Apple has quietly disabled the detection API for iPhone jailbreaks. iOS 4 now appears to tolerate jailbreaking.
Apple introduced the jailbreak detection API (application programming interface) last summer in iOS 4.0. The reasons for its removal are unclear. Apple has so far declined to comment, reports Webwereld’s U.S. sister site Network World.
Risk of malware
The APIs were available to developers who build applications to remotely manage large numbers of mobile phones, such as AirWatch or Sybase Afaria. In the recently released iOS 4.2, the API suddenly no longer works. A jailbreak modifies the operating system so users gain rights to parts of iOS that are not normally available to them.
According to software makers, there are still plenty of alternatives to determine whether an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch has been modified to allow the installation of applications outside the App Store. Jailbroken devices pose a security risk for businesses. Even if a user does not intend to install malware, they cannot know whether malware is hidden in the apps they install.
Custom methods
Various software developers were already using their own methods to check for jailbreaks before iOS 4.0 arrived. The new API, however, gave apps direct access to information in the iPhone operating system. After detecting a jailbreak, an iOS device could, for example, automatically trigger a notification to the help desk, which could then block the device and remotely wipe the data on it.
"We don’t know why Apple removed the feature," says Joe Owen, vice president of engineering at Sybase, to Network World. "It was an interesting concept: ask the OS to tell you whether it has been compromised. After all, jailbreaks are getting increasingly better at hiding that the system has been tampered with."