Check out the latest news and tutorials about checkm8, a hardware-based bootrom exploit for A7-A11 iPhones and iPads that can’t be patched by Apple, making it a popular choice for jailbreak tools.
In an unfortunate turn of events for the jailbreak community, it seems that Apple will not be supporting the iPad (7th generation) with this year’s release of iPadOS 26, which means that the last remaining checkm8 bootrom exploit-vulnerable device will no longer receive major software updates this year and that checkm8-based jailbreaks will not be able to pwn iPadOS 26.
Apple seeded its first iOS & iPadOS 18.4 developer betas on Friday to set the groundwork for major upgrades in Apple Intelligence and other things. But as most jailbreakers already know, none of these firmware updates post-iOS 16.5.1 can be jailbroken on any arm64e (A12 and later) device.
While there isn’t yet a jailbreak for iOS & PadOS 17 or 18 on devices equipped with an A12 or newer chip, also commonly referred to as arm64e devices, the fact remains that the palera1n team still maintains the checkm8 bootrom exploit-powered jailbreak for the latest versions of iOS & iPadOS on devices equipped with A11 and older chips, also known as arm64 devices.
The palera1n team released an updated beta build of the checkm8 bootrom exploit-based palera1n jailbreak tool this Sunday evening, this time bringing it up to version 2.1 beta 2.
In case you weren’t already aware by now, the iPad (7th generation) is the only checkm8 bootrom exploit-susceptible device in Apple’s lineup that can run the latest available firmware – iPadOS 18. That said, it also just happens to be the only jailbreakable device on iOS/iPadOS 18 at this time. But what if that could change?
When it comes to iPadOS 18, it was nearly a miracle when we learned last Summer that the iPad (7th generation) would be the sole checkm8-vulnerable device to be able to run the latest and greatest firmware for Apple’s tablets. After all, Apple stopped supporting checkm8-vulnerable iPhones starting with iOS 17.
The palera1n jailbreak, which relies on the venerable checkm8 hardware-based bootrom exploit to perform its magic, picked up a minor update this week in the form of version 2.1 beta 1.
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.
While the palera1n jailbreak has proven to be resilient for arm64 (A11 and older) devices due to being based on a bootrom hardware-based exploit called checkm8 that can’t be patched by Apple with a mere software update, the fact remains that a lot of people are turned off by it being a command line-based jailbreak tool as opposed to offering an easy click-based graphical user interface (GUI) like checkra1n once did.
The palera1n team officially announced in a post shared to X (formerly Twitter) on Monday that the checkm8 bootrom exploit-based jailbreak tool had been updated to version 2.0.
The iPad 7 is the lone device right now that sees any imminent potential for a jailbreak on iPadOS 18. That’s because this iPadOS 18 device is susceptible to the unpatchable hardware-based bootrom exploit, while no other checkm8 devices can run iOS or iPadOS 18.
It’s been a ridiculous week following WWDC 2024, chock-full of announcements about iOS & iPadOS 18. Even the jailbreak community has suddenly come alive, pushing updates to jailbreak tools and attempting to see whether palera1n can be used to jailbreak certain checkm8-vulnerable devices post-update to iPadOS 18 and tvOS 18.