How to Jailbreak an iPhone

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­Jailbreaking an iPhone doesn't mean you've unlocked it (although to unlock an iPhone, first you'd need to jailbreak it). Rather, it's a hack that opens up the phone's firmware to allow the installation of third-party applications. Just as hardware is the physical part of a device and software consists of the programs you run on the device, firmware is a bit of both. Firmware is code that contains the operating instructions for hardware, such as how an iPhone should function, what features are enabled and any security patches that are needed. Periodically, Apple releases updated firmware to upgrade features and fix bugs.

When an iPhone boots up, it walks through a "chain of trust," which is a series of signature checks among software components always done in a specific order. It begins with boot ROM, moves on to loading low-level bootloader (LLB) software (which controls general data storage and transfer between computers and digital devices, in this case flash memory), then iBoot, then the operating system kernel, and finally the operating system kernel loads the user applications. As the chain of trust is executed, checks are being done for any unauthorized software.

When you jailbreak an iPhone you're modifying, or patching, the iBoot and operating system kernel in this process, rendering them unable to do the digital signature checks that evaluate and distinguish authorized or unauthorized software.

Jailbreaking an iPhone differs from iPhone to iPhone (and iPod Touch) -- it depends on what version of firmware the phone is running and if your computer is Windows or Mac. To do it you need an iPhone, a computer with the latest version of iTunes installed, a downloaded jailbreaking program with instructions and some time. You'll also need to know what version of firmware is installed on your phone.

While we're not giving away the download here, with a little Web searching you can find links to the needed tools -- usually with detailed directions and accompanying screenshots. Some of the more popular programs are QuickPwn (which will jailbreak an iPhone 3G running the most current firmware version 2.0+) and PwnageTool (which can also jailbreak first and second-generation iPod Touches), both from the iPhone dev team. Third party applications can then be browsed, downloaded and installed with software such as Cydia (think of it as the store for nonsanctioned apps), which is conveniently included in jailbreaking tools.

Keeping up to date with jailbreaking software is like a game of cat and mouse -- Apple updates its firmware and hackers scramble to release a jailbreak of the new code.

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If the very idea of hacking your phone makes you nervous, there's a safety net -- sort of. When you decide to jailbreak your phone, you do it with the understanding that you could damage it. Phones can be restored to their out-of-the-box state by reinstalling original firmware through iTunes, but only sometimes. Worst-case-scenario and your phone becomes an expensive brick, commonly referred to as an iBrick.

Be forewarned: Jailbreaking is not sanctioned by Apple (that's why it's called jailbreaking). The practice voids the warranty and any new firmware upgrades Apple releases erase any previous jailbreaking efforts (it overwrites them).

Security concerns arise as well. When you buy apps through Apple's App Store, Apple has vetted them. When you download and install unsanctioned third-party apps, you can't be sure what you're getting -- the hottest new way to upload a video to YouTube or a malicious piece of software? You won't know until you install it.

Additionally, according to comments Apple filed with the U.S. Copyright Office in early 2009 as part of the 2009 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) triennial rulemaking, jailbreaking an iPhone constitutes a DMCA violation and copyright infringement.

DMCA allows the company to block anything from working on devices they produce without having first approved it. If you download unapproved third-party apps, you're in violation because your phone is no longer under Apple's security controls. And copyright infringement comes into play here because in order to jailbreak an iPhone, someone must first write code that is a tweak of the existing Apple code -- but is reverse engineering fair use or copyright infringement? That's something for the courts to decide.