The world’s first jailbreaking step-by-step procedure, discovered in 2007, was posted online for all to see. Subsequent jailbreaks were used by millions of people. At one point, there was even a website—called jailbreakme.com—that was free for all to use and jailbroke your phone simply by visiting it.
Todesco’s jailbreak, however, is only available within the confines of his bedroom inside his parents house.
Todesco, who is now 20 and is known by his hacker alias “qwertyoruiop,” looks nonplussed. He grabs my phone and reaches for a cable on his desk, next to a collection of two dozen iPods and iPhones, all neatly resting next to each other as if on display. Todesco plugs in the phone, types a couple of commands into his Mac computer, then presses enter. My iPhone’s screen turns off and on, before a white screen comes up:
“Doing it … Patching … Jailbroken,” the screen reads, one after the other.
“Ha!” Todesco says, smiling.
The wall of Apple’s garden has been cracked. The phone is jailbroken.
