Snapchat is on a banning spree again. Snap is now banning Snapchat users on jailbroken iOS devices irrespective of a user running the official Snapchat app or the jailbroken one. This comes as bad news for heavy Snapchat users who happen to use a jailbroken iOS device.
Banning Snapchat users on jailbroken iOS devices
Several times in the past Snapchat has temporarily banned users on jailbroken devices. These bans served as a warning for users to stop going for the jailbroken devices. However, the ban previously only applied to users who accessed the messaging app from a third-party app or used a modified version of the official app.
This time, however, Snapchat’s parent company Snap is banning users for using jailbroken devices. Moreover, the ban, it appears, is affecting only the users on iOS 12 and above. Also, some affected users say that banning Snapchat users on jailbroken iOS devices is actually device specific.
What the hell @snapchatsupport I don’t use any tweaks that modify Snapchat and I have Liberty lite enabled on Snapchat so nothing can inject at all. I don’t use any ++ apps. That’s bull crap. pic.twitter.com/90bS1v0liX
— Ignition App (@ignition) May 8, 2019
This means that Snap is identifying devices and not users. So if a user, after getting banned, tries to access Snapchat from a different account but the same device, then that account also gets banned automatically.
“The jailbreaking ban is apparently actually a device ban. People like @icloneos have been banned from their main device running iOS 12.2 and they cannot login to any account without it getting banned. @snapchatsupport this is ridiculous now,” one user tweeted.
How does Snapchat know if you’re on a jailbroken device? CokePokes, a popular iOS hacker, said previously that Snapchat keeps a record of everything that a user does in the app. Meaning, the company will know if a user installs any tweak even if it is not related to Snapchat.
“So if you installed a [expletive] tweak that hooks Snapchat it’ll make a note of it. Then Snapchat could pull the trigger 1–5 months later & use that record against you,” the hacker said in a tweet earlier.
How to avoid getting banned?
Snap banning Snapchat users on jailbroken iOS devices does not mean that the user is doing anything wrong, rather using a jailbroken iOS device is enough for the company to ban the accounts.
If you are also on a jailbroken iOS device and are not yet banned, there are good chances that Snap could catch you. However, there is a trick that you can use to get around the jailbreak detection mechanisms.
All you need to do is install and use the Unsub tweak from Nepta. This disables the Substitute tweak injection for the Snapchat app. If you are also affected by the ban, you will have to wait for about a day for the temporary ban to expire to access the service. Once your account is reinstated, you can use the same trick as above to avoid getting banned again.
However, there is no guarantee that even after using this trick your account won’t be banned. Some users on the jailbroken devices also tried using Liberty Lite as a workaround, but with little success.
It must be noted that Snapchat may ban your account permanently as well if you continue to appear on their radar. The company has done so in the past for users on jailbroken iOS devices. So, a better option would be to avoid using Snapchat on your jailbroken device.
Snapchat’s gaming strategy
Snap meanwhile, is also focusing on gaming. Last month, the company announced its first original game, called Bitmoji Party. Additionally, the company also announced a few third-party titles. Snap entering the games segment is not surprising considering games are the top grossing mobile apps.
“This is something that we’re very excited about pursuing relentlessly,” Snap’s director of product and the lead on the gaming initiative, Will Wu, told The Verge earlier.
Snap started working on a gaming project about two years ago. It first acquired PlayCanvas, which is the creator of an HTML5 game engine. Later, Snap also bought Prettygreat, a studio based in Australia and headed by former leads behind hit titles Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride.
Bitmoji Party was the result of these acquisitions. It was a special game and was released within Snapchat. Wu notes that one advantage of launching the game within Snapchat is that it reduces friction. Usually, for a multiplayer game, each player had to install the app and then set up their accounts. A game inside Snapchat means that users won’t have to worry about such things.
“I really wanted us to make a game that almost served as a North Star for the type of experience that we were aiming for with Snap Games, for both future developers and our user base,” Wu said.
