https://www.quora.com/Is-jail-breaking-an-iPhone-worth-it/answer/Anonymous-8416?ch=17&oid=26389754&share=a43c5d6c&srid=u23yq1&target_type=answer
Is jail breaking an iPhone worth it?
Is jail breaking an iPhone worth it?
Answer: I see a lot of answers here that, although they make a semi-compelling argument, are generally uneducated on the topic. Jailbreaking your phone does only two things: it installs Cydia, and it gives Cydia the power to install other things. Cydia, in and of itself, can't be exploited to in...
I see a lot of answers here that, although they make a semi-compelling argument, are generally uneducated on the topic.
Jailbreaking your phone does only two things: it installs Cydia, and it gives Cydia the power to install other things. Cydia, in and of itself, can’t be exploited to install malware, because it uses the apt package format that must be invoked by the user to be activated. Jailbreaking does not make your phone less secure. It just opens the doors to let you do whatever you want.
“But Alex!” you say. “What about all the malware that only effects jailbroken phones?” Well okay, yes, it does exist, but you’re mistaken if you think that jailbreaking magically lets you get malware. Malware on any system has to jump through loads of hoops to get in, and iOS is designed to have as many hoops as possible. This doesn’t change when you jailbreak.
The only way for malware to get there is for the user to let it do so. I’m sure you’ve heard the quote, “With great power, comes great responsibility” before. This is true of your phone as well. If you install something malicious or insecure, then you could end up with malware. If you install something that’s supposed to be secure, like OpenSSH, but fail to make it so (changing the default password), then you could end up with malware. If you install pirated tweaks from unofficial sources, there’s a chance that you could be installing malware. If you’re smart, and only install tweaks that are reputable, verified to be secure, and from the official sources, then the odds of anything going wrong are the same as on a jailed device.
So what about the warranty? Well, Jailbreaking does violate the iOS EULA and voids the warranty. However, Apple Support has no way to tell that your phone is jailbroken without seeing it in person. If you simply remove the jailbreak by backing up your phone, restoring it, and then restoring the backup, then the jailbreak will be gone and the average techie can’t tell that you ever jailbroke. If you’re still not satisfied, you can do a full restore, which is guarenteed to erase all evidence of any jailbreak ever happening. Heck, I’ve called Apple support before to help with my jailbroken phone, and they questioned nothing, even after recieving my UDID. I just didn’t mention the jailbreak, and it was fine.
So, what can you actually do with a jailbreak? A lot. You can add tons of things that are just fun to mess around with, like visual effects and such. You can got loads of fun apps, like emulators and tweaks. You can get a lot of useful features, like locking down access to certain apps, adding a guest account, or enabling caller ID on unknown numbers. You can save money with things that compress data and allow tethering without a plan. You can work faster with things that optimize your workflow, such as Snakebite:
So what are the cons? Well, there’s pretty much only one inherent issue: updating is slightly more difficult and time-consuming than normal.
And what are the pros? Endless.
-"Is jail breaking an iPhone worth it?"