iPhone 4 Jailbreak Now Available

August 2, 2010 By Geoff Duncan

An "official" iPhone 4 jailbreak app is now available...and, thanks to a ruling from the LIbrary of Congress, is now legal in the United States.

The developers behind Jailbreakme have released an “official” version of their Jailbreak 2.0 application for the iPhone 4, enabling iPhone owners to jump ship from Apple’s tightly-controlled universe of iPhone applications and install any application they like on their devices—with most of the non-Apple-approved apps being available via Cydia. And, where previous iPhone jailbreaks risks running afoul of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act—at least in the United States—a recent ruling from the Library of Congress enables users to jailbreak their devices without facing DMCA charges.

Of course, iPhone 4 owners interested in jailbreaking their phone are advised to use all due caution: the procedure can, render a device non-operational if something goes wrong. However, in most circumstances, users should be able to undo the jailbreak by connecting the iPhone to their computer and using iPhones “Restore” function. To install the jailbreak, users just connect to the Jailbreak site using the iPhone’s built-in Safari browser and proceed from there.

Early reports from users of the jailbreak reported problems with the iPhone 4′s FaceTime Wi-Fi video conferencing feature and SMS messages; these issues have apparently been resolved. The jailbreak does not currently work on iPads, but apparently functions on iPhone 3G, 3GS, and iPhone 4 models, as well as the iPod touch. However, enthusiasm for services and applications not approved by Apple—think Google Voice—is high among some iPhone owners.

In addition to enabling users to install applications from sources other than the iTunes App Store, jailbreaking will enable iPhones to be used on networks other than Apple’s approved carriers; however, not all iPhone features (like visual voicemail) will necessarily function on carriers that don’t support the iPhone.

Jailbreaking may now be deemed legal by the Library of Congress…but that doesn’t mean Apple has to make it easy for users of jailbroken iPhones to get the most out of their devices. Jailbreaking an iPhone typically means iPhone users will no longer be able to get iPhone software updates. Apple is very unlikely to support any sort of iPhone software updates—even security patches—for jailbroken devices.

Jailbreak 2.0 is donation-ware: the developers encourage users to contribute via PayPal if they find the tool useful.

Showing 14 comments

Michael at 11:08pm 23rd February 2011 How do I jailbreak my iPhone 4.2.1
Nick at 5:03am 6th January 2011 Yeah I used Limera1n on my iPhone 4 OS 4.1 BB2.10.4 and it works great!
Appleman at 9:50pm 23rd December 2010 Limera1n.com does everything. Ipad iphones. iOS anything
John at 8:30pm 7th October 2010 hey does anyones knows how can i jailbreak or unlock my iphone 4 on ios 4.0.2 ?
John at 8:29pm 7th October 2010 hey does anyone knows how can i unlock my iphone 4 on ios 4.0.2 ?
JoeR at 2:57am 4th August 2010 No Problems here
JoeT at 2:37am 4th August 2010 I saw these two pages: http://www.gadgetsdna.com/how-to-fix-facetime-and... http://www.iphone4forum.net/forum/iphone-4-news-7... Try one or both of those. I didn't watch the video, so I don't know if it'll tell you the same thing as the first link.
Josh at 2:27am 4th August 2010 So I jailbroke my iphone4 and all appeared fine except the FaceTime doesn't work using the 5mp rear camera. The front camera works fine. For pictures both work. I re-jailbroke an hour ago and re-updated Cydia, no luck. Anyone else have this issue or know of a solution?
1. iPhoneGod at 10:20pm 4th August 2010 Turn FaceTime on in Settings.
JoeT at 7:54am 3rd August 2010 Nope, this jailbreak is not tethered.
Kevin Kirby at 6:56am 3rd August 2010 yup...me too....I JUST BRICKED iPhone 4 (4.0.1) AS WELL.__i jail broke it at 9pm tonight 8/2/2010. __it only had about 10% battery life.__i let it run to 1%.....and then phone died.__i tried to charge it....but it got stuck on the "apple logo" screen....__BRIIIIIIIICK......__I wonder if the jailbreak is "TETHERED"....(Tethered means that the jailbreak needs to be reapplied every time you power down your iPhone. If you let the battery run to zero, then you will need to reapply the jailbreak by connecting to your computer (hence tethering) and run the jailbreak again.__Unfortunately, since i've had the new iphone 4, I've never let it power down by draining the battery yet.....__so I don't know if it's a fault of my iPhone or the tethered jailbreak.....PROBABLY THE TETHERED JAILBREAK WOULD BE MY BEST GUESS....LOL
1. iPhoneGod at 10:18pm 4th August 2010 Have you got a problem? Or can you just not write in English?
GQSmoos at 1:02am 3rd August 2010 yep, just bricked MiPhone. It is restoring now
1. iPhoneGod at 10:19pm 4th August 2010 Then it wasn't bricked... idiot. Bricking is when the phone becomes completely inoperable. Dead. Restoring and trying to revive it will not work.You didn't brick your iPhone.