If you know the existence of iPhone, then you must have heard about unlocking and jailbreaking of an iPhone. But do you know exactly what is unlocking and jailbreaking of iPhone? Is there any difference between unlocking an iPhone and jailbreaking an iPhone? Lets dig into this and explore what is it?
Jailbreaking an iPhone:
Before digging into jailbreaking an iPhone lets understand a little about how the software of the iPhone 3G/3Gs/4G functions. When the iPhone starts up it boots up with the operating system software just like a computer does. The operating system runs through a variety of checks called a chain of trust. These checks are performed in a certain order and checks the signatures to be sure that what is running is authorized and ensures that to not run any software which is not authorized. iPhone boot process first starts up the ROM, then it loads the bootloader (controls data storage and transfers) and finally executes the operating system kernel (also known as iBoot).
Apple develops iPhone and adds restrictions which prevent you to install other software applications within this. By default it allows you to install only software applications provided by the Apple App Store and your respective telecom service provider.
But most of the time you would find some new software applications or a better software application which you have in Apple App Store and would want to install it on your iPhone. So what should you do? Yes, you have to break this restriction which prevents you to install third party software applications.
The process of breaking this restriction in known as jailbreaking. After jailbreaking your iPhone, you can download and install any other software application developed for iPhone.
Now the question is what to do to jailbreak an iPhone? Basically to jail break an iPhone, you have to modify the iBoot kernal so that it will not be able to determine that the software application being installed or being executing in your iPhone is not authorized.
Now the next question comes in mind is what and how to modify the iBoot kernel to jailbreak an iPhone? Don’t worry; you don’t need to do any modifications in the iBoot kernel and also you don’t need to write any code or software application to jailbreak iPhone. There are various softwares available over web for this purpose which you can use to jailbreak your iPhone. Nowadays these softwares become very stable which allows you to jailbreak your iPhone very easily without any risk. And at last if you are not feeling happy after jailbreaking your iPhone, you can restore your iPhone anytime to its default factory settings.
Unlocking an iPhone:
Apple develops iPhone and locks it to a particular telecom service provider in a country with its firmware locks. The software doesn’t allow you to insert any SIM card other than the one recommended by Apple. When you use software to unlock iPhone the firmware software part that disables using other SIM card is cracked.
Let’s say you went to USA and bought your iPhone which was locked to use with only AT&T network there. And now you came back to India and want to use your iPhone with Vodafone, Airtel, or any other service provider. You will be able to do this only after unlocking your iPhone.
The process of breaking your iPhone to be used with a particular service provider is knows as unlocking an iPhone. To unlock your iPhone, again you can find a lot of software applications available free of cost across the web.
Apple uses same technologies to lock the iPhone for a particular service provider across all the countries. Hence, the same software that is used to unlock iPhone in the US can be used anywhere else including India. Once unlocked, your iPhone can be used with any telecom service provider.