Since Apple released its beta versions of iOS 10, many have hoped that a jailbreak would soon materialize, but while there have been many who’ve claimed to have developed one, nothing is publicly available. However, over the weekend, it came to light that two developers may have succeeded in creating iOS 10.1 and iOS 10.1.1 jailbreaks.
iOS 10.1 and iOS 10.1.1 jailbreaks
Apple released 10.1 in October to introduce the much-anticipated Portrait Mode and to do away with some critical bugs. However, it seems as though that firmware update had unpredictable benefits for the jailbreak community. It’s possible that some developers/hackers were able to use exploits to free iOS users from Apple’s shackles.
Who is behind the iOS 10.1 jailbreak?
As it currently stands, nothing has been made publicly available. Instead, a video posted to YouTube and Twitter on Friday by @ijapija00 shows a working tweak via Cydia.
On a negative note, it turns out that the developer held back this video created on October 24. So the question now is why wait to publish it? Fortunately, it seems as though @ijapija00 is willing to be a little open and share his reasoning. Apparently, his/her iOS 10.1 jailbreak is not ready for a public launch because:
- Cydia has been patched to include a new library which has task loading installed. This apparently helps to install tweaks onto the jailbroken iOS.
- He/she does not want to be held responsible should any jailbreak attempt made with this exploit damage anyone’s device.
- As it stands, this jailbreak is not stable enough to be released publicly, and more work/testing needs to be done to get it ready.
No information is available about when it will be ready for public release. However, according to tweets, this exploit also works as an iOS 10.1.1 jailbreak.
An Italian developer
Hot on the heels of last Friday’s jailbreak news came a new revelation from Luca Todesco. While the previous exploit had been shown only to work on iOS 10.1, Todesco had shown an iOS 10.1.1 jailbreak working in images.
However, the Italian developer is well-known for developing jailbreaks, publishing proof and then not sharing. Instead, as a security researcher, he may keep his work private or sell it to Apple.
Teased jailbreaks
Since June and iH8sn0w‘s claim to have created the first iOS 10 jailbreak, we’ve seen more come and go. We’ve also seen some promising work by the PanGu team at MOSEC 2016. They had been working on the iOS 10 betas trying to find a way to create a stable jailbreak. However, so far it has fallen to Luca Tedesco, the Italian, to prove his work to be stable. But if he’s not going to release anything publicly, why reveal it in the first place?
Apple has now released the beta for iOS 10.2, and we’re wondering if these jailbreaks will work with that firmware. Whatever happens, Apple is moving quicker than ever to patch exploits that could lead to a jailbreak. In fact, thanks to its Bug Bounty program, a publicly available iOS 10.1.1 jailbreak may be some time away.
