Apple’s iOS 12.4 is only in beta for now, but that hasn’t stopped intelligent minds from working on an iOS 12.4 beta jailbreak. The popular hacker who achieved this feat goes by the name PsychoTea.
PsychoTea reveals iOS 12.4 beta jailbreak
On Monday, PsychoTea shared a tweet to provide proof of his work. The tweet includes a screenshot showing the Cydia package manager running on an iPhone SE with the iOS 12.4 beta installed.
Beta Firmwares Alpha Exploits @qwertyoruiopz pic.twitter.com/Y38BKu7Dg6
— sparkey (@iBSparkes) June 10, 2019
Based on the tweet, it seems that the hacker possesses an iOS 12.4-compatible exploit. One can assume that this exploit will work with all current un-jailbroken versions of iOS from 12.2-12.4. PsychoTea refers to his exploit for Apple’s beta firmware as “alpha” because iOS 12.4 is not yet released to the public.
As of now, it is not known if this iOS 12.4 beta jailbreak will be released or if it will be of any help. It still is good to see hackers jailbreak the latest version of iOS despite continuous efforts from Apple to thwart jailbreaking. The jailbreak also comes as good news for those who love to customize their devices.
The iOS 12.4 beta jailbreak is no confirmation that there will be a public jailbreak for iOS 12.4 when it finally is released to the general public. However, it does confirm that an iOS 12.4 jailbreak is possible. Based on past releases, the jailbreak for iOS 12.4 could come around the release of iOS 13. This might seem like a long time, but one must not forget that iOS 12.4 is not even public yet.
Apple won’t be happy to see that someone has managed to jailbreak the iOS 12.4 beta, especially considering that it is possible the vulnerability discovered by the hacker could exist in iOS 13 as well. However, the final version of iOS 13 is not due until September. Thus, Apple has enough time to discover and patch the vulnerabilities that made the iOS 12.4 beta jailbreak possible.
Also credited with zero-day vulnerability in iOS 13 beta
PsychoTea is a popular name in the jailbreak community, and he/she was in the limelight earlier this month for discovering a zero-day vulnerability in the iOS 13 beta.
0day lyfe @qwertyoruiopz pic.twitter.com/nk3ZkWrjGS
— sparkey (@iBSparkes) June 3, 2019
Apple released the first developer beta in the afternoon after the WWDC 2019 keynote presentation. By evening, the hacker demonstrated an undisclosed zero-day vulnerability.
In a video shared via a tweet, the hacker demonstrated his device running the iOS 13 beta by showing the new native dark mode in the Settings app. From there, they open a second page and launch an unknown app, resulting in a SpringBoard crash. Although this may not mean much to many, those aware of the technicalities will immediately realize that the hacker used a homebrew app to trigger a kernel panic. In simple words, it suggests the hacker was able to see the vulnerability.
Jailbreak tweak that Apple copied in iOS 13
Jailbreaking iOS is sometimes good for Apple as well. Over the years, we have seen Apple taking inspiration for new features from the jailbreak community, and iOS 13 is no different. Apple’s next-gen OS includes several features that were first introduced by the jailbreak community. These features are:
Dark Mode – This is the biggest addition to iOS 13. However, those familiar with the jailbreak community will know that this feature has been available since 2014 with the release of the Eclipse jailbreak tweak. It allows users to theme every app the way they want.
New Volume HUD – One major reason many users say they were encouraged to jailbreak their devices was the 12-year-old volume HUD in iOS. The jailbreak community has been improving the iOS volume HUD interface for years now. Some of the popular releases from the community have been StatusHUD and Sonus12.
QuickPath – This feature was first officially introduced by third-party Android keyboards. Later Apple also added support for third-party keyboards such as Gboard and SwiftKey. Even before the third-party keyboards picked up this feature, the jailbreak community offered SwipeSelection, which adds swiping support to the stock iOS keyboard.
Low Data Mode – Not everyone is on an unlimited data plan, so to help such users, Apple is adding data-savings options in iOS 13. However, the jailbreak community has long been giving such options to users.
Home Screen Widgets – Apple is updating the Home Screen by mixing the default interface and Today widgets. The jailbreak community has been offering such functionality, like Dashboard X, for many years.
Other features inspired by the jailbreak community include: Better Text Editing, Windowed Multitasking, Custom Fonts, Improved Files App, Safari Download Manager, Console Controller Support, Up Next, Keyboard Shortcuts, Unlimited App Size Downloading on Mobile Data, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Connection in Control Center, and more.
