Apple Releases 8.1.1, Is It Possible To Jailbreak 8.1.1 Pangu, Should I Update?

Apple Releases 8.1.1, Is it Possible to Jailbreak 8.1.1 and Should I Update? - Today, after only one developer beta release, Apple issued iOS 8.1.1 (the first incremental 8.1.x update) to the general public. In what’s undeniably a harsh and rather unfortunate blow to the jailbreak community, Apple has released the company’s latest jailbreak-patching firmware - we’ll elaborate on that shortly. In addition to being available via Apple’s iOS over-the-air (commonly referred to as OTA) update ability, 8.1.1 can be downloaded, and installed, directly through iTunes. However, this is absolutely crucial: current iOS 8 through 8.1 jailbreak users should avoid the latest firmware at all costs! Being the first minor release since the company issued 8.1, it was originally thought that Apple may leave the jailbreak unpatched until a more substantial update was released, possibly 8.2. Unfortunately though, unlike the corresponding iOS 7.1.x original Pangu jailbreak utility, which went unpatched from 7.1.1 until iOS 8’s release months later, iOS 8.1.1 patches the Pangu jailbreak for iOS 8. Now, with iOS 8.1.1 being the latest public firmware, at least one of the major vulnerabilities Pangu utilized, and exploited (namely the iAdm1n exploit), is now officially closed by Apple, making it impossible for any device to jailbreak 8.1.1 when utilizing the latest Pangu jailbreak utility. Continue reading past the break for more information concerning Pangu and how 8.1.1 affects the jailbreak.

iOS 8.1.1 Released - Is it Possible To, And Can I, Jailbreak 8.1.1 Untethered With Pangu?

As confirmed by iOS 8.1.1’s release notes, the firmware mostly addresses minor bugs and improves performance on older devices, being the iPad 2 and iPhone 4s - it’s important to realize that any other iDevice remains, for the most part, unaffected by 8.1.1’s revisions.

While iOS 8.1.1 is slightly more stable than 8.1, or 8.0.2 for that matter, the changes are trivial and certainly don’t justify the loss of one’s jailbreak.

iOS 8 Jailbreakers Should Avoid 8.1.1, As A Jailbreak Isn’t Available!

iCrackUriDevice’s audible representation of the content found in today’s urgent iOS 8 jailbreak update post.

Although 8.1 added a number of features to iOS 8, including Apple Pay support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, SMS forwarding that allowed Macs with OS X Yosemite, and iPads, to send and receive SMS and MMS text messages, iCloud Photo Library support and added Instant Hotspot access to the Cellular portion of the Settings app for iPhone owners, 8.1.1 is nothing like its predecessor in the way of features, as it’s merely a minor update.

Hypothetically speaking, if an update were performed via iTunes on a jailbroken device, it would result in the instant loss of said device’s jailbreak, making it virtually impossible to jailbreak beyond 8.1 until a new utility is released. Moreover, it would also be impossible to downgrade from 8.1.1 to 8.1 (the latest firmware that’s supported by the Pangu iOS 8 jailbreak), as Apple will stop signing 8.1 shortly.

As stated above, if your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch is currently jailbroken on 8.0.x or 8.1, avoid updating to iOS 8.1.1 like the plague until another jailbreak utility is released, which will undoubtedly be some time.

What’s Next For iOS 8 Jailbreaking Post 8.1.1?

Now, let’s address what’s next for jailbreaking and whether another utility will be released to jailbreak iOS 8.1.1. Essentially, while we know that one member of the evad3rs (pod2g) no longer sees jailbreaking as a challenge, that doesn’t mean that the evad3rs won’t swoop in to save the day this year. In the past, the evad3rs were first to jailbreak two significant iOS releases, both iOS 6 and iOS 7, this year the team was seemingly pushed aside by the newcomers to the jailbreak scene: the Pangu Team.

There’s no questioning that Pangu (a Chinese-based group that’s funded by a company with other monetary interests in jailbreaking) has additional motives over the evad3rs to release jailbreak utilities. With that in mind, while it’s more likely that Pangu will release an updated iteration of their Pangu jailbreak following another substantial 8.x update (like the team waited for 8.1 to drop before releasing Pangu8) than the evad3rs, the quondam kings of the jailbreak scene may make their grand re-entrance in the months to come.

iOS 8.1.1 And Jailbreak Update Summary

To summarize, iOS 8.1.1 is a horrendous update as far as jailbreakers are concerned, all of whom should avoid updating, as it will lock any individual who does so out of jailbreaking for what will unquestionably be a long and painful wait.

We’ll have complete details and updates pertaining to how today’s minor 8.1.1 release, and future updates, will play into the next jailbreak in the days, weeks and months to come – stay tuned and lock your browsers to Evasi0n Jailbreak.

Thank you for reading and don’t forget to subscribe to our Jailbreak 8.1.1 Evasion news feed, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and add us on   to be promptly notified when we publish future articles regarding the iOS 8.1.1 firmware, future 8.1.x updates and the next Untethered jailbreak.