There are many different ways that one can unlock, jailbreak, or break the “USA ONLY” lock. Why would someone want to do that? I see two main reasons that people would want to jailbreak or unlock their iPhone.

Be able to use it in Another Country

Well if you ever traveled to another country, most likely it was to Europe or the Caribbean. From personal experience in the Caribbean, if you try to use your cell phone, one of two things will happen; it just flat out won’t work, or the more costly option, you could potentially pay hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on where you are calling. And thousands of dollars is possible, but you can always complain against it and maybe not have to pay as much. So the solution? Unlock your phone and use a local chip. You can call back to the United States cheaper and also make local calls for just a few cents. Or you can jailbreak your iPhone, in this case they both do the same thing.

Jailbreaking Your iPhone for the Apps

Now even though jailbreaking your phone sounds dangerous, (something about the words jail and breaking, put together sounds even worse) in the right hands it can be a very useful tool. Before we go any further I do want to mention that if your iPhone is still on warranty, unless you are 100% sure that you want to do this, DON’T. This will void your warranty. On the other hand if you already ran out of your warranty time you don’t have as much to fear.

Back to business. Jailbreaking a phone can add a few extra things that Apple doesn’t just put on there. There are a few programs like Cydia, just for example, that makes it so you can add things to your iPhone. It will give you extra apps that you can buy, you have different screens, protection software for your kids or little brother, the list is truly endless to what you can find when searching around Cydia. Remember, while not illegal, Apple does not like it when people Jailbreak their iPhones and will not repair a broken jailbroken iPhone. But the apps are unique; you can only use them on a jailbroken phone. Once again I want to point out that none of this is a necessity, it is a choice.

Changing the Subject

Now, to change the subject, we can talk about where to get things done. Where can you get your iPhone unlocked or jailbroken. Getting your iPhone unlocked for any country is simple, you can usually go to any phone shop in the country that you are visiting and ask them to unlock it. It will usually cost a small fee to do so. To jailbreak an iPhone on the other hand, can be a little bit trickier. Unless you know someone that already knows how to do it, you might have to look on the internet for help. A few programs that are widely used are Snowbreeze and Blackra1n. Just follow their instructions and you should have a jailbroken iPhone in no time!

As a parting word I want to mention that anything that happens to your iPhone after reading about jailbreaking and unlocking is not my fault. It is not often that something goes wrong while jailbreaking or unlocking your iPhone, but if something does, I am not accountable for your choice. Happy iPhone’n people!