iWatch Jailbreak [Apple Watch]

Apple Watch Jailbreak

We are discussing all Apple watch jailbreak and related information about the Apple watch on this page.

Apple watch jailbreak is very rare when we compare it with other Apple devices such as iPhone Jailbreak, iPad Jailbreak and iPod Jailbreak. When you jailbreak these iPhone, iPad or iPod it install Cydia app store than the official App store and offers more customization options. There were popular jailbreak tools such as Checkra1n, Taurine, Unc0ver and Odyssey for these devices. So, if you jailbreak the Apple watch you can get these functions on the Apple watch too. Reason for the lack of Jailbreak for the Apple watch, it’s difficult to downgrade Apple Watch firmware.

watchOS (Apple’s firmware)

Apple released the watchOS 11.2 beta with iOS 18.2 beta for iPhones, iPadOS 18.2 beta for iPads and tvOS 18.2 for Apple TV. watchOS 11.1 with iOS 18.1 for iPhones, iPadOS 18.1 for iPads and tvOS 18.1 for Apple TV also available as latest versions.

Here are the all iWatch Jailbreak methods available so far.

Jailbreak watchOS 5.1.2 (Brenbreak)

Brenbreak Apple Watch jailbreak for watchOS 4.0 – watchOS 5.1.2 is an upcoming jailbreak. According to the developer, work is in progress and it will finalize within 2 weeks and regular updates will be available on his website.

https://twitter.com/ethanpepro/status/1137782834926632967

Ethanpepro announced this iWatch jailbreak for watchOS 4.1 to watchOS 5.1.2 last April. But after that we did not get more updates about the Brenbreak Apple Watch jailbreak.

https://twitter.com/ethanpepro/status/1113261386946228224

Stay on watchOS 5.1.2. New Brenbreak Apple Watch jailbreak for watchOS 5.1. coming soon.

It won’t compatible with watchOS 5.1.3 or later.

Jailbreak watchOS 4.1 (jelbrekTime)

elbrekTime is developed by Tihmstar and it is v0rtex-based watchOS 4.1 jailbreak for Apple Watch series 3.

watchOS 3.x and 4.0 running older Apple Watch models support can also be added by other advanced developers through modifying this project.

According to the developer, jelbrekTime comes with the following features.

  • Exploits kernel using v0rtex
  • Gets tfp0 and stores it to hsp4
  • Applies h3lix kernel patches
  • Remounts / as rw
  • Extracts bootstrap.tar

If you are a developer, you can access jelbrekTime installation from tihmstar’s GitHub repository.

Jailbreak watchOS 4

watchOS 4 jailbreak could be achieved by a skilled developer by modifying above jelbrekTime.

Jailbreak watchOS 3 (OverCl0ck)

OverClock is the latest iWatch Jailbreak project for watchOS 3. It was developed by Ben Sparkes who brought us Meridian Jailbreak for iOS 10.X. This Jailbreak tool is based on the v0rtex exploit to get root access on the Apple Watch. This method is very similar to Max Bazaliy’s method which was demonstrated at DEF CON 2017.

This is still in the early development stage, and Ben Sparkes released it as an XCode project to GitHub, because collaboration is necessary to move forward.

Device compatibility-
Apple Watch Series 1
Apple Watch Series 2

Version Compatibility –
watchOS 3.0
watchOS 3.1
watchOS 3.1.1
watchOS 3.2
watchOS 3.2.2
watchOS 3.2.3

Important : It has not published an IPA yet, If you are a developer, you can download the necessary files using Github. Here is the Official link.

According to the developer, the following functions require development. These functions will be added to the future updates of OverCl0ck Jailbreak tool.

Fix watch_offsetfinder utility to find offsets correctly.
Fix v0rtex exploit.
Add kernel patches.
Codesigning patch.
Mount root filesystem with full read/write permissions.
Add SSH support with Dropbear client.
Find a reliable way to transfer files to Watch
Port Comex’s Substitute (Substrate alternative) to watchOS 3.
Add a Cydia-like package installer for running tweaks.

Max Bazaliy’s watchOS 3 Jailbreak Demonstration

Hacker Max Bazaliy demonstrated about watchOS 3 jailbreak at World’s largest hacker conventions of DEFCON which was held on 27–30th July 2017. At the presentation, he has targeted access to the following sensitive information.

  • Watch have access to SMS, Calls, Health
  • Photos and emails synced to Watch
  • Fetch GPS location from the phone
  • Microphone usage
  • Apple Pay

However this jailbreak was done privately and he did not hint about public release

Jailbreak WatchOS 2 & Minor versions
Some good news for watchOS 2 jailbreak has followed.

  • Steve T-S confirmation for iWatch jailbreak
    Steve Troughton-Smith ( Irish programmer for Apple software), Saurik (Developer of Cydia) and Adam Bell (Canadian software developer for Apple watch) was able to hack Apple watch and ran UIKit & SceneKit apps on the watch device. Proven video as follows.
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/609262287212425216
  • Hamze sood jailbreak
    Another Developer Hamze Sood was able to run Flappy Bird on Watch OS 2 and users can control it by touching and handling Crown.
  • Web Browsing by Comex
    It has no safari web browser to the Apple watch and even in the future, it will never be added because of the small display resolution. But users are interested to have it.  So jailbreak is the only solution to do it. As expected, the Web browser was released by Comex and he could run Google Home page, and the Copy/Define option is running on the watch display. Here is the Twitter image and video confirmation of Comex web browsing.
Why should iWatch jailbreak

iWatch (Apple Watch) introduced without some most necessary functions such as Web browsing. Also, Apple limits some of watch face designs to specific Apple Watch models.

Cydia offers many third-party apps to customize the iOS devices as the most popular 3rd party app store for jailbroken devices. Therefore jailbreak is the only option to get those missing functions as jailbreak tweaks to iWatch.

Reasons for iWatch jailbreak

  • Stock apps customization.
  • Watch faces change.
  • More themes.
  • Custom element complications.
  • Home Screen Customization.
  • Third Party Watch Faces
Third Party Watch Faces

Free Time Face by Alexander Zaytsev

Alexander Zaytsev introduced many new faces at the WWDC event keynote session before releasing the iWatch. Apple launched a few faces when the iWatch was released and some of them were rejected. However, once the jailbreak method is confirmed, Alexander Zaytsev will introduce more new faces and then we can use all faces.

Basketball face by Plearns

Plearns has created several faces to watch the interface. Basketball face was one of the smart faces, which he made first. Once the jailbreak release for iWatch, users can use all of his face.

Japan face by Alexander Zaytsev

This is another face which creates Alexander. Also he created time telling apps / themes  for iWatch. Unfortunately we can not use it all because there is no any jailbreak method for the iWatch device.

Meditation face by Mackenthun

Mackenthun is another jailbreak app developer for Apple devices. He has created many applications / wallpapers for third party app installations.

Sunset face by Martin Eriksson

This is a very beautiful upcoming jailbreak custom face. We have no idea why Apple does not include this face for the default list. However, all iWatch users will be lucky to install it after jailbreak.

Running Face by Michael Martino

This is also a very creative watch face, and it is displaying past and now running speed. This is specially created for athletics players and other users can use too.

Nike fit face by Geo1

It depends on the official Nike Inc. Nike Company asked the Developers to create a watch face for Nike. Then the Geo1 team created this watch face for Nike Company.

Behance face by Tyler Gough

This face can customize the watch face according to the user’s choice even if users can add their own image. Other faces can not change. Because of the customization ability, this face will be most popular among the users.

Watch Clock 2nd by Martin Eriksson

This is a very attractive face with a good color balance. It displays the time and weather forecast according to your current place. Because of these features, this will be the most popular custom face among the users too.

Music Mockup face by Martin Eriksson

It has a nice 3D look. Most advantageous part is users can stream music directly with this face. Users only need to hold and touch the face and here after it asks from you to stream the music. This will be famous among music lovers.

Watchface by Judesh

This face was created by one of Israel’s developers. When compared with other iWatch faces, this has a very simple design. Because of simply having a design, it will be popular.