reality. The talented hackers, who spend their days searching through iOS code in the hopes of finding bugs to exploit, actually had a vulnerability they could have used for a public jailbreak before now, but they didn’t want to waste it by putting it out there in the wild. Instead, they’ve been hunting for different bugs that could deliver the same level of access. And now they’ve found them.
According to jailbreak developer David Wang (@planetbeing), the public-facing jailbreak tool is not complete just yet, but he says the team behind it has enough vulnerabilities to create it, barring Apple fixing anything that the hackers found in their public iOS 6.1 release.
If you’ll recall, some of the developers working on the current jailbreak had been holding off on a public release, not only because of the need to find the appropriate exploits to make it happen, but also because Apple was on the verge of rolling out an update to its iOS 6 software. That update arrived yesterday, and thankfully, the bugs the hackers had discovered in the meantime hadn’t been fixed. That being said, there’s always a chance that Apple will roll out a last-minute update to that release to close up those bugs, so if you plan on jailbreaking, you’ll want to stay away from any further updates until you hear the coast is clear, so to speak.
Cyril Cattiaux, better known as @pod2G on Twitter, who has also been working on the new jailbreak, confirms that work on this jailbreak tool is now underway, saying the team is “in the process of finishing the public tool and websites.” He adds, too, that they were happy to find that the iOS 6.1 update didn’t break any of the bugs they needed to make this happen.
Another member of what’s now being dubbed the “evad3rs” hacking team, @MuscleNerd, has been busy answering users’ questions about the forthcoming jailbreak on Twitter. Yesterday, he tweeted out the URL “evad3rs.com” which currently redirects to the Twitter account (@evad3rs) of the same name. His tweet hints that the public tool will go live Sunday, aka “Super Bowl Sunday,” which is kind of fitting, considering the build up this time around to getting the software into the hands of the public.
Hey, did everyone know the Super Bowl is this Sunday? What will you be doing? /cc @evad3rs evad3rs.com
— MuscleNerd (@MuscleNerd) January 28, 2013
We also know that the forthcoming jailbreak won’t just be for the iPhone 5 – although that’s the one many users have been waiting on the most, as certain other iPhone models/software versions still have usable jailbreaks in some cases. However, the new jailbreak will actually support every iOS 6.1 device variation, except the Apple TV 3. That means the jailbreak will work on the iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S and 5, plus the iPad 2, 3, 4, and mini, the iPod touch 4 and 5, and the Apple TV 2.
The news will be posted to the @evad3rs Twitter account, so stay tuned. The jailbreak comes to us thanks to the hard work of @pod2G, @planetbeing, @MuscleNerd, and @pimskeks, and they don’t take donations – so don’t get tricked into paying for a jailbreak release from anything other than the official source.