Whether you’re new to iPhone jailbreaking or you’re a seasoned iPhone jailbreaker, you’ve undoubtedly heard all the catch phrases of the jailbreak deniers, either claiming “jailbreaking is dead” or suggesting a “switch to Android.” But amid all these opinions, there are important reasons why jailbreaking remains today.
As many of you probably already know, jailbreaking allows users to install hacks and add-ons that otherwise aren’t possible on a non-jailbroken device, and while Apple has moved mountains to make jailbreaking modern devices as challenging as possible for potential hackers and to add features to iOS that make reasons for jailbreaking fewer and further between, we think there are still good reasons to jailbreak in 2025.
In today’s piece, we’ll discuss a few different reasons why we think jailbreaking is still relevant in 2025, despite all the noise coming from naysayers.
Jailbreak tweaks
One of the most important reasons why the iDB team jailbreaks iPhones and iPads in 2025 is because of the jailbreak tweaks that we can use to make our device experience better. Jailbreak tweaks are add-ons that change how an iPhone behaves or operates, and in many cases, they exceed the features that Apple provides in a stock installation of iOS or iPadOS.
While Apple continues to poach jailbreak tweak ideas and include them right out of the box in modern devices with the latest firmware updates, as we’ve shown time and time again, there are still quite a few jailbreak tweaks that make the jailbreaking experience worth it. We’ll describe a few examples in this section to help our readers see what they could be missing out on by not jailbreaking.
Crane
Crane is a jailbreak tweak made by jailbreak developer Lars Fröder, the same guy that brought us the Dopamine jailbreak for iOS & iPadOS 15 and 16. Crane is unique because it lets users log into apps on their device with multiple accounts, which is something that you simply can’t do in several apps available on the iPhone and iPad.
You might want to use a jailbreak tweak like Crane if you have a main account and an alt account, which could be because you’re like me and you have personal accounts and work accounts for a particular app that you prefer to use separately of one another for the best work/life balance possible.
NoFreeAppLimit
We first learned about the NoFreeAppLimit jailbreak tweak back in 2022, and it’s a particularly powerful one because it allows those sideloading apps with a free Apple developer account linked to their Apple ID to sideload more than three apps at any given time.
If you’re sideloading apps with utilities such as AltStore or Sideloadly, and you don’t have a paid developer account, then you’ll notice that your sideloading bandwidth isn’t particularly large and that you’ll quickly fill your allotment of sideloaded apps. What this tweak does is let you sideload more apps beyond the free Apple Developer account limit so that you can truly use as many apps as you’d like to.
CarBridge
Anyone who has a CarPlay-enabled vehicle will also notice that the CarPlay user experience can feel quite restrictive, which is why we also want to give a shoutout to the CarBridge jailbreak tweak.
With CarBridge, you can use apps and features that aren’t ordinarily possible via CarPlay. Those might include web browser apps, video playback apps, and other apps that might be considered a distraction while driving. Obviously, we don’t recommend using these apps while driving, but when parked, why not?
SnowBoard
While it’s true that you can create Home Screen shortcuts with custom icons on a non-jailbroken device to emulate a themed Home Screen, this isn’t the same as using a theme on a jailbroken device. That’s why we love the SnowBoard utility on jailbroken devices.
SnowBoard allows you to theme the app icons on your Home Screen (and more) while retaining all the stock features, such as badge notifications and without the annoying Shortcuts prompt that appears when you use the Shortcut method. It’s brilliant because you can also theme other aspects of the iOS & iPadOS user interface, such as the Status Bar, Settings icons, badge notifications, and more.
Translomatic
Translomatic is a convenience jailbreak tweak that makes it easier to read text in other languages by offering text translation options in the app you’re currently using.
My favorite part about this tweak is that you don’t even have to leave the app you’re in to translate text, and it works in virtually any app. So whether you’re getting a message from someone in a language you don’t understand or you’re attempting to read a website you can’t make sense of, Translomatic is always there to help.
Snapper 3
Being able to not only take but effortlessly work with your screenshots is a powerful capability that many of us appreciate on the Mac, but it’s something that feels more convoluted on the iOS & iPadOS platforms. That’s why the Snapper 3 jailbreak tweak has seen such success.
This fantastic jailbreak tweak lets you keep a screenshot on your screen while you perform other duties, allowing you to reference what’s in the screenshot. Moreover, you can screenshot just a portion of your display rather than the entire thing, which you can’t do on a stock device. This tweak helps with multitasking on so many fronts that I consider it a valuable resource.
Zetsu
Multitasking on the iPhone has always been something of a stagnant experience, and it remains to be seen if it will ever get as good as it is on the iPad. Fortunately, the Zetsu jailbreak tweak ensures that we don’t have to wait.
Zetsu augments the multitasking experience on iPhones by allowing users to run apps side-by-side, just like they can on the iPad. Moreover, it also unlocks the ability to have windowed apps, much like you can on a desktop computer running macOS or Windows. With this, it’s easier to actually do two things at once instead of switching from one app to another from an archaic App Switcher user interface.
Cardculator
Another app that really helps with multitasking is Cardculator, which lets you summon a Calculator app-like user interface from Control Center and then perform on-the-fly calculations without ever leaving the app interface you’re already in.
This is useful because instead of switching from one app to another and increasing the odds of making a calculation mistake, you can do everything from one app interface and have total visibility over everything you’re doing without compromise.
Shijima
In a touch of personalization to personal computers, it’s possible to download what are called Shimeji and have little animated pets walking around on your desktop. Unfortunately, there is no such capability offered on iPhones and iPads without a jailbreak, which is why Shijima came to fruition.
With Shijima, you can have Shimeji desktop pets walking around on your screen and responding not only to touch, but to your behavior on your device. These interactive display pets are fun and give you a sense of personalization not possible on a stock device.
No2Theft
While you can track a stolen iPhone with the Find My app, one thing you can’t do is acquire a photograph of your thief. That’s why I like the No2Theft jailbreak tweak; because it gives me more resources to give to the police if this ever happens to me.
With No2Theft, you can get a photograph from the device’s cameras of the thief’s face when your iPhone goes missing and the thief attempts to enter your passcode incorrectly. Moreover, it gives you the ability to deter theft by playing a loud alarm when a passcode gets entered incorrectly or when your iPhone gets removed from its charger, and lets you configure “safe” locations with Wi-Fi networks that your iPhone connects to.
Backporting unsupported features
In addition to the jailbreak tweaks mentioned above, which can do things that Apple’s own operating system can’t do yet, we also like a certain aspect of using jailbreak tweaks to unlock features on otherwise unsupported devices. Apple often locks certain features to newer devices to make them more appealing to buyers, but older devices are often just as capable of doing those things with a software update.
We’ll share some examples of jailbreak tweaks that make these things possible below:
Live Text Enabler
Live Text is a powerful feature that lets you wrangle text from an image and select it as if it were typed out on a document. Only newer devices were blessed with this feature, but one developer created a jailbreak tweak called Live Text Enabler to unlock it on unsupported iPhones with the A9-A11 chip inside, and unsurprisingly, it works just fine.
Quick Notes Enabler
For those iPad jailbreakers out there, Apple selectively enabled Quick Notes on newer iPads only, but a jailbreak tweak called Quick Notes Enabler makes it possible to access exactly the same functionality on older jailbroken iPads without having to shell out cash to buy a new iPad to get it.
Dynamic Peninsula
The Dynamic Island is particularly limited to newer devices that have evolved from the traditional notch initiated by the iPhone X, but it remains to be seen as to why Apple didn’t offer similar functionality from the Dynamic Island on devices equipped with notches, which is something that the Dynamic Peninsula jailbreak tweak makes into a reality.
Picarize
One of my favorite features in the iOS 16 update is the ability to copy subjects from a photograph and either make a Sticker out of it or send just that subject as a photo in a text message. As you might come to expect, however, Apple limited this functionality to certain devices. Picarize enables this feature on all iOS 16 devices, and ports it to iOS 14 and 15 devices.
Access to direct filesystem & SSH
When you’re using a non-jailbroken iPhone or iPad, you can use the Files app to view a limited number of folders on your device, access your iCloud storage, and more. But the types of files that you can actually access are limited, and Apple has done a wonderful job of locking you out of folders that could otherwise be tampered with to alter device appearance and behavior.
When you jailbreak, you can install a file manager app like Filza to browse your entire filesystem. This means you can view files deep within your device’s operating system, including the .plist files that often define device behavior based on Boolean variables, changing image files that make up the user interface of your device, and more.
Additionally, you can SSH into your device remotely with the OpenSSH utility and perform remote commands from a separate terminal. This allows you to remotely control your device and perform actions, even if you’re far away from it.
Apple doesn’t allow SSH capabilities on a stock handset, and if you want to control it remotely, the best you can hope for is iPhone Mirroring capabilities on the latest firmware, but even that doesn’t get as powerful and low-level as SSH commands. SSH allows for discreet actions, such as secure file transfer, while AirDrop is more conspicuous to the end user.
Other considerations
Jailbreaking an iPhone is more than just unlocking new possibilities on a device that Apple has locked down from the factory, but it’s also a thrilling experience that can be rewarding in more ways than one.
One example of how jailbreaking can be rewarding is that you get to be part of a community of like-minded individuals who enjoy modding their handset just like you. This means you can share ideas with those people and obtain ideas about how you might want to modify your device in the future.
Jailbreaking may even serve as the gateway for you learning to code your own jailbreak tweaks, which could catapult you into learning a career in coding as has happened with so many jailbreak tweak developers in the past several years. Many of those have even went on to be hired by Apple.
While waiting for new jailbreaks isn’t always fun, nor is waiting on an outdated firmware for new jailbreaks to release, the thrill you get when a jailbreak drops for your firmware is something you must experience to understand. The moment you get to hack your iPhone and do things with it that Apple never intended you to do is the day you realize you’ve been missing out all along.
Wrapping up
While the jailbreaking hobby in general has shrunk over the past several years as jailbreakers lose patience with slower tool releases, the fact remains that there are still several valid use cases for jailbreaking even today, despite how nice and shiny those new Apple firmware updates seem.
We look forward to your discussion about jailbreaking in 2025 in the comments section down below.