The newly released checkra1n is making the rounds of jailbreak forums and social media over the past few days. But what exactly is checkra1n and how can you use it to jailbreak iPhone, thereby bypassing the iCloud Activation Lock? This article takes a close look at the application and its functionality.
Checkra1n has been developed based on a vulnerability in iOS called checkm8. The jailbreak is currently in beta and available for download, but you should be warned that it might crash your iPhone and brick it, so never use this tool on primary phone for such attempts. Even you are planning to do, make a backup first.
Checkra1n supposedly works for iOS 12.3 and higher and is semi-tethered. That means whenever you restart your iPhone, you'll have to hook it up to your PC or Mac to re-jailbreak it. The process is a little complicated if you're new to jailbreaking but, hopefully, you'll be able to follow the instructions provided here and get your iPhone jailbroken with checkra1n.
To bypass iCloud Activation Lock on iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, the first step is to jailbreak the device to grant root permission. After that, use a set of combined commands to bypass the iCloud lock with the help of checkra1n. Before digging into the steps, please take a look at the FAQ section first, which lays down at the end of this post. It is risky attemp so be warned!
As with all jailbreaks, there are preparatory steps to be carried out before you can do the actual jailbreak. Here are all the steps in sequence to jailbreak an iOS device:
Step 1: The first step is to download checkra1n dmg file on a macOS computer. No support yet for Linux or Windows, unfortunately.
Step 2: Once you have the file, install it by dragging the icon into the Applications folder they way you'd do for any Mac program. You will get a warning message saying "check1n can not be opended because it is from an unidentified developer" when opening the app the first time. Go to System Preference -> Security & Privacy and click Open Anyway to remove the warning message.
Step 3: Connect your iPhone using the original USB to Lightning cable.
Step 4: You will now need to put your iPhone in DFU so the jailbreaking firmware can be installed.
Step 5: In DFU mode, the hack, also known as Magic Hax, will automatically jailbreak the device and boot it into a jailbroken mode.
Since the release is brand new, there may be issues when trying the above process. If it doesn't work the first time, try it again. And make sure that you enter DFU mode correctly, or the jailbreak can not be applied.
After jailbreaking, there are a few more steps in order to bypass the iCloud lock. Follow the steps shown below to bypass the Activation Lock.
Step 1: Connect your iPhone once again to your Mac and open an instance of the Terminal app
Step 2: Install usbmuxd. To do this, first install Home Brew with the following command:
/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
Step 3: Run the command to install usbmuxd: brew install usbmuxd
Step 4: In the open instance of Terminal, run the following command: iproxy 2222 44
Step 5: Now open another instance and run the following commands, one at a time:
ssh root@localhost -p 2222
mount -o rw,union,update /
rm -rf /Applications/Setup.app
Step 6: Now reboot the device and enter into DFU mode again. At this time, input the following commands.
uicache -a
killall backboardd
killall -9 SpringBoard
Once the iPhone is jailbroken and you have run all the commands above, you'll notice that the Activation Lock or iCloud Lock is no longer enabled, and you can access it like an unlocked device. If you encounter any issue with the above steps, please contact the team on Twitter. Below is a full video tutorial to bypass iCloud with checkra1n.
1. Is checkra1n safe for my iPhone?
Any modification of the operating system is not recommended by Apple. Such modifications could lead to your warranty being voided and your device getting bricked, or inoperable.
2. What's the iOS version it support?
Including iOS 12.3, 12.4, 13.0, 13.1, 13.2.
3. What's the iOS device it support?
This jailbreak only works for iPhone 5s to iPhone X. It also works with some models of iPad. Currently, no support for iPad Air 2, iPad 5th Gen iPad Pro 1st Gen
3. Possible to bypass lockscreen passcode?
No. For screen passcode removal, please refer to this guide.
4. Can I use Checkra1n on Windows PC?
No. It only runs on macOS and it does not work on Windows PC and virtual machine. Other platform support is in progress. Please get tuned. Also, don't use this app on macOS Catalina.
iCloud Activation Lock is a great mechanism to protect the data on iOS device when it gets stolen or lost. You should not remove or bypass this feature on a running device. Checkra1n is the backup plan when you forgot iCloud account or password. And it is 100% safe. So please use it with caution.
