Apple on Monday released its first developer beta of iOS & iPadOS 18.3, meaning that developers have begun testing what will eventually evolve into a major software update for all normal iPhone and iPad users around the world.
Screenshot courtesy of @MasterMike88.
For jailbreakers, iOS & iPadOS 18 have always been a point of contention because you can’t currently jailbreak these versions on modern devices. The one and only exception to this rule of thumb is the checkm8 bootrom exploit-vulnerable iPad (7th generation), which harnesses an A10 Fusion chip. This device can be jailbroken on iPadOS 18 with the palera1n jailbreak.
Despite Apple’s hardball approach to thwart jailbreaking in recent years, which has resulted in a significant slowdown in the development of modern jailbreaks to date, it seems that even latest iPadOS 18.3 beta 1 update on the iPad (7th generation) remains jailbreakable.
The news, confirmed Monday afternoon by frequent jailbreak commentator @MasterMike88 in a post shared to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), is a testament to the power of the checkm8 hardware-level bootrom exploit that powers the palera1n jailbreak, as Apple cannot merely software update this exploit away like they can with other ordinary jailbreak exploits.
While this isn’t in any way unexpected, considering that the palera1n jailbreak has continued to support new iPadOS 18 updates on the iPad (7th generation) for this entire update cycle, it still feels particularly special considering how the palera1n team continues to maintain this tool for what’s unquestionably a very limited number of users who have an iPad (7th generation) and who want to jailbreak it on the latest firmware.
Outside of the iPad (7th generation), no other iPhone or iPad of any type has been publicly jailbroken on iOS or iPadOS 18 to date. This shows just how challenging Apple as a company has made it for security researchers to create jailbreaks, while also poaching efforts to make them by offering large bug bounties that disincentivize releasing exploit chains that could be used in jailbreaking to the general public.
You can learn more about the palera1n jailbreak by visiting the tool’s official website.
Are you excited to see that even Apple’s latest firmware update continues to be jailbreakable on the iPad (7th generation)? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below.