Why does Apple hate jail breaking?

[space-time]

Are they concerned with loss of revenue if people buy Apps somewhere else?

[NewtonMP2100]

....the striped jumpsuits.....??

[Lew Zealand]

If someone jailbreaks their phone and gets viruses, etc. on it because Apple's security is no longer active, then it's bad PR for Apple. Internet wags and the public in general don't care about the piddling detail that an iPhone was jailbroken, only that it got viruses, etc. Same thing when 3rd party out-of-spec chargers cause a phone battery to blow up/leak. People remember the explosion, not the special conditions.

[RAMd®d]

Are they concerned with loss of revenue if people buy Apps somewhere else?


Cynics will say that's the only reason Apple won't allow jailbreaking or side-loading.

It's no doubt a part of the reason.

But I see sunshine when other favor doom and gloom

I think a far bigger reason is that Apple doesn't want the iOS experience ruined by buggy or nefarious apps that wouldn't have to comply with all of Apple's rules, say location tracking for instance.

Or damage to the iOS when somebody screws up the jailbreak or side-loads a crummy app.

Not only would that affect the customer's experience, but now we have media sources 'reporting' about how buggy iOS is.

There probably are exceptional side-loaded apps, but that makes them the exception to the rule. By and large I think this is better than a free-for-all on other platforms.

Yes, Dad won't let you run out and play in the street, like the other kids. Some of them do ok. Some of them are the bug on the windshield.

[cbelt3]

One of the historic benefits of the Apple landscape is that it's a walled garden. Bugs and nasty critters stay out. As it's gotten too huge, the walls have become a bit porous, and every now and then something bad appears.

Note that while Android lovers talk about the 'open environment' they will not talk about the egregious malware that has riddled the Google Store for years. Despite Google's attempts to hunt down and kill the nasties.

If you want a safe data experience, stick with the walled garden.

[tenders]

They don’t go to HUGE lengths to stop jailbreaking. They patch jailbreaks as they occur. Several jailbreak features have turned into iOS features, like drag-down-to-refresh.

I think they keep jailbreaking to a minimum so that the amount of developer time spent on nonconforming/nonrevenue apps is minimized. A firm policy on jailbreaks also prevents the proliferation of in-app ad blockers, which are a core source of revenue for the developers on the App Store. There may also be contracts (or the expectation) from the cell carriers that data usage will be in conformance with the OS design.

I had a jailbroken 4S for a while and loved the fact that you could share WiFi or cell data via Bluetooth. It’s the only jailbreak feature I liked that hasn’t been incorporated into iOS.

[NewtonMP2100]

....in jail....there is a lot of *******ing.....

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak
Somewhere in this town
See me and the boys we don't like it
So were getting up and going down

I think they do it for two reasons, both already mentioned: Money from iTunes sales (walled garden) and security.

[Sarcany]

https://www.theiphonewiki.com/wiki/Malware_for_iOS

[sekker]

Bothered Steve Jobs' sensibility.

Indeed, there have been Apple executives who have bemoaned they cannot lock down the Mac in a similar way.