Jailbreaking - Is it really worth it?

Shall I Go For Jailbreaking or not?

iPhone jailbreaking could be the biggest dilemma for any iPhone user; at least once in his iLife. And as there are so much advantages and disadvantages associated with jailbreaking this dilemma is ought to be there. But let's see it from the neutral eyes and evaluate is it good to have your iPhone jailbroken or not.

First of all let us see what jailbreak means. It means your phone is allowing access to outside apps to access your iPhone root level files. And these files could be serving various functions viz. looks of iPhone, security of iPhone etc. Now if your iPhone is jailbroken; in a way those apps can edit/add/delete files at the root level. And this is the reason why Apple does not support jailbreaking. Because as the root level access is there; iPhone functionality and security could be compromised. (and if Apple allowed jailbreaks then possibly their stores will be full with people who have broke something with some Cydia app). Apple's app store is something else where all the apps are evaluate on single app basis for security and functioning. That does not mean that all the Cydia apps are harmful; these only contribute to less than 5% of huge list of Cydia apps on the CydiaStore. Jailbreaking is legal in US and other countries; though Apple would ask you to fix something if that was caused after you jailbroke :(

Cydia apps on the other hand; have proved to given wings to iPhone. If you list top 10 utilities of iPhone more than 5 should be in a way related to Cydia. And you will be surprised to know that Apple adapted Cydia tweaks for iOS 7 to improve performance. There are some other cool Cydia apps and tweaks like iBlacklist, Springtomize 2, Zephyr. Apple did the right thing by adapting some of the all time great Cydia apps to make iOS much better. But still there are things to change and we hope they are taken into consideration by Apple.

Advantages of iPhone Jailbreaking:

1) Freedom with huge list of apps:

Cydia store is having at least one app for virtually any function you could think of on iPhone. So user gets a huge freedom to select the apps from these lists. You can get app for call recording, themes, ringtones, Wi-Fi and you tell what.

2) Free Wi-Fi Tethering:

This is one more advantage of iPhone jailbreaking if you are currently charged to use in-built tethering facility on your non jail-broken phone. Apps like MyWi allow you to have free tethering with your iPhone.

3) Fully iPhone Customization:

This is the reason why people want to go for jailbreak. Apple shackles don't allow you to customize your iPhone in any other way apart from Apple standards. So you can't have your name logo instead of carrier network, or you can't customize iPhone lock screen. Cydia tweaks and apps allow you to have full control of your iPhone. And this is the biggest advantage of iPhone jailbreaking.

4) Bridge to iOS system:

You can open the iOS system files if you ever feel the need; i.e. when you want to remove some corrupted game/app or to get apps which are not available on App Store.

Disadvantages of Jailbroken iPhones:

1) No Warranty:

As we discussed earlier Apple does not support jailbreaking your iPhone; so no warranty is applicable once you go for the jailbreaking.

Though jailbreaks are reversible and you can get back to normal iOS environment; but Apple still won't cover you under warranty once any jailbreaking was done on the device.

2) Easy Prey for Malwares:

Jailbroken phones are the easiest prey for malware and other threats. This is because proper app screening is not done in the Cydia store; like App store does it. This can be avoided though (see last paragraph).

3) You don't know how secure you are:

You really don't know how secure you are after you went in for jailbreaking. If you are picky in selecting Cydia sources and apps; you might know you are more secure than those who pick with blind eyes but you can't say you are 100% secure. And not much anti-virus support is available for iOS which adds up to the misery.

4) Software update and oh it's gone:

As Apple does not support jailbreaking; once you update iOS all your jailbreaking personalization and Cydia apps are gone. So if you are on iOS 6 now and want to upgrade to iOS 7 then you need to jailbreak again for iOS 7. There are tools available to backup your Cydia apps; but going for jailbreaking everytime you update an iOS can be headache at times.

Conclusion:

Jailbreaking is a great way to customize your iPhone but you should be careful from where you should jailbreak your iPhone and what source you should go for the Cydia apps and tweaks. There are some good source available on Cydia store which have good reviews and they have been providing with great apps and tweaks. 

As far as the jailbreaking is concerned you can get it done through free sites which have least reliability and support. So I would rather advice you to go for experienced jailbreaking providers like this; so you have peace of mind when you jailbreak your phone. Sometimes the iPhone hang and jailbreaking is not complete and Apple can't help you either.