With Apple's ever-turning game of unsigning older firmware to prevent downgrades to jailbreakable firmware, jailbreakers are forever wondering what the best strategy is for their device.
Jailbreak Guide: Can I Jailbreak?
iOS 12
Chimera v1.6.2 upgrades userspace reboot & adds miscellaneous improvements
Many had thought that the iOS 12-centric Chimera jailbreak tool would stop receiving updates as development efforts shifted toward newer iOS & iPadOS 13 and 14 jailbreaks, but it seems that isn’t the case.
Chimera received another update this weekend, officially bringing it up to version 1.6.2.
DNDToast displays a ringer/silent-inspired pop-up when Do Not Disturb is toggled
Whenever you switch the iPhone’s ringer/silent switch between the ringer and silent positions, iOS automatically shows a small pop-up at the top of the display to let you know the status of the switch.
We really like this subtle feature, and that’s one of the reasons why we’ve often wondered why Apple doesn’t do the same for Do Not Disturb mode. After all, if you’re unaware when Do Not Disturb gets turned on, you could miss important notifications. With that in mind, you’d think Apple would want users to be more aware of when it gets switched on or off – automatically or not.
How to install Odysseyra1n on a checkra1n device
By default, the checkra1n jailbreak installs Cydia as the defacto package manager, and Cydia Substrate or Substitute can be used for tweak injection. But if you’re accustomed to the Chimera or Odyssey jailbreaks, then you might prefer to use Sileo for package management and libhooker for tweak injection instead, yet checkra1n’s jailbreak method offers many benefits over relying on certificates or signed apps.
If you’re wondering whether it’s possible to install Sileo and libhooker on your checkra1n device, then the astounding answer would be yes! A script called Odysseyra1n installs the entire bootstrap on your checkra1n device, allowing you to have an Odyssey-like experience on your checkra1n jailbreak.
SkinnyMenu removes the superfluous Look Up and Search options from iOS’ Action Menu
When you tap and hold on a word in a body of text on your iPhone or iPad, you’ll find yourself being presented with an Action Menu that contains useful options that vary depending on the app you’re in.
If you’re using a text editor, then you might see Copy, Cut, and Paste as options. In other areas of iOS, you may find those in addition to other superfluous options, like Look Up and Share to name a few.
Screenshots of checkra1n on Windows 10 surface, but release schedule still unclear
The checkra1n jailbreak tool is renowned for its use of a powerful bootrom exploit called checkm8, which can’t be patched by Apple via a software update because the exploit exists in the hardware of devices equipped with A7-A11 processors.
The checkra1n team initially released the checkra1n jailbreak as a macOS-only application in 2019, and it wasn’t until a good bit into 2020 that the tool picked up support for Linux. As for Windows, the checkra1n team planned to support it, but to this day hasn’t implemented official support in a public release. So what’s the hold up, exactly?
Apple stops signing iOS 12.5 following the release of iOS 12.5.1
Apple regularly releases software updates for the company’s many platforms, mobile and desktop alike. Interestingly, while most Apple’s software updates target either newer devices or upgrading the user experience of the company’s latest firmware iteration, a few heads turned when Apple released iOS 12.5.1 earlier this month to address a COVID-19 exposure notification bug that purportedly affected older iPhones.
Given that a software update was released, despite being for an older iteration of iOS, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Apple would soon close the signing window for what was previously the latest version of iOS 12. This happened Tuesday evening after Apple officially made the move to stop signing iOS 12.5, the predecessor of the newer iOS 12.5.1 update.
Emerald: A new Status Bar experience that Apple needs to take notes on
Your iPhone’s Status Bar is intended to provide useful information at a glance, and while it definitely seems to have the basics covered, Apple could have went so much further in terms of implementing an immersive Status Bar-centric user experience. Given what an iPhone costs these days, wouldn’t you think they’d give this some thought?
While it seems unlikely that Apple will be upgrading the iPhone’s Status Bar any time soon, those lucky enough to have a jailbroken handset at their disposal won’t need to put up with the stock Status Bar experience any longer. Why, you ask? Just have a look at a newly released jailbreak tweak dubbed Emerald by iOS developers LaughingQuoll and thetimeloop, and all your questions will be answered.
Chimera jailbreak updated to version 1.6.1 with Userspace reboot improvements
In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, the Chimera Team updated its iOS 12-centric jailbreak tool Saturday evening, officially bringing it up to version 1.6.1.
Chimera Team lead developer CoolStar first unveiled the release of Chimera v1.6.1 via the official Sileo / Odyssey / Chimera Discord channel.
Substitute receives another update, this time to version 2.0.6
Sam Bingner of team unc0ver published yet another update for Substitute on Saturday, officially bringing the package up to version 2.0.6.
Substitute was only recently updated to version 2.0, touting notable performance and stability improvements for the tweak injection platform. Today’s update is just one of many released in the past week, with each of those gradually addressing bugs introduced by the latest version.
Does the Chimera jailbreak work on the newly released iOS 12.5.1?
On Monday, we reported on Apple's point update release of iOS 12.5.1 for older devices which cannot run iOS 13 and higher. The only stated change in the update was a fix for a bug in the COVID-19 exposure notifications feature, which Apple had previously added to older firmwares to allow more device owners to make use of it.
Although the release notes didn't mention any other changes, it would not have been unusual for Apple to have taken the opportunity to patch the vulnerabilities used by iOS 12.x jailbreaks, such as the Chimera jailbreak for iOS 12-12.5. The update could also have rendered the jailbreak tool unusable accidentally. Unrelated changes in the firmware, or hard-coded firmware support in the Chimera app itself, could also have required an update to the tool for it to work again.
Substitute picks up more minor changes in new v2.0.5 update
If you use the unc0ver jailbreak, then you might recall a Substitute update that was released just yesterday evening, bringing the tweak injection package up to version 2.0.4. It was just one of several updates to be released since Substitute received its major v2.0 rebranding shortly after the start of the new year, but it would be far from the last…
This Thursday evening, Substitute received yet another update. The package now sports the version number 2.0.5, however for the average jailbreaker, this update isn’t quite as imperative as yesterday’s would have been.