Apple is expected to release iOS 9 to the general public on Sept. 16, but even as most iPhone owners eagerly expect for the arrival of the new software, the jailbreak community is already being blessed with the knowledge that iOS 9 can be jailbroken.
A famed iOS hacker only known through his moniker iH8sn0w has posted a video on YouTube demonstrating how he was able to jailbreak iOS 9 on his own device. The video shows an iPhone running on iOS 9 Golden Master (GM) seed, which was pushed out to developers earlier this week. This seed is the final beta version for developers before Apple releases the official build to the general public next week. Nothing is likely to change between the GM seed and the final version, which means the jailbreak will work for devices running on the official iOS 9.
iH8sn0w, also known for his work on iFaith and sn0wbreeze, says it will also work for iOS 9.1. The jailbreak, which its maker describes as "dirty and hacky" but is a "proper" jailbreak nonetheless, includes a number of important features, including support for custom boot logo, code injection and Verbose booting with Cydia. The video also demonstrates the ability to run Anemone, a theme application tweak that can be acquired from the Cydia store.
However, users who may be looking forward to jailbreaking their iOS 9 devices soon are in for a disappointment, as iH8sn0w says he is not planning to release a utility for iOS 9. He merely wants to prove that the latest iOS can be jailbroken and hopes that other jailbreak developers can create their own utilities to be made public. For now, jailbreakers will have to stick to iOS 8.4, as iOS 8.4.1 has been patched, and wait for TaiG, Pangu Team or another jailbreak team to release a tool they can use.
Jailbreaking an iOS device means exploiting a security vulnerability to allow users to run code not approved by Apple on their iPhones. Users usually jailbreak their iPhones to allow them to do things such as customizing their iPhones, using multiple carriers and installation of apps that are not available through the Apple App Store.
It's worth noting that, for security reasons, Apple does not officially endorse jailbreaking an iPhone. Just recently, some 250,000 jailbroken iPhones were reported to have been compromised by hackers taking advantage of the jailbreak, so users must always keep in mind to jailbreak their iPhones at their own risk.
