14 DAY TRIAL // Be careful what you click on when you’re looking to jailbreak your iOS 8 iDevice. Currently there’s no working jailbreak for iOS 8 (at least not publicly), but some people would have you think otherwise.
As every year goes, scammers try to take advantage of iPhone owners’ naiveté and push “unlock” solutions onto them for hefty sums of money. As any iOS veteran will tell you, jailbreaks and unlocks have always been free of charge.
The “press release” format
The scam we’re here to talk about comes in the very typical “press release” format, in an attempt to make it look authentic. Skim through the text and you’ll instantly notice something fishy: some terms are used excessively, it has grammatical errors, and the headline itself makes little to no sense.
Worst of all, there’s no way to verify 99% of the claims, and if you read it carefully, you’ll also notice some contradictions.
The “official web site”
They use terms like “verified,” “certified,” and “official” to lure you in. Once you’re on www.unlock-jailbreak.net, you’re halfway trapped. If you buy into their advertising – $24.99 (€19.92) for basically nothing – you’ll essentially give that money away to charity. Whatever they send you back, if they even bother, it won’t be the iOS 8 jailbreak/unlock tool.
They claim to install Cydia, the well-known app store for jailbreakers that does exist, but not for the purpose of using any SIM card worldwide. Cydia doesn’t unlock your device, and it can’t be installed until the jailbreak has been performed. Basically, you have no guarantees whatsoever.
Jailbreaking is so last century
There was once a time when jailbreaking was popular, if not necessary for some people to use their iPhones properly. Not anymore. Apple has lifted many restrictions off iOS and its App Store, and the only incentive to jailbreak today is to pirate apps or to install battery-draining themes and tweaks. Not to mention that your security takes an instant hit once you’ve hacked your device.
The hacking groups that used to develop and offer genuine jailbreak apps have long parted ways and their mission is no longer to do charity work. Most of them are well-established security researchers and consultants now, and those who still tinker with iOS are churning out less and less jailbreaks with each passing year.
In other words, you can expect iOS 8 to never receive a jailbreak tool. And if one ever does emerge, you can be sure it won’t cost you a dime to use it. We’ll keep you in the loop if one of the real hackers makes an announcement. In the meantime, ignore these overly-advertised jailbreak/unlock solutions and just enjoy your iDevice the way Apple designed it.
Update: Here's another one. Same scam under a different press release.