Skip to main content

Jailbreakers Free Apple TV From Its Maker’s Restrictions

Much to Apple’s chagrin, the Library of Congress recently legalized jailbreaking of electronic devices in a clarification to 1998’s Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The move puts Apple in an unpleasant spot as the company has long reveled in locking its consumers out of its devices’ built in functionality, and yet has proven utterly inept at developing sufficient protections to prevent firmware savvy software enthusiasts from breaking these locks.

Apple has perpetually expressed its dismay at this state of affairs, saying that jailbreaking destroys the “magical” experience of its devices. Apple also claims jailbreaking supports a sickening slew of crime, including terrorism, drug-dealing, and organized crime.

Recommended Videos

It didn’t take long for the new Apple TV set-top box to be jailbroken. Why the need for the jailbreak? The new, much smaller box — which lacks a hard drive — runs a full version of iOS (versus the modified version of OS X 10.4 or OS X 10.5 that Apple’s first generation models ran). Yet Apple has locked users out of using apps on the device.

The jailbreak uses SHAtter jailbreaking tool, developed by @pod2g. SHAtter is a jailbreak for iOS that Apple is literally powerless to fix, as it exploits the boot ROM. The tool can be used to trick Apple TV into removing the current iOS firmware image and installing a jailbroken image created by the Apple Dev Team’s Pwnage tool.

Like the recent iPhone iOS 4.1 jailbreak, the new jailbreak is extremely impressive, given how quick its turnaround was. The new second gen Apple TV hasn’t even widely shipped yet. Apple has been quiet about when exactly it will ship. Initially it indicated that it would ship in September, but customers are now reporting that the ship date may have been bumped as late as October 18. Apple may be having some supply issues, given the long shipping delay. Apple TVs are currently available at some Apple stores, though.

Despite the promise of the jailbreak, there are some definite limitations. While the Apple TV’s Apple A4 ARM processor and 256 MB should be beefy enough for most apps, the 8 GB of flash memory doesn’t leave much room for such apps. Further, than memory is used for cache, so there’s no telling how installing third party apps might muck with performance.

The jailbreak is not widely available yet in easy to digest form, but then again neither is the Apple TV. Video of it in action can be found here.

Despite exposing vehemence towards the jailbreaking community, Apple has begrudgingly accepted some measures pushed by jailbreakers — such as apps on the original iPhone. Likewise some believe that jailbreakers may force Apple to release an official App Store for the Apple TV. In this way the jailbreak may not only benefit those who use it, but may benefit Apple TV owners in general.

Ian Bell
I'm the co-founder and CEO of Digital Trends Media Group, which I launched in 2006 out of my home office to share my passion…
Friday Night Baseball returns to Apple TV+ for the 2025 MLB season
Friday Night Baseball returns for 2025.

After a long winter, spring has finally arrived, bringing with it the start of the 2025 Major League Baseball season. This means that Friday Night Baseball, a weekly doubleheader, has returned exclusively on Apple TV+.

Tonight's regular season debut features the Baltimore Orioles facing off against the Toronto Blue Jays at 7 p.m. EDT, followed by the New York Mets playing against the Houston Astros at 8 p.m. EDT.

Read more
Apple tvOS 19 / tvOS 26: everything you need to know
The next version of Apple TV software will be here soon. Here's what we're expecting
tvOS graphic.

We'll soon learn what Apple has in store for the software that powers its popular streaming device, the Apple TV, with its WWDC 2025 keynote presentation set to reveal all.

The next major version will be tvOS 19 / tvOS 26 and it's expected to get new features, a possible new design, and will push integration with Apple's other products deeper than before.
Will tvOS 19 actually be called tvOS 26?
According to prominent Apple tipster Mark Gurman, Apple is preparing a major shake-up to the nomenclature of its operating systems.

Read more
This 65-inch Hisense QLED TV just dropped from $800 to $500
The Hisense U6N ULED TV.

There’s never a bad time of year to buy a TV, but there are definitely the best times of year to score an incredible discount on a set that may have surpassed your 2024 TV budget. As 2025 models start rolling in, last year’s TVs receive heavy discounts, which leads us to this awesome offer: 

For a limited time, when you purchase the Hisense 65-inch U6N Series 4K TV at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and several other retailers, you’ll only pay $500. The full MSRP on this model is $800. 

Read more