Jailbreaking Is Hacking a Device, and Here's What That Means

To jailbreak a phone is to hack it so that you have unrestricted access to the entire file system. This allows for many changes that aren't supported by the phone when it isn't hacked.

Jailbreaking can be thought of as literally breaking the phone out of its jail or prison. Once the phone is free from its bounds set by the manufacturer or wireless carrier, there aren't many limits that are still imposed.

Devices that are commonly jailbroken are iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads. Jailbreaking an Android device is normally called rooting.

Although we don't necessarily recommend jailbreaking your phone due to safety concerns, there are many reasons someone might want to hack their iPhone or another device.

Probably the most common reason to jailbreak a phone is to install custom apps that couldn't otherwise be used on the phone. Apple blocks some apps from being released on the App Store but that isn't true for jailbroken phones; the app store used there accepts anything.

Another reason to jailbreak your phone is to get free apps. Hackers can install an official, paid app on their device through the Apple App Store and then modify it before releasing it to the jailbroken app store for all hacked devices to freely use. The ease at which stealing apps is available for jailbroken devices is quite remarkable and it's certainly one of the most popular reasons to jailbreak your phone.

One more reason jailbreaking is so widespread is because it lets you truly customize your phone. By default, the iPhone's app icons, taskbar, clock, lock screen, widgets, settings, etc. aren't configured in a way to let you change the colors, text, and theme, but jailbroken devices can install custom skins and other tools.

Also, jailbroken devices can be set up to let you remove apps that you can't normally delete. For example, on some versions of the iPhone, you can't remove the Mail, Notes or Weather app, but hacking tools lets you lift that restriction and truly remove those unwanted programs.

While jailbreaking makes your device more open and gives you complete control, it definitely opens it up to become more vulnerable to malicious apps and stability issues. Apple has long been opposed to jailbreaking (or any "unauthorized modification of iOS") and notes that unauthorized modification of the system is a violation of their end-user license agreement.

Also, Apple has strict guidelines for how apps are to be developed and it's one reason most apps work flawlessly on non-hacked phones. Hacked devices don't have such a rigorousness standard and therefore result in jailbroken devices losing battery faster and experiencing random iPhone reboots.

In July of 2010, however, the Library of Congress Copyright Office ruled that jailbreaking your phone is legal, stating that jailbreaking is "innocuous at worst and beneficial at best."

There are numerous apps and tools that make jailbreaking your iOS device easier. You can find these on websites like PanGu, redsn0w, and JailbreakMe.

It's important to be cautious of the apps you use to jailbreak your phone. Some of them could very easily include malware and while they might hack your phone successfully, they could install keyloggers or other tools that you don't want on your phone.

All of these are terms used to describe freeing your phone from its limitations, but they don't necessarily mean the same thing.

Jailbreaking and rooting have similar purposes for gaining access to your entire file system but are used for either iOS or Android, while unlocking is more about being able to use your phone on different networks.

Learn more about jailbreaking, rooting, and unlocking here.