Midterm Journal #2 "Jailbreaking & Rooting"

Jailbreaking & Rooting, Personally I recommend doing these methods, why? Because these
methods unlocks hidden and potential functions of your device. Not just that you can
edit/customize your UI, edit/customize your app UI, hack your apps, cheat your way to
victory in games, remove advertising of apps without paying, install cracked apps, basically
changing your whole phones looks and insides. Usually these functions are later
implemented to the next version of the mobile Operating System. I dont recommend users
with a few knowledge of mobile devices because they might do something wrong with their
device and blame root or jailbreak. Rooting your android device will void your warranty for
sure the same goes to Jailbreaking, it will void your warranty but you can also Unroot and
Unjailbreak also there are many people willing to fix your device whether its
Jaillbroken/Rooted or not.










iOS Jailbreaking
iOS jailbreaking is the process of removing limitations on iOS, Apple's operating system on
devices running it through the use of software and hardware exploits; such devices include
the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and second-generation Apple TV. Jailbreaking permits root
access to the iOS file system and manager, allowing the download of additional
applications, extensions, and themes that are unavailable through the official Apple App
Store.

Jailbreaking is a form of privilege escalation, and the term has been used to describe
privilege escalation on devices by other manufacturers as well. The name refers to breaking
the device out of its "jail", which is a technical term used in Unix-style systems, for example
in the term "FreeBSD jail". A jailbroken iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS can still use
the App Store, iTunes, and other normal functions, such as making telephone calls.
Restoring a device with iTunes removes the jailbreak.

Reasons for jailbreaking
One of the reasons for jailbreaking is to expand the feature set limited by Apple and its App
Store checks apps for compliance with its iOS Developer Program License Agreement
before accepting them for distribution in the App Store. However, their reasons for banning
apps are not limited to safety and security and may be construed as arbitrary and
capricious. To access the list of banned apps, users rely on jailbreaking to circumvent
Apple's censorship of content and features. Jailbreaking permits the downloading of
programs not approved by Apple, such as customization apps used to change the User
Interface.

Device customization
Since software programs available through Cydia are not required to adhere to App Store
guidelines, many of them are not typical self-contained apps but instead are extensions and
customizations for iOS and other apps. Users install these programs for purposes including
personalization and customization of the interface, adding desired features and fixing
annoyances, and making development work on the device easier by providing access to the
filesystem and command-line tools.
Many Chinese iOS device owners also jailbreak their phones to install third-party Chinese
character input systems because they are easier to use than Apple's.

Rooting (Android OS)
Android rooting is the process of allowing users of smartphones, tablets, and other devices
running the Android mobile operating system to attain privileged control (known as "root
access") within Android's sub-system.
Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and
hardware manufacturers put on some devices, resulting in the ability to alter or replace
system applications and settings, run specialized apps that require administrator-level
permissions, or perform other operations that are otherwise inaccessible to a normal
Android user. On Android, rooting can also facilitate the complete removal and replacement
of the device's operating system, usually with a more recent release of its current operating
system.
As Android derives from the Linux kernel, rooting an Android device gives similar access
administrative permissions as on Linux or any other Unix-like operating system such as
FreeBSD or OS X.
Root access is sometimes compared to jailbreaking devices running the Apple iOS
operating system. However, these are different concepts. Jailbreaking describes the bypass
of several types of Apple prohibitions for the end user: modifying the operating system
(enforced by a "locked bootloader"), installing non-officially approved apps via sideloading,
and granting the user elevated administration-level privileges. Only a minority of Android
devices lock their bootloadersand many vendors such as HTC, Sony, Asus and Google
explicitly provide the ability to unlock devices, and even replace the operating system
entirely. Similarly, the ability to sideload apps is typically permissible on Android devices
without root permissions. Thus, it is primarily the third aspect of iOS jailbreaking relating to
giving users superuser administrative privileges that most directly correlates to Android
rooting.

Description
Rooting lets all user-installed applications run privileged commands typically unavailable to
the devices in the stock configuration. Rooting is required for more advanced and potentially
dangerous operations including modifying or deleting system files, removing carrier- or
manufacturer-installed applications, and low-level access to the hardware itself (rebooting,
controlling status lights, or recalibrating touch inputs.) A typical rooting installation also
installs the Superuser application, which supervises applications that are granted root or
superuser rights. A secondary operation, unlocking the device's bootloader verification, is
required to remove or replace the installed operating system.
In contrast to iOS jailbreaking, rooting is not needed to run applications distributed outside
of the Google Play Store, sometimes called sideloading. The Android OS supports this
feature natively in two ways: through the "Unknown sources" option in the Settings menu
and through the Android Debug Bridge. However some carriers, like AT&T, prevent the
installation of applications not on the Store in firmware, although several devices (including
the Samsung Infuse 4G) are not subject to this rule, and AT&T has since lifted the
restriction on several older devices. As of 2012 the Amazon Kindle Fire defaults to the
Amazon Appstore instead of Google Play, though like most other Android devices, Kindle
Fire allows sideloading of applications from unknown sources, and the "easy installer"
application on the Amazon Appstore makes this easy. Other vendors of Android devices
may look to other sources in the future. Access to alternate apps may require rooting but
rooting is not always necessary.
Rooting an Android phone lets the owner modify or delete the system files, which in turn lets
them perform various tweaks and use apps that require root access.

Difficulty
In the past, many manufacturers have tried to make "unrootable" phones with harsher
protections (like the Droid X), but they are usually still rootable in some way. There may be
no root exploit available for new or recently updated phones, but one is usually available
within a few months.