Developer and hacker Axi0mX announced back in September a new exploit called “checkm8” that offers the possibility to jailbreak almost every Apple A-series CPU up to A11 Bionic chip. Today they’re releasing Checkra1n, the first public jailbreak tool compatible with iPhone and iPad running iOS 13.
If you’re not used to jailbreaking, it generally refers to the removal of iOS software restrictions on Apple devices to install apps outside the App Store and even modify the entire system.
The “checkm8” method used by Checkra1n is considered “unpatchable” since it’s based on a hardware exploit. That means Apple can’t simply patch it with a software update, and that’s the reason the tool is compatible with the latest iOS 13 update now available to the public. More specifically, the new tool is capable of jailbreaking on almost every Apple device between iPhone 5s and iPhone X running iOS 12.3 and later.
For now, Checkra1n is available as a beta version, so there are a few concerns about the process. The tool is not compatible with some older iPad models, which include the iPad Air 2, 1st generation iPad Pro, and 5th generation iPad. iPhone 5s, iPad mini 2, iPad mini 3, and the original iPad Air are supported, but some users may experience issues with these devices.
It uses a semi-tethered method, which requires a computer to reload system modifications at every reboot. Untethered jailbreaks are most desired as they can boot without a computer like normal iPhones.
The app needed to run the jailbreak process is only available for macOS at this time. The team is working on versions for Windows and Linux, which will be added in a later release.
Check out the official Checkra1n guides for more information about the process.
