iOS 6.1 jailbreak incoming from Evad3rs

Posted on 31 Jan 2013 at 09:46, by Gareth Halfacree

With Apple's latest iOS 6.1 update freshly launched, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners have been eagerly waiting for news regarding a jailbreak for the platform - and it looks like one is just around the corner: a team of developers calling themselves Evad3rs plans to release the Evasi0n jailbreak for iOS 6.1 this Sunday.

The process of jailbreaking an iOS device expands its capabilities by removing restrictions put in place by Apple. Rather than limiting users to finding and installing only approved applications through the iTunes App Store, a jailbroken handset allows software to be installed from any source - with the most popular being Cydia, an App Store-like service for unapproved third-party applications. These apps often contain features that would fail the Apple app approval process, such as changing the functionality of one of the iPhone's hard buttons.

The process is common, but every time a new iOS version is released Apple works to block the exploits used to jailbreak previous versions. The result is a constant game of cat and mouse, where Apple blocks a jailbreak only for the developers who produce the jailbreak solutions to find a new method.

While a tethered jailbreak - which requires that the phone be attached to a computer and re-jailbroken each time it is switched off or restarted - has been available for iOS 6.1 since launch, an untethered version - which can be performed once, and then permanently applies despite reboots - has been unavailable.

More details on the process, which is compatible with all iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and iPad Mini models running either iOS 6.0 or iOS 6.1, are available on the official website, where the software required will be made available for download this weekend.