If you rely on a slide-loadable jailbreak such as Odyssey (iOS 13.0-13.7) or unc0ver (iOS 11, 12, and 13.0-13.5), then it can be devastating if your device suddenly reboots because of a dead battery or a glitch. When this happens, you’ll be without your jailbreak and any add-ons you installed until you can re-jailbreak again.
Sadly, with many signing service certificates being revoked left and right without notice and with AltStore suddenly not working for apps installed after January 28th, it almost seems like using these jailbreaks puts you right in the crossroads of frustration and unreliability. But perhaps it doesn’t need to.
Now before we get started, we will acknowledge that an update to AltStore is imminent to fix the problem mentioned above. In the meantime, we wanted to show you a way to install the Odyssey or unc0ver jailbreak(s) on your handset even if all the methods that you know and love cease to work for one reason or another.
What you need to know
This workaround utilizes an App Store VPN app called DNSCloak and specialized DNS blacklist file. The blacklist will prevent your handset from connecting to ocsp.apple.com, which prevents your handset from detecting a certificate revocation with regard to the popular Jailbreaks.app signing service (and possibly others).
If your handset has already detected a revoked certificate from a signing service, then this method may not work. But if you were impacted by the recent AltStore issue and have experienced trouble getting re-jailbroken, then this should work for you without a hitch.
If your handset detected a revoked certificate recently and the steps we’re about to outline below don’t work for you, then you would need to erase all your handset’s content and settings to make this work. However, this is not recommended. Instead, it would be better to wait for AltStore to receive an update, which should be soon.
How to install revoked jailbreak apps with DNSCloak
If you’re ready to jailbreak right now and you meet the criteria above, then you can follow the steps below to install the Odyssey or unc0ver jailbreak tools:
1) Download and install the free DNSCloak app from the App Store on the handset you wish to jailbreak.
2) Download this blacklist file and save it to the Files app on the handset you wish to jailbreak.
3) Launch DNSCloak and tap on the hamburger menu button at the top-left corner of the app:
4) Next, enable the Connect On Demand setting:
5) Now you will scroll down to Blacklists & Whitelist, and then enable the Enable Blacklist setting:
6) Select the blacklist file you saved earlier:
7) Return to the home page of the DNSCloak app and tap on a-and-a:
8) Next, tap on the Use this Server button:
9) When prompted, tap on Allow to install the DNSCloak VPN profile:
10) Now you will navigate to Settings → General → VPN →DNSCloak and tap on the (i) button next to DNSCloak:
11) Ensure that Connect On Demand is turned on.
12) For good measure, navigate to Settings → Safari and tap on the Clear History and Website Data option:
13) Lastly, visit Jailbreaks.app in Safari and tap to download the jailbreak tool you wish to use:
After the download completes, you should be able to launch the jailbreak app of your choice and run it. Congratulations!
Please note that you may need to re-trust the certificate in Settings → General → Device Management for the jailbreak app to launch.
Even though the certificate is currently revoked, DNSCloak prevents your device from detecting this and allows you to move forward with using the revoked app anyway. This should provide you with ample ability to run the jailbreak and return to a jailbroken state despite the revocation.
If this didn’t work for you, then your handset may have already detected a certificate revocation. If this happened, you will need to wait for either the a new and working certificate at Jailbreaks.app, or you will need to wait for the impending AltStore update.
Conclusion
This solution isn’t perfect, but it’s one way for at least a subset of jailbreakers to get re-jailbroken if they’re currently unable to do so. Best of all, it’s free and it only takes a few minutes of your time.
Obviously, those with A7-A11-equipped devices (iPhone 5s to iPhone X) could opt to use the checkra1n jailbreak instead of a side-loadable jailbreak like Odyssey or unc0ver, but for A12 and newer handsets (iPhone XS and later), that isn’t an option.
Did the workaround above work for you? Let us know down in the comments section below.