# iOS 4.2.1 jailbreak - Worth it?



## Runefox (Feb 11, 2011)

So Greenpoison RC5 is out and does an untethered jailbreak for all iOS devices up to the current iOS 4.2.1.

There are some attractive things to do with a jailbroken iDevice, and specifically I'm looking at modules to enhance the lock screen with weather and other useful info, disable the 3G radio while locked or in WiFi range, enable use of certain functions while syncing, expose-style task switching/tab switching, etc.

But what else can I do, and is it worth forfeiting up front access to new iOS revisions? Will it disable my ability to use the App Store?


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## Aden (Feb 11, 2011)

Previous versions had issues with GPS and in-app purchases. Before doing a jailbreak, I like to lurk the comments on the dev team blog for a few days to determine if it's worth it.

Personally, I want a solid jailbreak so that I can tether without paying an extra 20 a month to god damn AT&T for the privilege. Also SBSettings is hella convenient.


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## Runefox (Feb 11, 2011)

Aden said:


> Previous versions had issues with GPS and in-app purchases. Before doing a jailbreak, I like to lurk the comments on the dev team blog for a few days to determine if it's worth it.


Yeah, that's kind of what I'm doing now, but I'm sort of trying to weigh my options as to whether or not to go ahead with it. Issues with GPS and in-app purchases aren't comforting, though honestly in-app purchases account for very little of the app purchasing I do (I tend to avoid apps that come with in-app purchases unless it really makes sense, especially paid apps that do it).



> Personally, I want a solid jailbreak so that I can tether without paying an extra 20 a month to god damn AT&T for the privilege. Also SBSettings is hella convenient.


 
Well in this case I mean untethered as in, "I don't have to connect it to iTunes every time I turn off my phone". I don't do it often, but I've had it freeze up a couple times (this turned out to be because of corrupted data in my music library, fixed with a factory reset+restore from backup), and if that happened to my phone and it was jailbroken, I'd be phone-less until I got home to connect it up to iTunes again. That said, I only get a 500MB allowance, so tethering is not on the menu for me.


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## Larian Darrow (Feb 11, 2011)

I've got an iPhone 4 jailbroken on 4.2.1, but I used the redsnow tethered jb. I haven't had any gps problems, and the Apple app store still functions fine for me.


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## Runefox (Feb 11, 2011)

Larian Darrow said:


> I've got an iPhone 4 jailbroken on 4.2.1, but I used the redsnow tethered jb. I haven't had any gps problems, and the Apple app store still functions fine for me.


 
How about battery life? Has it decreased since the jailbreak? I'm reading reports of dramatically reduced battery life, though there are conflicting theories as to why (faulty PUSH notifications, WiFi being on/off, etc). Personally I only get about 8 hours of use out of my iPhone to begin with before it needs a charge, but if there's any truth to what's being said, that could be a deal-breaker.


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## Larian Darrow (Feb 11, 2011)

I have noticed that my battery runs down faster, but it hasn't been a problem for me. I don't spent too much time on my phone though, usually on the internet or google maps. I'm not sure if making calls uses more battery, I text more than I call, so I haven't tested that yet.


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## Aden (Feb 11, 2011)

Runefox said:


> Yeah, that's kind of what I'm doing now, but I'm sort of trying to weigh my options as to whether or not to go ahead with it. Issues with GPS and in-app purchases aren't comforting, though honestly in-app purchases account for very little of the app purchasing I do (I tend to avoid apps that come with in-app purchases unless it really makes sense, especially paid apps that do it).



Eh, those were various issues that had cropped up over the three years I've been jailbreaking, not necessarily stuff that happens with every version. For example, battery life was a huge issue for me back in iPhone OS 2.x but were no longer a concern after that. 



> Well in this case I mean untethered as in, "I don't have to connect it to iTunes every time I turn off my phone"


 
Oh I know |3 
Did the tethered jb after I got my iPhone 4 for a few days, hated it. If it were more stable I could've dealt, but nope


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## Runefox (Feb 12, 2011)

Aden said:


> Oh I know |3
> Did the tethered jb after I got my iPhone 4 for a few days, hated it. If it were more stable I could've dealt, but nope


How do you find the stability on the iPhone 4 jailbreak, or for that matter, previous jailbreaks? Are you using the new Greenpoison?


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## Aden (Feb 12, 2011)

Runefox said:


> How do you find the stability on the iPhone 4 jailbreak, or for that matter, previous jailbreaks? Are you using the new Greenpoison?


 
Have not tried the new greenpois0n yet, but I aim to (probably next week). The tethered jailbreak for iPhone 4 from the Dev Team was great (except, you know, for the tethered thing). Battery life was normal and everything seemed to work just fine. The problem with the tethered break lied with Cydia - it crashes sometimes, it needs to reboot the phone after installing certain things, etc., and it basically made what should have been a minor inconvenience into a deal-breaker.


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## Runefox (Feb 12, 2011)

Well, seeing as it's apparently reversible (via a restore), I think I'll go ahead and try it out in the morning. Worst case scenario, I reload my iPhone again. It'll give me the weekend to figure out how the battery life is going to be affected, if at all (I think some of those reports are going from previous jailbreaks) and try out some of the features.


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## Aden (Feb 12, 2011)

Runefox said:


> Well, seeing as it's apparently reversible (via a restore), I think I'll go ahead and try it out in the morning. Worst case scenario, I reload my iPhone again. It'll give me the weekend to figure out how the battery life is going to be affected, if at all (I think some of those reports are going from previous jailbreaks) and try out some of the features.


 
Yeah, you've pretty much got nothing to lose. I must have restored my old phone 15 times, no harm no foul.
The great thing about this new greenpois0n is that it seems you don't even have to save SHSH blobs on iOS 4.x anymore - free reign!


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## Aden (Feb 12, 2011)

I just went ahead and jailbroke last night, because why not? 4.2.1, iPhone 4, installed SBSettings, MyWi, 3G Unrestrictor, and a bunch of tweaks so far. Not noticing any issues yet; I'll post my impressions after a few days of use.

Edit: Impressions after a good few hours of use are great. It's solid. Haven't had this good of an experience since pwnagetool on iPhone OS 2.0. No GPS issue or problems with battery life that I have found (haven't tested any in-app purchases yet) - it will actually help increase my battery life since I can use SBSettings to turn off 3G (and keep EDGE on in order to still receive texts) when I don't need it. 

Cydia's same-old same-old, except jailbreak developers seem to have their game faces on. Everything I've installed so far has been remarkably solid, and there's some useful and cool stuff in the store. A lot of people are putting more time into useful and well-maintained stuff in exchange for a buck or two now that Cydia's streamlined the payment process.

Waiting for the ability to enable verbose boot


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## Runefox (Feb 12, 2011)

Yeah, my experience has been much the same. I'm actually pretty impressed by it, though there are a staggering number of paid-only Cydia apps that are extremely useful to me (like Auto3G/iControl (though I could really do that manually anyway), iFile, InfiniFolders, Multifl0w (DO WANT), LockInfo (DO WANT), Gridlock (DO WANT), and Synchronicity (DO WANT)). I do wish the terminal emulator worked properly, but I can always pop a 127.0.0.1 SSH session via iSSH and get the job done that way. So far, I'm LOVING Activator and SBSettings, as well as a couple of Winterboard enhancements (I'm pretty OK with the default icons and stuff, so I'm only looking at widgets and things like that). Especially with Activator, I can set up iPod controls for the physical buttons, so I can do track next/previous/pause while gloved (it gets cold) or while the phone is still in my pocket, and the ability to bring up the keypad quickly and with a short hold of the home button rather than fumbling with the app. Also liking the 5-item dock and task manager.


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## Aden (Feb 13, 2011)

I got FolderEnhancer instead of InfiniFolder for my folder awesomeness needs (Infini- apps apparently do not work with SBRotator :c ) and it's very nice so far. I'd recommend it. Combined with MultiIcon Mover, organizing folders is a dream. 

I'll post a rundown of all my crap on Monday while I procrastinate at work \:3/


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## Aden (Feb 17, 2011)

Kay, been almost a week now with zero problems. Major props to the greenpois0n team. GPS is fine, in-app purchase is fine, battery life is fine - rock-solid jailbreak. Not to mention that Cydia is flourishing due to this.

So I guess I'll do tiny reviews on some stuff; might be useful to some.

*Activator*: This is actually new to me since I haven't jailbroken (for any substantial period of time) since 3.1 or so. Lets you define triggers that execute specified actions, and a lot of Cydia apps make use of it (ex. I've set up my SBSettings to appear when you swipe the top bar or hold down the home button).

*animate*: Download/make animations or graphics that appear in place of the Apple logo on boot. Only available on the 4.2.1 untethered greenpois0n. Free. Still looking for a way to enable the promised verbose boot though (there are a few fake ones floating around that are just bad-looking animations).

*biteSMS*: I use this mainly for quick-reply and quick-compose SMS - extremely convenient. There are also a bunch of small features that are nice to have such as templates, schedules, signature, different SMS ringtones per contact, retry on failed, and an adjustable delay that activates after you press 'send' (during which you can cancel the send if you didn't actually want to send). Very solid app, been around for a while. It'll set you back 9 bucks for the full version.

*Browser Changer*: Free tweak that lets you set your default browser. Useful to me because I like Atomic over Safari. Free.

*Dimmer*: I like to read my creepypasta and crap in bed in the dark. Even the dimmest screen brightness feels like shining a flashlight in my eyes after a while. Dimmer lets the brightness setting go beyond the normal low limit. Costs $1.

*Fast Copy*: Removes the delay before the editing menu (copy/paste) pops up, making it feel more snappy and less like your phone is choking. Free.

*Folder Enhancer*: Complete folder overhaul. The main features are the removing of the folder icon limit (choose between paginated or infinite scrolling), folders inside folders, folders on the dock, and a custom folder background if you feel like replacing the image file. Folders open faster. It'll also support Iconoclasm if you like that kind of thing. $1.99.

*MultiIcon Mover*: Makes moving apps around a whole lot easier. Like damn. Just tap a bunch of icons to select them, navigate to the page/folder you want to put them in, and press the home button to make them all appear there. There's really no excuse to not get it. Supported by Folder Enhancer. Free.

*MyWi 4*: Should need no introduction. Tether or create a WiFi hotspot without paying AT&T an extra 20 bucks a month. Very solid app. The price is $20, but it'll save you a lot of money in the long run.

*Remove Background*: Free little tweak that lets you assign an Activator trigger that quits all running background processes. You can set certain apps to be excepted. Useful little thing.

*SBRotator*: Rotate your springboard! You can change how you want your landscape icon grid to organize itself. $2.

*SBSettings*: Everyone should have this. Installs a panel of toggles and settings that you can bring up using an Activator gesture - while any app is in the foreground. For example, some of the settings I like are a WiFi on/off toggle, bluetooth, 3G, airplane mode, brightness slider, and volume slider. Rotation Inhibitor is another nice free toggle that you can grab from Cydia, and it does what it sounds like it does. The SBSettings overlay also includes a respring function, its own dock, available memory, your IP, and a link to 'More' in which you can hide springboard icons and such. Just get it. Free.

*SpringFlash*: If you have an iPhone 4, this lets you define an Activator trigger that turns on/off your LED flash without opening a stupid flashlight app. Free.

*StyleTap*: Palm emulator. I just use it so I can play Sigma again. It's free, but its repository isn't included by default in Cydia.

*3G Unrestrictor*: Trick apps into thinking they're on wifi when you're just using 3G. Useful for downloading apps over 20MB from the app store while you're out, or using FaceTime without a wifi connection. Can be enabled for any app; enabled for none by default. $2.

A note to the general population about the paid stuff: don't download cracked versions. Not because they'll harm your phone in any way - it's just a really dick move. Like seriously.


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## Runefox (Feb 17, 2011)

I've been getting into the same stuff. I'll probably post my experiences at some point, but I'd like to point out that a lot of the stuff that's paid on the Cydia store is insanely expensive by comparison to App Store apps. Even small tweaks and stuff cost $2 or more, and a NES emulator costs $6. Not a showstopper, but it's still pretty staggering. I guess it's because they can expect less volume in sales compared to the App Store.

Oh, and I have my Activator set up to enable Springflash with a short hold of the Sleep button. Awesome for not having to fumble with the screen or anything. Also, I've got LockInfo running, so my lock screen is amazingly useful, displaying all kinds of info and collecting up notifications of various types (in addition to adding notification icons in the status bar). I have it set up to call its Infoshade whenever I swipe right across the status bar. I also have a "home" page on my Springboard with an HTC-style clock-weather applet, which when I get GridLock (Iconoclasm won't work on 4.2.x), will also have some icons on. As for when I swipe the status bar left... I have LastApp set up, which switches between the two last-opened apps. Swiping left makes sense, because the apps cycle in that direction visually.


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