Why Jailbreak your iPhone?

Introduction:
So you have your 2.0 iPhone and you can install thousands of apps from AppStore. What’s all this commotion about jailbreaking? Why would you need to jailbreak? What does it offer? In this post, I will cite some of the most compelling reasons to jailbreak your iPhone. I will continually update this post as changes occur.

Risk Free:
Jailbreaking is not unlocking! It is risk free. Everything that works before jailbreaking continues to work after. Jailbreaking only adds features. Jailbreaking is risk free and cannot void your warranty. You can simply restore in iTunes at anytime to get back to a factory state. You are not alone, many people are doing it. Several hundred thousand people are jailbreaking! For understanding of jailbreak vs unlock read my terminology post.

How To:
If you decide after reading this that you wish to jailbreak, head on over to our guides section and find the guide or method that works best for you. I recommend one of the pwnage methods.

Reason #1: Winterboard + Customization

Winterboard allows you to do these:




Or these:


or these:
[img:d1fb]https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img208/4205/fantasypack01.jpg[/img

This is just the “tip of the iceberg”. There is so much more you can do. You can have web content as your background. My theme consists of 350 images that rotate every 15 seconds in a slide show. Here is a sample of some of these images:


You can even have video playing as your wallpaper.
Video Wallpaper Sample

Reason #2: Jailbreak to fix Apple’s bugs
There are bugs in iPhone OS. Jailbreakers can fix some of these. Some examples:
1) Mail app crashes after restoring backup from iTunes. Apple’s solution is to not restore your backup. That’s right. Lose all your contacts! If you jailbreak, bossprefs “fix user dir permissions” button solves this.
2) iPhone will not boot after installing too many apps and you have to restore. There is a way to fix this problem by editing some files in SSH. Soon the entire issue will be solved.
3) Camera fix as described here.
4) You are limited to 9 pages of apps. After that, your appstore installs just don’t show up and there is no way to run them. If you jailbreak, you can use QuickGold, Categories, or other launchers to launch your apps. You can even put them in folders (more on Categories below).

Reason #3: Tethering
Tether your iPhone to your PC and use your iPhone as a modem. This is possible using the “Modem” app in Cydia. Appstore removed the only tethering app and will not allow this. You can use this to tether either EDGE or 3g. Tethering 3g gives you a nice broadband connection for your PC.

Reason #4: Cycorder and Snapture
Cycorder is a free full featured video recorder for iPhone. Turn your iPhone into a mini camcorder. The quality is ok at 15 fps with sound. The recordings are stored in mjpeg compression codec so they can be played back on a computer. (Not allowed in AppStore).

Snapture is a fantastic camera upgrade that allows you to take multiple pictures rapidly and in general makes your camera much easier to use. (Not allowed in AppStore).

Reason #5: Launchers
There are now some fantastic springboard add-ons for iPhone. These are OS level enhancements and are therefore, not allowed on AppStore. Those that do not have these are really missing out.

Quick Gold - This is an amazing app that is just like QuickSilver on OSX. You tap home once at springboard and type in your search and it instantly finds what you are looking for. The search is type-as-you-go and fast. In other words, if you type “B” it will bring up all the results with B. If you now press “o” it will filter to “Bo” etc. You can search apps, contacts, web clips and more.



This is a must have addition to iPhone OS. Note that this is implemented as a mobile substrate plugin which means it becomes part of springboard. There is no extra daemon running that drains your battery or uses your CPU. Outstanding!

Dock 3.0 - This is an app switcher that is always available. It is hard to describe, so check out the video link for a demo. This is also a mobile substrate plugin so there is no extra daemon running on your device.

Stacks - If you’re an OSX user, you probably already know what this is. But it’s a neat way to put items onto your dock that you want to get to quickly and have them pop up in a cool menu. Check it out.

Categories - So I cant write this whole article without at least showcasing one of my own contributions. So here is Categories. This allows you to make folders on your springboard and move those pages of icons into folders. Think Games, Apps, Networking, etc. Reduce 9 pages of apps down to just 1!



Reason #6: Backgrounder
There are severe limitations imposed on AppStore apps. One of these is “no background processes.” This means that if you have an app, such as an instant messenger app, every time you press home to go to something else, the app is closed out. You are disconnected. You get no messages, no notification, nothing.

Backgrounder is an attempt to fix this. Backgrounder allows you to select an app that you want to allow to run in the background. Then when you press home, that app will keep running. Perfect for an IRC app or such that you do not want to get disconnected everytime you tap the home key. This adds critical functionality that you cannot get unless you jailbreak!

Reason #7: Cydia
There are many other apps available only for jailbreakers. These are apps that Apple has either declined from Appstore for one reason (usually they break one of their ridiculous rules) or the developer doesn’t own a MAC or doesn’t feel like paying $100 to distribute their app. For a list of what’s avaiable in Cydia, load Cydia. Many of these apps offer functionality that is just not available in Appstore. For example:

Flashlight - Better than Appstore’s many flashlights because it makes the screen brighter. What good is a dim light? Sheesh.

BossPrefs - Hide unwanted icons on your springboard. Dont use stocks or iTunes? Hide it so you do not need to see it. Access quick toggles to handy features such as bluetooth, wifi, EDGE.

Macman - A pacman like game only available on Cydia.

BiteSMS - A cheaper alternative to SMS for many countries.

iBlacklist- Filter incoming calls and SMS!

Reason #8: Take Control of Your System
Would you want to own a PC where only Dell decided what you could do with it? Jailbreaking opens your device up to you deciding what to do with it. You can install a BSD unix subsystem and SSH. You can use a mobile terminal.

Reason #9: Unlocking
Finally, and I almost decided to leave this out, but the only way to unlock your iPhone and put it onto another carrier is by jailbreaking it. The unlocking apps will require system level patching and activation all of which can only be done via jailbreaking. At the time of this writing, you cannot unlock an iPhone 3g. Note also that you need not unlock to jailbreak. They are two separate things.

*taken from sleepers website

these are really good guides and info. even though i already have done them it is extremely helpful to other people. You really spent a lot of time on this for us and I'm extremely grateful

must haves if you ask me

supreme preferences (more settings)

winterboard (to change theme)

numeric battery, wifi, signal bars

MIM (make it mine which allows you to change att to whatever you like)

ebay

myspace and facebook

also of course imob, ivamp, icopter, palringo, flixster, sportacular

status notifier (puts missed calls, sms, email on status bar on top)

springboard (allows you to swipe top and bring up diff. toggles i.e. brightness ipod wifi can be accessible from anywhere so you don't have to go to home screen)

cycorder (video recorder)