14 DAY TRIAL // Well, this didn’t take long. The recently-released iOS 12.1 has already been unlocked and the iPhone XS Max is officially one of the devices that are possible to jailbreak on this particular version.
Tencent KeenLab researcher Liang Chen confirmed on Twitter that he has managed to pwn the iPhone XS Max on iOS 12.1, confirming that the days of jailbroken iPhones aren’t gone yet.
On the other hand, if you were hoping to get this jailbreak and apply it on your own iPhone XS Max, there’s basically no chance for this to happen. Most often, researchers who discover methods to jailbreak iPhones refuse to release the code publicly, but prefer to sell it to other third-parties or report the exploits to Apple to have them patched in the next updates.
Jailbreaking, yes or no?
But at the same time, Chen managing to jailbreak the iPhone is good news overall anyway because it does show that it’s still possible to bypass Apple’s restrictions and unleash the full capabilities of the XS Max.
As we know already, jailbreaking isn’t everyone’s cup of tea given the more or less substantial impact it has on security, but at least this procedure lifts some of the restrictions implemented by Apple and makes it possible to access features that aren’t otherwise possible on an iPhone.
And with jailbreaking iOS 12.1 on the iPhone XS Max now possible, the only thing that’s missing is for a skilled engineer to join the effort and find the jailbreak and release it for all users. There’s no guarantee this would happen, though, and the only thing you can do right now is not updating to the new iOS releases that are likely to address the exploited holes in the operating system.
Liang Chen will present the jailbreak, obviously without specifics, at POC 2018, so more news on the jailbreaking front would be shared soon.