Will iOS 10 jailbreak release happen anytime soon following the latest move from Apple? The tech giant just issued version 10.2 for fourth public beta testing, available OTA or download through iTunes, which many in the jailbreak community see as possibly the signal for Chinese hacking group Pangu to finalize its JB tool.
On the surface, beta four of iOS 10.2 is a preview of the things to come once the software becomes official. Per MacRumors, these are mainly what to expect: "Along with new emoji, iOS 10.2 includes new wallpaper, new Music sorting options and buttons for Repeat and Shuffle, new "Celebrate" and "Send with Love" Screen Effects, an option for preserving camera settings, a TV widget and TV settings, Single-Sign On support for watching live TV via apps, and the official "TV" app."
But it goes without saying that the upcoming iOS instalment will include bug fixes and security patches, which are the areas that concern most devs like Team Pangu. The beta build provides an entry-point for jailbreak providers to check if the OS is open for modifications and when the master copy is finally out, it will confirm if the exploits remain, thus paving the way for the next jailbreak.
And this appears to be the Pangu jailbreaking playbook, according to Neurogadget. "Pangu's strategy seems to be to wait for Apple to launch the iOS update and at the same time launch their jailbreak tool so that Apple can't instantly add a security patch to prevent it's user from using the tool," the report said.
In other words, the Chinese hackers are holding out for the next big iOS update if only to check that their jailbreak work so far hasn't been quashed. And it will be a go if everything checks out. This would have been the case as early as the iOS 10.1 but the consensus among the jailbreak fans is that the door that the team had been working was shuttered down by the update, and further locked by version 10.1.1.
However, independent developer Luca Todesco has recently demonstrated that versions 10.1 and 10.1.1 are both open for jailbreaking, which likely has been passed on to those willing to finish the work and issue a public jailbreak. And the usual suspect to wrap up what Todesco has demoed is totally workable is none other than Team Pangu.
In recent days, report emerged that Pangu is in collaboration with the same security engineer that was responsible for unlocking iOS 9.3.4, which should be a solid indicator that the group is working on something that will likely produce concrete results soon.
And if Cydia creator Saurik is to be believed, Team Pangu so far has the credibility to provide the next public jailbreak. And the dev recently revealed that he'd seen Pangu's JB work progressing just fine into a possible iOS 10 jailbreak release that is happening real soon.