Last week, developer CoolStar came up with big news for the jailbreak community. The developer announced that the Electra iOS 11.3.1 Jailbreak is coming soon. More importantly, the developer announced that the new version would support all the iOS devices including the iPhone X. Earlier, there was some confusion on the iOS versions that the new Electra would support.
“Electra is coming soon for iOS 11.3.1! All users not on iOS 11.0-11.1.2 are recommended to upgrade to 11.3.1,” read the official Electra website.
Along with the confirmation, CoolStar also asked the jailbreakers, who used OTA (over the air) update method to upgrade to the iOS 11.3.1, to restore the iOS 11.3.1 via iTunes, futurerestore or idevicerestore. Such advice from the developer is a precautionary step as OTA updates are known to cause issues with the jailbreak process.
Apart from CoolStar’s confirmation, other things are also falling in place for the Electra iOS 11.3.1 Jailbreak release. There are reports that the jailbreak would be based on the tfp0 exploit, which is being developed by a white hat hacker, Ian Beer, who is working for Google on Project Zero. Beer, who plans to release the exploit soon, is the same person responsible for the tfp0 exploit that made jailbreaking iOS 11.0-11.1.2 possible.
“If you’re interested in bootstrapping iOS kernel security research keep a research-only device on iOS 11.3.1 for more tfp0. Release probably next week. Oh, and the 11.1.2 KDP-compatible kernel debugger really is coming soon!” Beer tweeted last week.
In addition, Min Zheng, Alibaba engineer and security researcher, also recently came up with the working KPP bypass, an important part of the functional jailbreak solution. Zheng has confirmed that the KPP bypass would be compatible with all ARM64 devices
With those two things in place, along with the confirmation from CoolStar that the Electra iOS 11.3.1 Jailbreak is indeed coming, jailbreak fans should now start preparing their devices for the update as and when it arrives. To help you in that we have listed below the to-do’s to prepare your device for the Electra iOS 11.3.1 Jailbreak.
The first thing that you need to do is downgrade to the iOS 11.3.1., and you need to do it soon before Apple stops signing for the iOS 11.3.1 firmware. Though the window is open currently, it could close anytime as the iOS 11.4 has already been released. For instructions on how to downgrade iOS versions, several guides are available online. You can follow any of them.
The next step is to save the 11.3.1 SHSH2 blobs to have an option of upgrading to the iOS 11.3.1 with futurerestore in the future. Users must note that the SHSH2 blobs for iOS 11.3.1 can be saved only till the time Apple is signing the said firmware. Such an option would help you upgrade to the iOS 11.3.1 whenever you want, even if Apple stops signing iOS 11.3.1 firmware. Again, several tutorials are available online on how to use futurerestore.
Now, your iOS device is ready for the Electra iOS 11.3.1 Jailbreak. So, all you have to do now is to wait for the new Electra version. Though CoolStar has promised to release the new version soon, there is no definite date available. Considering Ian Beers’ iOS 11.3.1 exploit will come around the WWDC, we can expect work on the Electra to start sometime this week.
Also, CoolStar looks pretty passionate and determined to start the work on the next version, so the next version can be expected to come pretty soon also. In a series of tweets confirming the Electra iOS 11.3.1 Jailbreak, the developer thanked the jailbreakers who donated to the cause, thus, helping the developer to buy an iPhone X test device.
“whoa as soon as I put the donation portal up on Electra’s website, a lot of people are donating… have to say I was not expecting that…..I guess this really does show that there’s a lot more people who are appreciative (and are usually quiet and patient) compared to the naggers,” CoolStar said.
CoolStar also admitted to mistakes – in terms of PR and stability of the app – made with the release of the original Electra. The developer assured that the mistakes won’t be repeated with the next update. “I screwed up handling PR when doing the 11.0-11.1.2 jailbreak, but this release will be drama-free,” the developer said.
