Jailbreaking Isn’t Hard to Do (Whited00r iPod Touch)
So I’ve been on a bit of a “purpose kick” lately – meaning I’m cleaning up old, outdated things and finding a better purpose for what I have. If I feel I don’t have a purpose for something, I’ve been giving it away.
Many years ago, I swore I had no need for a smart phone. Back then, I didn’t. Instead of a phone, I picked up an iPod Touch. Mine is a second generation, to be exact, dated 2008 on the back.
Yesterday, I rediscovered my iPod, and took it to work with me with all intentions to leave it on the “gifting” table in the break room for someone else to take home. What need do I have for an item that couldn’t even run any apps anymore? I think that was the problem I eventually ran up against… the final update for the iPod Touch G2 was iOS 4.2, and as apps moved on, there was nothing I could install from the app store.
But after I charged the iPod and turned it on for the first time in years, then did a factory reset on it, I started having second thoughts about giving it away. The back was scuffed up quite a bit since I never had a case for it, but the front still had the original screen protector, and the device worked like new. Slow, but like new.
Still, my question remained: What could I do with an old iPod Touch (aside from playing music). So I did some research, and fell upon the idea of jailbreaking it.
Now, jailbreaking is not something I’ve considered doing on any of my devices before this. I always imagined myself bricking something in trying.
But this one is 8 years old, and I didn’t see the harm in messing around with it. I found a specific firmware called whited00r which not only jailbreaks the device, but upgrades the interface to look like iOS7, and includes an app market with the integrated AppTimeMachine. This was the big seller for me.
So I went to the site, downloaded whited00r, followed the instructions and restored my iPod to the new firmwear. I had some moments with iTunes wanting to hang, but that wasn’t whited00r’s fault. When it was done, I had a functional iPod Touch that looked a whole lot like an iOS 7 device.
Not only that, but the App Store was automatically replaced with the AppTimeMachine shop, which has rolled-back versions of many apps that work with the version of iOS installed by the firmware! I was able to test out a few of them, which installed and launched just fine – such as Pandora and IHeartRadio. Other apps would install, like WordPress and Dropbox, but due to being outdated and unsupported, it threw errors or didn’t work right when I tried to use then for things.
I discovered I had a set of discarded computer speakers in my closet – which I had almost thrown away -and that the iPod accepted the PC speaker jack like headphones. Suddenly, I had a lovely little Pandora radio player for my bedroom.
Instead of giving the iPod away, I invested in a new case and a new screen protector to spruce it up. I’m now enjoying toying around with old apps and seeing what works with this new jailbreak firmware.
What do you do with your old technology? Do you save them for a rainy day (like me), do you give them away, or do you find ways to re-purpose them?