Two Major Cydia Hosts Shut Down as Jailbreaking Fades in Popularity (macrumors.com)

Joe Rossignol, writing for MacRumors: ModMy last week announced it has archived its default ModMyi repository on Cydia, which is essentially an alternative App Store for downloading apps, themes, tweaks, and other files on jailbroken iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. ZodTTD/MacCiti also shut down this month, meaning that two out of three of Cydia's major default repositories are no longer active as of this month. ModMy recommends developers in the jailbreaking community use the BigBoss repository, which is one of the last major Cydia sources that remains functional. The closure of two major Cydia repositories is arguably the result of a declining interest in jailbreaking, which provides root filesystem access and allows users to modify iOS and install unapproved apps on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. When the iPhone and iPod touch were first released in 2007, jailbreaking quickly grew in popularity for both fun and practical reasons. Before the App Store, for example, it allowed users to install apps and games. Jailbreaking was even useful for something as simple as setting a wallpaper, not possible on early iOS versions.

Comments

my decline reason

[Anonymous Coward]

I stopped jailbreaking when ios incorporated enough of the features I wanted.

Re:my decline reason

[omnichad]

Now that Android is good enough, switching to Android is even better. So many categories of app are outright banned by Apple - including the useful WiFi Analyzer.

Superuser access

[nightfire-unique]

Alongside net neutrality, laws should exist that dictate no owners of general technology devices can be artificially/intentionally restricted from accessing any part of their device.

I don't mean "thou shall include a JTAG port and dongle" .. I mean that it becomes illegal to import for commercial sale any device that the manufacturer/reseller has locked down for the sole purpose of excluding access to tinker.

Re:Superuser access

[b0s0z0ku]

Yep.

That's the problem.

Take an older iPad where I needed to install a certain app. When I tried to install it from the App Store, it told me that the current app version was incompatible with the OS version. The OS itself couldn't be updated further.

However, there was a perfectly functional older version of the app compatible with an older iOS out there. App Store would just not allow me to download it directly.

The hack was to download it first in iTunes, flagging my account as already having downloaded it, THEN reinstall it on the iPad. Since my iTunes account was flagged, the App Store would then provide the older app.

With jailbreaking and/or ability to sideload after clicking a disclaimer, this procedure would have been much less irritating. But no, Apple WANTS to irritate you into buying a new iPad and putting your (perfectly functional) one in the landfill.

Re:Superuser access

[alvinrod]

Net neutrality is difficult enough to get people to understand as is and I don't think stringing this albatross round its neck helps that cause at all. Nevermind that there are also some devices that we (society) definitely don't want people to tinker with at all such as catalytic converters, electrical wiring, etc. for various reasons.

That and I can't really see companies getting on board with such an idea at all unless you include some language that means tinkering voids the warranty because they don't want to get stuck fixing junked kit after someone's tinkering tankered the device. Oddly enough the only way to possibly enforce that kind of situation is with a detection mechanism that no one can tinker with.

I'd suggest not buying products that don't let you tinker. Businesses don't exist without customers and if enough people want a thing, there will be plenty of others lining up to provide it.

Re: Superuser access

[b0s0z0ku]

I get the sentiment, however crudely put.

But here's the irony -- in Europe, the rights to tinker and repair are actually more enshrined in law than in the US. Even goes for houses -- most European cities won't harass you for working on your own home without a permit, whereas in some parts of the US, woe betide you if a neighbor reports an unlicensed electrical outlet...

Europe tends to have better data protection, the right to unbundle (IE wasn't allowed to be tied to Windows), and incentives to repair vs throw away in some countries. Sweden actually gives tax breaks for fixing things vs disposing them.

Re:Superuser access

[John.Banister]

I don't know about tinker, but there is a "right to repair" political movement. I first heard about it in relation to tractors, but it could apply equally well to smartphones.

not a "decline in interest", rather a lack of JBs

[neurocutie]

Don't know why this is being touted as a "decline in interest" when the real story is that there hasn't been a clean useable jailbreak available for a LONG time, nothing really useable for IOS10 and nothing for IOS11, despite reports of "demos". Apple has done a good job of shutting JB'ing down, whether by patching holes, or.... I wonder if Apple pays these hackers off not to release the JB after a demo is released.

Yes IOS has offered many of the features that JB'ing used to provide, but not all... I still would JB if I could. But I can't be forever stuck on IOS8 either.

Re:Handy Android feature I'm missing

[fustakrakich]

"Do Not Disturb" does have a scheduling switch. I think you have to turn it on.

More people switching to Android?

[wardrich86]

It's been a long time since I've touched iOS, but I wonder if part of it is the old JB scene moving over to Android? A lot of features I used to have to Jailbreak my phone for were readily available OOTB or in the Play Store with no need to root the device.

Re:not a "decline in interest", rather a lack of J

[tlhIngan]

Don't know why this is being touted as a "decline in interest" when the real story is that there hasn't been a clean useable jailbreak available for a LONG time, nothing really useable for IOS10 and nothing for IOS11, despite reports of "demos". Apple has done a good job of shutting JB'ing down, whether by patching holes, or.... I wonder if Apple pays these hackers off not to release the JB after a demo is released.

Yes IOS has offered many of the features that JB'ing used to provide, but not all... I still would JB if I could. But I can't be forever stuck on IOS8 either.

Or perhaps that the jailbreaks never left the "tethered" state because they couldn't find a boot level flaw to make them permanent.

There's a lot of jailbreaks out there, but most only persist until you reboot, at which point you need to hack the phone again to jailbreak it.

I think interest also dropped off considerably when the piracy scene left the jailbreak scene. For a long while you needed to jailbreak in order to pirate, so a lot of people would jailbreak just to pirate. Thing is, since iOS 9 I believe, Apple made it so you didn't have to jailbreak to side load stuff - there was an official sideload channel available with XCode. And pirates drew upon that because that way it didn't require jailbreaking, so they created the tools using Apple's official method.

As for devices still using older iOS, the App Store has supported older versions of apps for a little while now - if you attempt to install an app on an older device, it would ask if you wanted an older version downloaded instead (it says something like "this app requires a newer OS version that what you have, do you want to install an older version that supports your OS version?". This is developer controlled - sometimes an older version is removed for legal reasons, other times the developer doesn't want to support an older version alongside the current one, etc.

Re:people that want to be able to control their ph

[Just Some Guy]

iphones primary user base is people that barely know how to install an app

Stop. Just stop right there. The primary user base is people who don't want to have to know how to install an app. Everyone here on Slashdot should be able to do that stuff with zero problems, but even a huge percentage of us here simply don't want to. I spend enough time fighting computers at work, thanks.

Re:Android too

[r_naked]

Rooting has faded on Android for the same reason as iOS -- damn near impossible, or completely impossible on most carrier branded phones.

Thank you Qualcomm. The QSEE (Qualcomm Secure Execution Environment) has pretty much ruined rooting when combined with Android TrustZone and SELinux. They pulled fastboot a while ago, and it is just a matter of time before all carriers do OTA upgrades and they pull firmware update / download mode.

There just really aren't any attack vectors anymore.

I am telling anyone that wants to root to buy a phone from a developer friendly OEM like OnePlus or Razer.

Re:Android too

[dmbasso]

Coincidentally, just today I had an issue that's only solvable by rooting the
phone. It is a pretty stupid bug too, I want to connect through WiFi to an
isolated LAN, but the device *requires* Internet access otherwise it
auto-disconnects. The only way to change this behaviour is by changing a setting
with adb, with su access, which I most probably won't be able to get (Galaxy S6 /
T-Mobile locked).