Apple has dealt with its fair share of challenges lately. The company is ramping up to another world wide developers conference in June and may be working hard on developing a new technology, possibly an Apple TV which is not actually a Television. Today, however, the news is not about the company but something that has do to with the expert developers. The latest operating system that is – iOS 5.1.1 has been jailbroken.
The untethered jailbreak, called Absinthe 2.0, comes courtesy of a collaboration between Chronic-Dev Team and iPhone Dev Team. It can be downloaded at this link. The hack will allow users of the new iPad, the iPhone 4S, and the iPad 2 to download unapproved applications and use their devices on networks they are not approved for.
The jailbreaking software was released earlier today at the 2012 Hack In The Box Expo In Amsterdam as one more thing by the team. That move echoes the practices of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs. It must be remembered that Apple device jailbreakers hack not out of hate but out of love. They hack the company’s devices because they seek to increase functionality and customisation.
In order to jailbreak their device all a user has to do is download the Absinthe 2.0 package and run the software while the iOS device is connected to the computer from a blank iTunes profile. After clicking the jailbreak button and leaving the device connected until the process is complete the user will be furnished with a brand new completely free Apple device.
Apple has spent a great deal of time trying to fight against those seeking to use their devices in this way. The company blames jailbreaking for opening up software piracy on the iOS platform. That is something the company is vulnerable to losing a great deal of money over. Because of their antipathy toward it they have sought to make it illegal and in recent times even banned the word from its online music and app platforms.
iOS 5.1.1 was released on May 7. The software brought some tweaks to the mobile interface but also managed to close some of the holes used to jailbreak the devices. In less than three weeks some of the world’s greatest hackers have found those insecurities and used them to do what they want with the devices.
The war between companies seeking to control what is done on their devices and hackers who want to do everything possible with their electronics is likely to continue but at this stage it is still the major companies that seem behind.
