iPod Touch Jailbreaking FAQs + Restoring your Device

Many many users have some many questions in their mind about jailbreaking, so i thought i should answer a few and also clear some of the many misconceptions.

What is Jailbreaking ? Is it safe?  Would it hamper my Warranty?

• Jailbreaking is a hack  that allow users to gain access to the entire iPod Touch/iPhone OS filesystem. Which allows you to change anything from the root directory.

Is Jailbreaking Safe?

• Yes, it is absolutely safe and anytime you can un-jailbreak your device just by restoring it back to the original firmware.

Would Jailbreaking Void My Warranty from Apple?

• Many websites say that it would void your warranty but let me make it clear. Nope, it won’t hamper your warranty unless and until you step up to apple showing them your Jailbroken device. If by any chance you need to visit and show your device to Apple to claim any warranty issues, you just need to restore your device to your  default firmware.

So Why Should I Jailbreak?

• There are several reasons why you should jailbreak. Some of the essential reasons is you get the liberty to install cool Apps which are not available in App Store. Morever with some more tweaking with your Jailbroken device you get Cracked Apps which you could find very expensive in AppStore.
• It also makes it possible to install/customize your  iPhone/iPod Touch application  icons, wallpaper, dock, status bar, keyboard, Ringtones, etc.
• Apple devices are restricted to many things. Jailbreaking your device, helps you override these restrictions by installing some or the other App or tweak. As Apple theres ‘ Theres an App for almost everything’

Okay, Restoring Sounds Cool but WTH Is ‘restoring to default firmware’? And how do i do that?

Note : The first and most important thing you should know about restoring your device is that this operation will delete all your data from the iPhone / iPod touch . The deleted data will include contacts, calendar information, songs, videos, photos, and any other data that was not on the device when it left the factory. In other words, all the iPhone / iPod touch settings will be automatically reverted to their factory condition.

Things you need before you get started.

• Latest iTunes version.  Get it from Apple iTunes
• The correct firmware for your device. Apple would ofcourse charge you if you have old devices. You can get the firmwares from this site.  Make sure you navigate properly and get the correct firmware for your device.

Now follow these simple steps to restore your iPod Touch/iPhone

1. Connect your iPhone or iPod touch to your computer.
2. Select your iPhone or iPod touch when it appears in iTunes under Devices.
3. Select the Summary tab.
4. Press SHIFT + Restore option. You would be asked to browse and select the downloaded firmware.
5. Select the firmware, and iTunes would start checking the firmware.
6. Once the restore process has completed the iPhone or iPod touch restarts and displays the Apple logo while starting up.

Image courtesy : Gecko&Fly