Apple adds new features to iOS with every release, including support for multitasking, turn-by-turn navigation, cloud storage and backup and more. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen people ask whether it’s even necessary to jailbreak an iOS device anymore.
But it seems millions of folks are still interested. The first untethered jailbreak tool for iOS 6.0 and 6.1 was released yesterday, and while it’s tough to determine just how many people have downloaded the evasi0n jailbreak utility, it’s safe to say the figure is a lot.
Here are some stats:
- Between January 30th and February 3rd, the evasi0n website received 17 million page views. That doesn’t even include February 4th, the day the evasi0n was officially released. To put that in perspective, Liliputing saw 19 million page views… over entire year of 2012.Â
- A few hours after evasi0n was released, users had downloaded 4.2TB worth of files from the box.net mirror — which would mean evasi0n was downloaded over 400,000 times in just a few hours. And that’s just one of the mirrors available. YOu can also download the files from Mega, RapidShare, or Google Drive.
- Jay Freeman, the guy behind the Cydia store for apps and tweaks that run on jailbroken iOS device saw a
slightmassive jump in traffic after evasi0n was released. - Update: Freeman says that by Tuesday, more than 1.7 million iOS devices had been jailbroken.
In other words, while Apple has been busy adding features to the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, there are still plenty of folks interested in doing things that aren’t officially supported by Apple.
While some folks jailbreak their devices because it makes installing pirated apps easier, many other users want to alter their devices in other ways.
For instance, there are tweaks that let you change the default maps application to Google Maps, install an alternate keyboard, tether your phone to your laptop without paying an extra fee to your carrier, alter the way multitasking or notifications work, or perform other system-level changes.
via SlashGear
As a developer it sometimes eases testing of legitimate ‘apps’ on multiple devices too,
I’m going to guess it’s because “it makes installing pirated apps easier” and tethering their iPhone for free. All that other stuff is what jailbreakers tell others “why” they jailbreak.
I already get tethering for free from my carrier and have plenty of disposable income, thank you very much. I jailbroke my iPhone and iPad yesterday for three reasons: to get the slick Auxo switcher; to make Chrome and Google Maps default apps; and to to enable any app that used UIWebView to access Nitro, Apple’s optimized JavaScript engine that it had been hiding from all third-party apps.
Maybe you should stop projecting your poverty and entitlement on other people, hmm?
I don’t need to give a reason, I OWN the device. I’m going to guess you’ve never jailbroken an iPhone and seen the wonders that Cydia has to offer? I moved from Android to iOS and was amazed at how handcuffed it was by comparison. When jailbroken I don’t feel that way and would buy iOS again. Without jailbreaking I’d take my money back to Android.