How And Why I Jailbroke My iPhone

Jailbreaking the iPhone used to be a hairy and scary thing to do … if you believe all the horror stories about prior versions of the jailbreak programs causing serious problems with your phone.

But today, it’s pretty simple and quick, and there are some really cool benefits and very little downside.

In case you are in a hurry, I’ll show you how first, and then tell you why.

How To Jailbreak iPhone 3.0

I had 3.12 on an iPhone 3G, so this is the result I got from that setup.

First you download the program, use Blackra1n since it’s so easy and quick. Get it here.

Once you have the program on your computer, you simply plugin the iPhone and hit a button that shows up that says “Make It Rain”. About 3 minutes later, you have a jailbroken iPhone with a few different app stores available, including the most popular, called Cydia.

Why I Jailbroke My iPhone 3.0? Benefits!

Ok, first of all, it’s not everything to jailbreak your iPhone.

Yes there are some cool additions to what you can do on your iPhone, and some customization that makes it a good deal. But is it going to make you a lot more productive? I’m not sure I can really say that. Will it make your iPhone experience a little more fun? Definitely on that one …

The first thing when I jailbroke my iPhone is I had a few new apps showing up. One was blackra1n, and there was also Cydia, and Winterboard. Winterboard is used to activate and deactivate a lot of themes and tweaks. And it runs on something called Springboard. Springboard crashes occasionally and you have to reboot. But I’ve had other apps that crashed me before, so it does not seem like a big deal to me.

Going into Cydia, there are loads of apps to browse. The immediate difference is that it’s not as pretty as the Apple App store on the phone. The icons don’t show you anything about the program, and you have to wait for it to load before getting a screenshot or two. Most Apple app store apps have several screenshots, but the Cydia ones usually have only one screenshot. This might not seem like a big deal, but if you like to see how the theme or tweak is going to look first, it’s a bit annoying.

However, I’ve found a few Cydia apps that are total deal makers for me …

One is qTweeter. If you use twitter or Facebook, this is a really awesome app. It costs $5, but it’s a totally cool way to update both twitter and facebook at the same time. You get 15 free status updates before you have to pay for the app. So plenty of time to test it out before you have to pay. Very nice touch. I never would buy an app for $5 without being able to try it first unless I was really confident. The app uses twitpic and twitvid to automatically generate short links and show your pic or video in your status update. This rocks … Another cool thing about qTweeter is that you can update your status, from anywhere. Just touch the status bar on the top of the screen and qTweeter drops a window down, over any app or the homescreen. This is something that is unheard of on an iPhone that isn’t jailbroken. You just can’t do stuff like that.

Another app that is totally cool is Cycorder. If you already have an iPhone 3GS, you don’t need this app. But I have a 3G. So no video recorder preloaded. Cycorder turns your 3G into a video recorded, just like a 3GS. And the really cool thing is that qTweeter can automatically generate a video and load it on twitvid. WAY cool. So these two programs together make it easy to update the Twitter status.

There are other apps that some friends of mine keep saying I have to try, like a scrabble-type of game that you can play online. But I have yet to try it.

Themes are maybe the #1 reason to jailbreak your iPhone. If making your phone look and feel unique, then jailbreak and get your theme. There are hundreds to choose from and many of them come in parts, so you can use the battery from one theme and the background from another, for example. During my first week I changed the theme nonstop. Now I have the one I like. Screenshot coming soon … my wife has my phone today and she’s out and about …

Then, there’s the Backgrounder. From any app just hold the home button for about 2 seconds and the app minimizes into the background. That way, if you want to start it up again, no waiting for the splash screen and load. It’s right there for a quick load. It’s good if you are working on something and need to switch between apps a lot. But since it does not persist after you turn your iPhone off and back on again, I don’t use it too much.

The Big Warranty Question

A lot of people are afraid of voiding their warranty on the iPhone. But if you just restore the phone from iTunes, it wipes out the programs. That’s right, a restore makes the iPhone new again, no sign of jailbreak. So the warranty is really a non-issue in my opinion. But make your own decision on that one …

Syncing With iTunes After A Jailbreak

After a jailbreak, I was curious to see how a sync would work: just like it does before the jailbreak.

I had some apps purchase on my iTunes, and some purchased on the phone. And everything synced fine.

I think some older versions of jailbreak programs used to mess around with your ability to sync, but not Blackra1n.

That’s just about it for me. If you have any questions or comments I’d love to hear it!