Need more memory for your iPad 1? Try jailbreaking!
SkyPiglet
Member Posts: 10
If you are really dead-set on playing BG:EE on your first generation iPad, but you can't stand the crashes and instability, there is a way to free up more memory. Freeing up RAM can lessen the chances of a crash, though there is no guarantee of eliminating them altogether.
By jailbreaking your device, you can gain access to the root file system. From there, you can delete various unnecessary background processes and other things which take up RAM. Some of these are as silly as Chinese character support for wifi networks, to optional processes such as crash reporters. In general, you can free anywhere from 15-35 MB of RAM, which is significant given that your device only has about 120 or so free most of the time.
WARNING: Depending on how computer literate you are, this process could take 1-3 hours. If something goes wrong, you may end up spending longer than that re-syncing/re-downloading your apps after a restore.
Quick steps for people who are generally computer literate/don't want to read through everything:
Can jailbreaking "brick" my device?
The technical answer is no. The general answer is yes, it could be really annoying for a few hours. It is certainly possible to mess up something with your device and render it unusable. HOWEVER, iDevices almost never become *permanently* bricked-- you can always go through a DFU restore. DFU mode is built into the hardware of your device, which means that no matter how corrupted or messed up your software becomes, the device has a physical contingency which force it into restoring itself to factory settings. For 99.9% of all iDevices, the only way it can truly become bricked is if it suffers physical harm, such as water damage or a freak power surge.
tl;dr-- yes, you can mess up your device. But you can always restore. The only thing you might lose is the data or other personal files you have on the device if you have not backed it up.
Is jailbreaking legal?
For mobile phones it is 100% legal. It is technically not illegal for tablets to be jailbroken. Due to legal things explained in the article linked above, this is not because they have some sort of special protection. It's because the Librarian of Congress did not want to define "tablets" as a term. Basically, they said that tablets have the same computing potential as computers. It's generally accepted that you have the right to gain root-access to your computer's file system (for windows users: this is akin to opening up My Computer and turning on "display hidden files"), so tablets should be okay by extension.
Does jailbreaking void my device's warranty?
Short answer: yes. But because you can always DFU restore, it should be okay-- a DFU restore wipes all traces of any jailbreak (note, however, that if you restore to a backup afterwards, there may be jailbreak related files in the backup). Of course, if some physical damage makes it impossible to DFU restore, then there is a possibility that when you send your device in for repairs, Apple could notice that it's been jailbroken. There are no criminal ramifications for having a jailbroken device, and there is no precedent for it.
Does jailbreaking make my device slower?
Technically, no. All jailbreaking does remove barriers in iOS that prevent you from altering the file system. When people complain about slowdown after jailbreaking, it is always due to tweaks, themes, or other memory and processor-leeching things that they have installed.
Can I still access the appstore and use iTunes after jailbreaking?
Yes. Everything should work exactly as it did before. You can still make purchase and other things normally. Apple has never done anything to suspend iTunes accounts or things like that due to jailbreaking. Also, jailbreaking does not add anything which could steal your personal data (except for your device ID through Cydia, which is completely benign).
Before doing anything, make sure you:
Once your device is jailbroken, reboot your device by holding the sleep button until the slider shows up. Then turn it back on and tun Cydia (select "user" when it asks) and wait for it to update its files. Install any updates it asks you to (sometimes there are security patches and such). Reboot your device again.
After that, all you have to do is download iFunbox and follow the tutorial to delete launch daemons and processes here. Before deleting anything, copy that entire folder over onto your computer, just in case you mess something up. Read through each description they have on there and pick what you want to delete. The "safe" list is fine to delete. The "optional" one will take some more time, depending on your personal needs for your device.
Once you're done, disconnect your device and reboot it again. You should be set now! Hopefully with some extra memory, BG:EE will run smoother.
*Note: I assume no responsibility for any time or data lost by doing this. Please back up your data beforehand! I am not a legal expert and these things are subject to change. However, right now I am fairly certain I am correct and that this is all 100% legal. Again however, the responsibility is yours.
**Note 2: There is currently no jailbreak for iPad 2+ devices on iOS 6.
By jailbreaking your device, you can gain access to the root file system. From there, you can delete various unnecessary background processes and other things which take up RAM. Some of these are as silly as Chinese character support for wifi networks, to optional processes such as crash reporters. In general, you can free anywhere from 15-35 MB of RAM, which is significant given that your device only has about 120 or so free most of the time.
WARNING: Depending on how computer literate you are, this process could take 1-3 hours. If something goes wrong, you may end up spending longer than that re-syncing/re-downloading your apps after a restore.
Quick steps for people who are generally computer literate/don't want to read through everything:
- Backup your data, close all multitasking apps, reboot your device, and make sure it has at least 20% battery power. Also, if you are not already updated to iOS 5.1.1, do so.
- Download and run the jailbreak using this tutorial.
- Follow this tutorial to delete unnecessary launch daemons on your device. Reboot and you should have more RAM!
Can jailbreaking "brick" my device?
The technical answer is no. The general answer is yes, it could be really annoying for a few hours. It is certainly possible to mess up something with your device and render it unusable. HOWEVER, iDevices almost never become *permanently* bricked-- you can always go through a DFU restore. DFU mode is built into the hardware of your device, which means that no matter how corrupted or messed up your software becomes, the device has a physical contingency which force it into restoring itself to factory settings. For 99.9% of all iDevices, the only way it can truly become bricked is if it suffers physical harm, such as water damage or a freak power surge.
tl;dr-- yes, you can mess up your device. But you can always restore. The only thing you might lose is the data or other personal files you have on the device if you have not backed it up.
Is jailbreaking legal?
For mobile phones it is 100% legal. It is technically not illegal for tablets to be jailbroken. Due to legal things explained in the article linked above, this is not because they have some sort of special protection. It's because the Librarian of Congress did not want to define "tablets" as a term. Basically, they said that tablets have the same computing potential as computers. It's generally accepted that you have the right to gain root-access to your computer's file system (for windows users: this is akin to opening up My Computer and turning on "display hidden files"), so tablets should be okay by extension.
Does jailbreaking void my device's warranty?
Short answer: yes. But because you can always DFU restore, it should be okay-- a DFU restore wipes all traces of any jailbreak (note, however, that if you restore to a backup afterwards, there may be jailbreak related files in the backup). Of course, if some physical damage makes it impossible to DFU restore, then there is a possibility that when you send your device in for repairs, Apple could notice that it's been jailbroken. There are no criminal ramifications for having a jailbroken device, and there is no precedent for it.
Does jailbreaking make my device slower?
Technically, no. All jailbreaking does remove barriers in iOS that prevent you from altering the file system. When people complain about slowdown after jailbreaking, it is always due to tweaks, themes, or other memory and processor-leeching things that they have installed.
Can I still access the appstore and use iTunes after jailbreaking?
Yes. Everything should work exactly as it did before. You can still make purchase and other things normally. Apple has never done anything to suspend iTunes accounts or things like that due to jailbreaking. Also, jailbreaking does not add anything which could steal your personal data (except for your device ID through Cydia, which is completely benign).
Before doing anything, make sure you:
- Backup your iPad. iCloud is okay (Settings App >> iCloud >> Storage and Backup >> Back Up Now), but it is better to do it through iTunes as a copy on your computer (On the first screen when you plugin your device, uncheck the option to sync backup to iCloud, and then sync your device. You can locate the backup here).
- Close all apps in the multitasking bar (double click home, then tap and hold on an icon and press all the X's once they wiggle).
- Disable the passcode lock on your device (Settings app >> General >> Passcode Lock).
- Do a true reboot by holding the sleep button until the red power slider shows up. Then turn it back on.
- Make sure your device has at least 20% power (you don't want it dying in the middle of a jailbreak-- that could be messy).
Once your device is jailbroken, reboot your device by holding the sleep button until the slider shows up. Then turn it back on and tun Cydia (select "user" when it asks) and wait for it to update its files. Install any updates it asks you to (sometimes there are security patches and such). Reboot your device again.
After that, all you have to do is download iFunbox and follow the tutorial to delete launch daemons and processes here. Before deleting anything, copy that entire folder over onto your computer, just in case you mess something up. Read through each description they have on there and pick what you want to delete. The "safe" list is fine to delete. The "optional" one will take some more time, depending on your personal needs for your device.
Once you're done, disconnect your device and reboot it again. You should be set now! Hopefully with some extra memory, BG:EE will run smoother.
*Note: I assume no responsibility for any time or data lost by doing this. Please back up your data beforehand! I am not a legal expert and these things are subject to change. However, right now I am fairly certain I am correct and that this is all 100% legal. Again however, the responsibility is yours.
**Note 2: There is currently no jailbreak for iPad 2+ devices on iOS 6.
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