Apple iOS 7.1.1 Untethered Jailbreak: Which Developers Have A Jailbreaking Tool In The Works For iPhone 5S And iPad Air?

Several purported jailbreaks have surfaced over the past weekend, leaving the jailbreak community wondering who has one and when will it be released.

The possibility of an iOS 7.1.1 public jailbreak for the iPhone 5S, 5C, iPad Air and other iOS devices piqued the interest of Internet users over the weekend of May 16 after several developers revealed they possessed jailbroken iOS hardware running on the latest version of Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) mobile operating system. While the revelations reignited interest in an iOS 7.1.1 jailbreak, it also created much confusion as to who had a working jailbreak and whether or not one would be publicly released.

In an effort to clarify what details were released by jailbreak developers, Reddit user Sachmach29 created a thread in the Reddit jailbreak community, explaining which developers had iOS 7.1.1 jailbreaks and if there was a possibility that any jailbreak would be released.

At least three high profile iOS jailbreak developers have jailbroken devices running iOS 7.1.1, including Winocm, Steven De Franco ( @iH8sn0w) and German security researcher Stefan Esser (@i0n1c). While the three iOS jailbreak developers possess jailbroken iOS 7.1.1 devices, two merely possess devices jailbroken through other methods, according to iOS jailbreak developer MuscleNerd.

“Neither winocm nor ih8sn0w have jailbreaks in the traditional sense of the word. They only work from devices already jailbroken via some other way. That doesn't help anyone with 7.1.1 devices, until there's a 7.1.1 jailbreak from exploits unrelated to their stuff,” MuscleNerd said in a Reddit thread.

“In other words, if you gave Winocm or ih8sn0w an A5 or later device at 7.1.1 today, they'd not be able to reproduce their stuff. They would need to wait for the 7.1.1 jailbreak (the traditional sense of the word) first...then they'd be able to run their stuff,” MuscleNerd added.

While German iOS security researcher Stefan Esser revealed that he was able to jailbreak an iPhone 5C on iOS 7.1.1, he precluded the possibility of him releasing a public untethered jailbreak on Monday in an interview with German publication, Heise Online.

Despite the lack of a public jailbreak, some iOS jailbreak developers have expressed some hope about finding and releasing one.

In an interview with iDownloadBlog in April 2014, Evasi0n developer Cyril Cattiaux (@Pod2g), spoke about whether or not a jailbreak would be seen before the release of iOS 8:

“Not today, and I don’t know about the future. I’ve started to look at it, and started to find some stuff. I think that something’s possible. It depends on when it happens--I mean if we have a jailbreak in one month, for sure we will release it. If it happens in 3 months, we might have to wait for iOS 8. But I’m definitely on it, definitely trying to find something.”

While i0n1c is unlikely to make a public release of his jailbreak, the possibility of a jailbreak release might be found outside of some of the iOS jailbreak community’s high profile developers.

In response to a tweet by Esser, which revealed his possession of an iOS 7.1.1 jailbreak, Reddit user and security researcher, AustinDizzy, posted a comment on the social news site, claiming he was able to find the iOS bug used by Esser to get the jailbreak working, along with a picture of a jailbroken iPhone 5.

After several Reddit users asked AustinDizzy about the possibility of a public release, he sent out a tweet, indicating that instructions may be released in the near future if a jailbreak tool isn’t released.

Developer Yeongjin Jang was also able to jailbreak iOS 7.1.1, as demonstrated on an iPhone 5S. However, at this time, his method is considered a “failbreak,” since the method is only possible at this time through iOS developer tools.