Apple is all set to release iOS 12 in a few hours from now. Apple had patched the exploits used in the Electra Jailbreak for iOS 11.3.1 so you won’t be able to jailbreak iOS 12 using Electra Jailbreak when it is released.
Here are 9 things jailbreakers must know with the imminent release of iOS 12. If you’ve been jailbreaking for a long time then you would probably already know them, however, if you’re relatively new to the world of jailbreaking then I would recommend going through them.
1. Do Not Update or Restore
Electra jailbreak won’t work with iOS 12 so if you’re either on iOS 11.3.1 or lower, you should avoid upgrading to iOS 12 if you don’t want to miss your favorite jailbreak tweaks. If you’ve a jailbroken device, then upgrading to iOS 12 will wipe the jailbreak along with the jailbreak apps and tweaks. Apple has also stopped signing iOS 11.3.1 firmware files so you won’t be able to downgrade from iOS 12 to iOS 11.3.1.
If your device is on iOS 11.4 or iOS 11.4.1, even then, you should think twice before upgrading to iOS 12, as one of the golden rules of jailbreaking is to stay where you’re and avoid updating your device to the latest iOS software update to improve your chances of jailbreaking your iOS device.
2. Save SHSH Blobs
It is always a good practice to save SHSH blobs, so you can use tools like Prometheus (futurerestore) tool to upgrade or downgrade to iOS 11.3.1 if required to jailbreak your iPhone again.
You can use the TSS Saver online tool to save your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch’s SHSH2 blobs. To use the online tool, you need your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch’s ECID and device identifier. Check out our post on how to save SHSH blobs for iPhone and iPad.
3. Install SemiRestore/Rollectra
SemiRestore11/Rollectra released by the Electra Jailbreak team allows jailbreakers to un-jailbreak their iPhone or iPad with a single tap. It can come in handy if you run into a problem with one of the jailbreak tweaks.
So don’t forget to install the SemiRestore/Rollectra utility from Cydia for free. It’s available in the Packix repository.
4. Stop the Jailbreak Tweaks Binge
If you’re someone who installs anything and everything from Cydia, then you may want to take it easy, and reassess the situation. You should be very careful while installing jailbreak tweaks as a bad tweak could easily force you to restore your device, which would mean that you will lose the jailbreak and all the tweaks installed on your device.
5. Uninstall Jailbreak Tweaks that you don’t use
Since you are more likely to run into an issue with a tweak due to compatibility issues with other tweaks, it is a good idea to uninstall jailbreak tweaks that you do not use. This will reduce the probability of running into an issue.
6. Do not tinker with the File system
We have come across readers who have got into trouble for trying to tinker with the filesystem such as deleting a file using iFile etc, which ends up being a system file and results in forcing the user to restore their device. You should only be tinkering with the filesystem if you know what you’re doing, and now with the lack of a jailbreak for iOS 8.4.1, you’re better off avoiding it as much as possible.
7. iOS 12 Jailbreak Status
There is currently no tool available to jailbreak iOS 12.
The good news is that iOS 12 has been jailbroken. In June, security researcher Liang Chen of KeenLab had managed to successfully jailbreak iOS 12 running on his iPhone X. As you can see in the YouTube video below, he gave a visual proof that his iPhone X running iOS 12 and then proceeded to launch the KeenLab jailbreak app which installed Cydia after jailbreaking iPhone X.
However, it was the first iOS 12 beta, so it remains to be seen if iOS 12 GM which will be released this week, and iOS 12 released to the public next week can still be jailbroken using the exploits used by researcher Chen to jailbreak iOS 12 beta.
It is unlikely that Chen will release the exploit behind this exploit since the KeenLab team is known to keep such exploits private for their own research and testing purposes. But it gives us hope that someone from the jailbreak community like coolstar or security researcher Ian Beer, who had discovered the exploits used in Electra Jailbreak to jailbreak iOS 11 – iOS 11.1.2 and iOS 11.2 – iOS 11.3.1, could discover them and use them to jailbreak iOS 12 released to the public.
Security researcher Simone Ferrini has tweeted over the weekend that he has managed to pwn iOS 12 beta 12, which was the last iOS 12 beta before releasing iOS 12 GM. It remains to be seen if it can be used to develop a jailbreak for iOS 12.
Based on what we have seen in the last two years, we may need to wait patiently for the iOS 12 jailbreak. But it is not the case of if we can jailbreak iOS 12, but when we can jailbreak iOS 12.
8. Upgrade Jailbroken iPhone or iPad to iOS 12
If you have decided to install iOS 12 software update then please note that when you try to update to iOS 12 using OTA update when it is released on your jailbroken iPhone or iPad, then you will be stuck at the “Checking for Update” screen as you can see above.
That is expected behavior with jailbroken devices, as most modern jailbreaks, disable OTA updates to ensure jailbreakers don’t accidentally install the update and end up losing the jailbreak.
So the only option jailbreakers have is to manually update your iPhone or iPad to iOS 12 using iTunes.
9. Beware of Fake iOS 12 Jailbreaks
Fake news is not just affecting elections, the jailbreak community is also being targeted with fake jailbreaks. We are already seeing articles and YouTube videos which claim to jailbreak iOS 12. Any site claiming to have an iOS 12 jailbreak is a scam, so stay clear from such scam sites. Stay away from such tools as they can also potentially install malware on your iOS device. If there is a tool to jailbreak iOS 12, it will be available for free, and we’ll be the first to report it and share the jailbreak link.
You can check our iOS 12 jailbreak status article for the latest news and updates. We’ll let you know as soon as we’ve any further updates about the iOS 12 jailbreak.
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