If you have questions about the state of jailbreaking in 2023, check out our FAQ below.
iOS Jailbreak FAQ
- Can you jailbreak iOS iOS 16.0 – 16.4?
iOS 16.0 – 16.4 is currently jailbreakable using PaleRa1n Jailbreak on iPhone X and older. If you’re using a newer device, such as iPhone XS, XR, XS Max, iPhone 11, and so on, your device cannot currently be jailbroken with any tool on iOS 16.0 – 16.4.
- Does PaleRa1n Jailbreak require a PC?
Since PaleRa1n jailbreak takes advantage of the checkm8 exploit, this also means that PaleRa1n requires a computer in order to run. Windows is not currently supported. You may use the Linux or macOS version, you can dual-boot a Linux machine.
- What is a rootless jailbreak?
Starting in iOS 15.0, Apple sealed the ROOT FS. Traditionally, jailbreak utilities used to remount this partition as Read / Write, and jailbreak components & tweaks used to be placed directly in the ROOT File System.
Since this is no longer possible, we’ve started creating rootless jailbreaks which do not touch the ROOT FS anymore, leaving it Read-Only. This means that we’re now placing the jailbreak components and the tweaks into the Mobile / User partition which remains Read / Write. However, this required tweaks to be updated to expect the new launch paths.
Nowadays, there are many rootless jailbreak tweaks available and we even keep a list of them available here.
- Is Jailbreaking dangerous?
Jailbreaking your iOS device is generally considered to be safe. However, if you remove files you shouldn’t remove, you may end up in a bootloop which prevents the device from booting properly, and you may need to restore the device to the latest iOS version which can result in data loss and the loss of your jailbreak.
There are no documented cases of modern devices being permanently bricked by a jailbreak. If you mess something up, and your phone doesn’t boot anymore, simply restore it through iTunes or Finder. The device will work again, but you may lose any data for which you don’t have a backup.
- Can you use Cydia on iOS 15 and iOS 16?
In short – no. Since iOS 15’s changes broke a lot of things in the jailbreak community, Cydia remained in a state of disrepair and because of how it’s built, fixing it requires a lot of effort and it’s just not worth it anymore.
Cydia alternatives such as Sileo, Zebra and Installer 5 are all much better, faster and have much more features than Cydia so the only use for Cydia nowadays would be plain nostalgia.
