Difference Between Jailbreaking and Unlocking an iPhone

Definitions of Jailbreaking and Unlocking

Jailbreaking means to modify the original firmware on your iPhone to allow unsigned apps to run on your device. What that means is that you use a jailbreaking tool that injects some files into your iPhone to modify the firmware and as a result you get to install unofficial apps on your device.

Unlocking, on the other hand, is completely different than jailbreaking. Unlocking your iPhone means to remove the carrier limitations put on your device. If you've bought a phone from a carrier, say Sprint in the US, you'd know that you can't use it on any other carrier. But, when you unlock your device, you can use it with just about any carrier in the world you want. There are no restrictions as to what carrier you can use your iPhone with.

Now that you know what jailbreaking and unlocking is, let's dig a little further and learn if it's legal to perform these on your device.

Legal Status of Jailbreaking and Unlocking

After struggling with Apple's objections for jailbreaking, it was finally decided that jailbreaking was legal in the US. That means, you can officially jailbreak your iPhone and install whatever unofficial apps you want on your device. This, without any permission from Apple.

While unlocking a phone means losses for network providers, many went against it however unlocking won it and it's completely legal to unlock your iPhone to make it work with whatever carriers you want. So, if you don't like the plans from your current carrier, simply get your phone unlocked and use it with the carrier that has the best plans for you.

Why to Jailbreak or Unlock your iPhone?

By this time, you'd have learnt what jailbreaking and unlocking is and also if they're legal. The next thing you'll want to learn is why you should do it. The following should help you answer it.

There could be various reasons as to why you may want to jailbreak your iPhone but if you can't find any reason, the following are some of the reasons for you:

• 1. Once jailbroken, you can install the apps that are not available on the official App Store on your iPhone.
• 2. You can install many of the tweaks from Cydia repository on your device after you're jailbroken.
• 3. You can enable free tethering when your iPhone is jailbroken.

Sky is the limit when it comes to what you can do after you have jailbroken your iPhone.As for unlocking, there are also many reasons as to why you may want to do so:

• 1. You don't like plans from your current carrier and you want to make a switch.
• 2. You're relocating to somewhere and your current carrier is not available and thus you want to switch the carrier.
• 3. You're traveling abroad and you're going to use different carriers.

These are good reasons to get your iPhone unlocked.

Lastly, How to Jailbreak or Unlock your iPhone

If you have found your reason for jailbreaking or unlocking your iPhone, then you may want to so as quickly as you can and the following shows how.

Jailbreaking is different on various firmware versions. If you happen to be on the latest version of iOS, you'd use a different tool whereas a user using an old version of iOS would have to use a different tool. Some of the well known tools for jailbreaking an iPhone are Pangu, TaiG, PP 25, and Evasi0n 7.

Sometimes, while jailbreaking an iPhone, what happens is that your phone gets stuck in the boot mode, recovery mode or apple logo. When that happens, it's advised to use an app that helps you fix stuck issues on your iPhone. One of these apps is Tenorshare ReiBoot that helps you fix many of the stuck issues on your iPhone so you can get your phone jailbroken without any issues.