Last week, the Chinese Pangu team released a jailbreak tool for Apple's iOS 9.2- 9.3.3. It's been one of the more interesting Jailbreak releases, and for several reasons. The launch was surrounded by controversy as some users reported security breaches that could have been due to software included with the final release.
It was also a semi-tethered jailbreak, meaning that every time you power off your device, you'd have to run an app loaded on to it to re-jailbreak it - not ideal. As opposed to an untethered jailbreak, where your device is permanently jailbroken, unless you restore your iPhone of course. Finally, the tool involved the use of certificates and unless you have an iOS developer version to hand, the jailbreak would only last for seven days before you had to run the app again.
Things have calmed down a bit since then and the team has released a new tool, which is installed using software from the creator of the jailbreak app store Cydia, which has no additional software and is in English - no security issues have been reported so far either, although the community is somewhat skeptical that the handful of reports last time were directly due to the jailbreak anyway.
More importantly,
This means that once Apple stops signing iOS 9.3.3, which will happen in a matter of days, that will be the end of jailbreaking - at least until a new tool is released, but this could be a very long time indeed. Below you'll see a full guide on how to use the new v1.1 tool, to make sure it's signed for a year instead of seven days, and even how to roll back from iOS 9.3.4 to iOS 9.3.3 so you can jailbreak.
- Install iOS 9.3.3
If you're currently on an older version of iOS, you'll need to upgrade to iOS 9.3.3. Similarly, if you've already upgraded to iOS 9.3.4, then you'll need to downgrade. Apple is still signing iOS 9.3.3, which means that if you download it you can install it. Get it for your device from this link, open iTunes, press shift and restore at the same time, and you'll be able to point iTunes at the file you downloaded. If you're downgrading, you can also restore a backup you made on iOS 9.3.3 too.
2. Download the tools
Once you have iOS 9.3.3 installed and have restored from a backup if needed, head to the official Pangu website here and download the tool and Cydia Impactor. Drag all the files from the Cydia zip folder into a normal folder on your desktop, then run Cydia Impactor.
3. Use the Pangu download
With Cydia Impactor open, drag the Pangu file into it.
4. Enter details
You'll need to enter an Apple ID and password, however, I recommend obtaining a one-time use set of details from Apple and use these, rather than your usual details.
5. Check for the Pangu app
It's a quick process so far, but the Pangu app should now appear on your device.
6. Accept the app
Head to Settings>General>Device management and verify the app that appears.
7. Run the jailbreak app
Open the Pangu app, make sure the checkbox relating to the one-year certificate is checked and illuminated, then hit the start button.
8. Accept notifications
Now accept the notifications and when prompted, lock the device.
9. Wait until it reboots
A message will appear on the screen about the app installing Cydia but allow it to respring your device of its own accord. Your device will then appear to restart and once done, Cydia will be on your device and it will be jailbroken.
10. Re-jailbreak
The certificate will last for a year, but you'll still need to re-jailbreak when you restart your device. This is easily done - simply open up the Pangu app and follow the instructions to re-jailbreak. It takes about 20 seconds.
Needless to say, you should not upgrade to iOS 9.3.4 as this is not compatible with the jailbreak. That's likely to be the last jailbreak tool we see until iOS 10, and given how cobbled together this one was, it's anybody's guess as to whether we'll even see another tool released in the next 12 months.
Personally, I'm hoping that they've been saving an exploit to use that's fully untethered, and this 9.3.3 tool is just a stop-gap measure, but equally, we could be nearing the end of the road for jailbreaking, especially as Apple has just announced that it will be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for identifying exploits in iOS. Could this tempt talented coders away from the jailbreaking scene? We'll have to see.
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