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I just got a new iPad 2, this is my first iOS device.

What are some advantages to jailbreaking and what are some disadvantages?

Note:
Please make sure that answers are objective.
Stick to facts, not personal preferences or ethical debates.

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closed as not a real question by Jason Salaz♦ Jul 16 '12 at 22:23

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

3 Answers

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Unjailbroken ios device would look more professional when compared to the jailbroken device.

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Can you add a bit more details to that? Why do you think it looks more professional? And how would anybody even detect whether you jailbroke your iDevice? – patrix♦ Jun 30 '12 at 8:36
I don't follow what you mean by more professional? I use my iPad as an entertainment device not for work. Do you mean less stable? – Omar Kooheji Jul 5 '12 at 13:20

We're looking for long answers that provide some explanation and context. Don't just give a one-line answer: please explain why you're recommending it as a solution. Answers that don't explain anything will be deleted. See Good Subjective, Bad Subjective for more information.
up vote -2 down vote

Jailbreaking causes battery failure for e.g. One day i was playing fifa 12 on my jailbroken ipad 2 and in 20 minutes the battery went from 64% to 33% also the speed decreases i had to wait relatively a lot of time for apps to open, even basic ones like settings and camera which is very irritating.also if youre downloading apps it takes double the time it would have taken to download on a normal ipad 2

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Has anyone else seen this behavior? Or is this just due to the apps he was using? – Omar Kooheji Apr 12 '12 at 9:14
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Most definitely due to the tweaks he probably had installed. Even native iOS 5 had massive battery issues that took several iterations from Apple to solve. This is utter nonsense or a at best, a complete oversimplification. Like comparing the battery life of two devices, but on one you run a 1080p video while on the other, you surf the net. – cksum Jul 14 '12 at 7:26
up vote 5 down vote

For

  • You can run any app you like, including ones not permitted by Apple, and you can run them at a system level rather than the unprivileged level they do on a normal device.

  • You can remove Apple services on the iPad more or less at will.

  • Provided you can download the image of the software, it's relatively easy to restore to a non-jailbroken state.

Against

  • Running apps at system level comes with inherent risks - malicious code can kill your iPad, and badly written code can cause an entire system crash / instability.

  • It's my experience that jailbroken apps (Springboard ones particularly) deplete the performance of the device (But I'm talking about an iPhone 4, rather than the more powerful iPad 2 - may be less valid).

  • Jailbroken iPads aren't elegible for warrantee - in theory if you reset back to default you're okay, but if that's not possible you've invalidated yourself and they are totally within their rights to refuse you service.

  • Jailbreaking needs to be redone with every software iteration, and with it, so do your jailbroken apps [possibly no longer true, can anyone verify?]

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Jailbreaking does still need to be redone with every software iteration but the apps can be backed up now so they can be downloaded again relatively easily. – CaldwellYSR Jan 2 '12 at 2:40
For: You can also customize the icons/dock and hide applications using an app like sbsettings. – falconbridge Jan 2 '12 at 2:45
there must be more Pro's I keep on hearing about UI improvements from Jailbreaking. – Omar Kooheji Jan 4 '12 at 11:55

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