iOS 10.2 Yalu jailbreak beta build now available

Hot on the heels of the source code being posted to GitHub yesterday, Luca Todesco has posted a very early build of the tool to his website. Work on the GitHub code proceeded quickly after its posting last night, with Todesco and others merging several commits to enable Substrate, add more device support, and streamline the tool.

About the tool

The tool currently sits at Beta 1, and as such is not to be expected to be perfect. It likely still has many bugs, and does not yet support all 64-bit devices. However, Todesco has commented that due to the new methods it uses it should be more stable already than the Beta 3 of his previous tool, which was for iOS 10(.1(.1)).

Current device support extends to:

  • iPhone 6s
  • iPhone 6s+
  • iPhone SE
  • iPad Pro

Community members have added offsets (which provide support for other devices) to the code but they do not work yet, as the code needs further modifications from Todesco. He has stated he will not be able to make those changes until at least the weekend, as he needs to be able to test on those devices. This includes all 4k devices (memory page size, not screen resolution), which is every device earlier than and including the iPhone 6. It is for this reason that the supported device list at the moment is restricted to 16k devices. Once Todesco has updated the code, the offsets added already by others will bring the iPhone 6 and iPhone 5s into the fold, with other 64-bit devices joining as their offsets are added.

This edition of the tool should work on all iOS 10 versions up to iOS 10.2 for the devices listed above. It does not currently work for the iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, but when it is finished it will support them on iOS 10 versions up to iOS 10.1.1, but not iOS 10.2. All 64-bit devices are expected to be supported eventually.

Should you use it?

Yalu for iOS 10.2 already has Cydia Substrate enabled, without the dubious hacks which people were employing on the previous betas, and should offer more stability than the previous betas too. Whilst I personally would wait a few days for stability reasons, it should not be too dangerous to try out the tool now, only if you have a supported device, and while iOS 10.2 is being signed. Before the iOS 10.2 signing window closes, I would recommend returning to stock iOS 10.2 and awaiting a final (or at least gamma) release, though of course, this is up to you. You should be able to move up through the releases without a problem.

Currently, the tool can only be installed by downloading it from Todesco’s website and then side-loading it onto your device using Cydia Impactor. You will need an Apple ID for this. If you are unsure as to how to go about this, give it a miss for now. I will be posting a guide on how to install the tool soon!

In the meantime, if you’re unsure as to what OS version you need to be on or what course of action to take, check out my updated guide, which talks through all the options you have as regards updating, restoring, and jailbreaking.