Jailbreaking Ain’t What it Used to Be

After jailbreaking two devices, I’m beginning to wonder why I bothered.  My new iPhone 4 and my 2G iPod Touch both got the jailbreak treatment last weekend and so far I’ve been disappointed.  The jailbreak itself hasn’t hurt either device, but Apple has changed much of the internals of iOS4 and two-thirds of the things I download from Cydia simply don’t work properly in the new operating system.  Specifically, Winterboard themes are hit and miss.  Many of the interface tweaks I’ve grown to love like custom battery screens and unlock sliders just don't take in iOS4.  Installing them doesn’t seem to hurt anything, they just don’t work.  As a gearhead, I really love the Mobile Terminal app, but I can’t get it to run on either of my devices.

I’m just starting to study this issue, but from what I’ve seen so far, iOS4 stores things in different places than previous versions and permissions seem to be a little different here and there within the file system.

Two apps that work just fine are SBSettings and PDANet.  The former is an app for toggling 3G, bluetooth, wi-fi and a host of other things.  The latter is for tethering.  I really like having them both but I’m not sure they’re worth the trouble or the risk.  I’m sure the developers of non Apple-approved apps and tweaks will catch up to the new OS eventually but they’re certainly not there yet.

I guess it boils down to a philosophical argument for me.  As big an Apple fan as I am, I can’t stand them telling me what I can and can’t install on a device I’m paying through the nose for.  I used to jailbreak when it was a lot more difficult.  If it continues to be as easy as visiting www.jailbreakme.com, I’m sure my iDevices will continue to run outside Apple’s “approved” realm.