iOS , the second most popular mobile operating system, saw a large spike in users jailbreaking their iPhone 4S or iPad 2 devices thanks to a new untethered jailbreak release for devices running a dual core A5 chip.
What is jailbreaking? Jailbreaking is essentially removing the limitations of the current OS and giving you the ability to run custom, less constrictive software and run various apps that you couldn’t otherwise. It’s a popular option for the more tech savvy crowd.
Apple has always been strongly against users jailbreaking their devices, but it’s something that they can’t exactly control.
“About one million people have jailbroken their iPad 2 and iPhone 4S devices since Friday thanks to a recently released untethered jailbreak. The jailbreak is designed for iOS devices with Apple’s dual-core A5 chip and running iOS 5 or iOS 5.0.1. More than 950,000 A5 untethered jailbreak devices visited Cydia, the iOS “app store” for jailbroken devices, between Friday and Monday afternoon, according to a post on the Dev-Team blog. The Cydia app is the most popular method for jailbroken iOS devices to download apps and tweaks.”
Similarly, quite a few Android users “root” their phones which is essentially the same thing. Again, it allows users to install a different, more custom OS and remove bloatware that often comes with smartphones. People can even get access to apps that allows them to wirelessly share their 3G or 4G connection without having to pay their carrier so much each month for the option.
Do you have an iOS or Android device and if so, do you run a custom OS?
