Hacker Luca Todesco: ‘I Am Done With Jailbreaking’

Prominent iOS security researcher and creator of the Yalu jailbreaks Luca Todesco announced yesterday his withdrawal from the jailbreaking scene. Along with some parting pieces of advice, he made clear that he will no longer be involved with the creation of public tools for the circumvention of Apple’s iOS “walled garden”.

 In a tweet, Todesco said:
1. Save blobs
2. If you’re currently on 10.2.1 stay on it if you want to jailbreak.
3. I am done with jailbreaking.

The reasons for Todesco’s disappearance from the community are not given, but are perhaps not impossible to discern. He has often expressed frustration with the harassment and abuse he receives from over-eager jailbreakers, as well as the pressure to release free tools which began for him as a mixture of private challenge and work-related research. Add to this the demands of a budding career and it’s not hard to see why he has decided that remaining in the jailbreaking public eye is no longer for him.

I’d also second Todesco’s other piece of advice in his “resignation letter”; save your blobs. As advised by me in a recent article, as well as proven by an upcoming tool I reported on a week or so ago, blobs often come in useful in ways that were not foreseen at the time. By the time these tools arrive it’s too late to save them, which is why jailbreak developers have always advised saving your blobs regardless, so that you’re ready when the time comes. Prometheus and Odysseus are two downgrade tools which prove the utility of this practice, and the upcoming tool I alluded to is yet another powerful example. Todesco clearly thought the advice important enough to include in a triptych including his resignation.

It remains to be seen whether Todesco will continue to collaborate with others in the community, or to offer advice and/or bugs in a diminished capacity to any future projects. For now, those of us who have one can continue to enjoy our iOS 10 jailbreaks thanks to his work.