Last Updated on April 12, 2017 by Mathew Diekhake
Pangu, a Chinese jailbreak team, has just become the first entity to release the iOS 7.1/7.1.1 jailbreak for a slew of Apple devices. It marks the first time we are witnessing a public jailbreak although we know other developers have successfully jailbroken their devices previously. It’s all a bit too political for us as to why these hackers take ages to release something publicly and then applaud when somebody else make theirs public right away, but that is what happens.
Anyhow, team Pangu were Stefan Esser students roughly a year ago according to Esser who also goes on to say that if they went public with vulnerabilities in their work then he thinks that it is “in no way OK.” That could be the reason the other guys haven’t given us a tool to download yet.
What makes this even more interesting is that it does come with a Chinese app store and the Cydia app store in a similar fashion that the Evasi0n 7 hack came out with inside. They say that there are illegal downloads from the China store, but there is not any malware. You might recall the ruckus it caused when Pod2G took money for including the China apps at the beginning of last jailbreak. Nobody has a problem this time around because it’s a Chinese jailbreak but does come with the same concerning amount of illegal applications.
Backup all important data you do not wish to lose before starting the guide. Thankfully this is easy to do use iCloud. Go to Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup and scroll the bar over so that the iCloud backup is on and green if users to turn on the iPhone or iPad. Now directly below here tap the backup now option. If you want to restore the data, you need to use the Setup assistant. Apple’s mobile and tablet range do not come with any MicroSD card storage expansion. However, they all come with internal memory inside that you can use to store photos, video, call logs, contacts, SMS and MMS texts and anything more you do not want to jeopardize losing. You can also backup the device using iTunes by navigating to Choose File > Devices > Back up. If you want to restore the data, go to Choose File > Devices > Restore from Back up.
There is no need to enable a USB Debugging mode for Apple devices. Unless you are signed up as a developer, there is no developer options. It is normally a mandatory step when using Android so that it can connect properly to the computer.
Make sure you have an up to date USB Driver installed so that it can connect to the PC correctly.
PanGu is only available for Windows-based PCs because they released the file first. However, we are anticipating it coming to Mac very soon. After all, it would only make sense given that Mac own the fruit company mobile products we are using here. Microsoft’s Windows is by far the more common commodity out there though so they catered for it first.
I recommend turning off any security programs such as the antivirus on the PC. Most people do not run with any protection from iPhone and iPad but if you do then, please temporarily disable it too until we finish here. The programs and apps can interfere with proceeding and make life more tedious than it needs to be. Just make sure you do remember to switch it back on when you leave so that you browse the web and download applications with protection.
The guide works for a total of twelve manufactured products including the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPod touch 5, iPad 2, 3 and 4, plus the iPad Air, iPad mini and iPad mini Retina display.
Often we upgrade the software and come across battery draining issues. Luckily most of those are fixed as we come into iOS 7.1.1 so it will be back to normal consumption for most. We all need to reserve enough battery power to see us through the guide without our devices switching off. You be the judge how much battery that takes. On my recommendation, you should try for at least 65% battery power before starting. USB charging will automatically start charging for most of you when plugged into the computer system unit because we are connected to a Windows PC for most of this guide. If you know USB charging works then there’s nothing to worry about here.
How To Install Pangu and Jailbreak iOS 7.1/7.1.1
1. Download the Pangu file for Windows here.
– download it on the computer.
2. Fetch the USB cable and use it to connect the Apple mobile device to the computer.
Note: if you want the Chinese piracy store gone you need to uncheck the box on the first screen with Chinese writing.
3. Click on the black button to start unchaining your mobile/tablet.
4. It asks us to change the time now. We have to do it.
5. Go to Settings > General > Data and Time and uncheck the “set automatically” option.
6. Change it to the hour 20:30
7. Navigate back to the home screen.
8. Click on the new PanGu icon.
9. It will now start installing Cydia.
10. Wait patiently for it to finish and do not touch anything until you see Cydia ready.
After it finishes, you don’t need anymore to start enjoying what is on offer. Open up the Cydia applications and start browsing themes and other tweaks that can change the OS from what you are used to seeing. Some of the themes will cost money, but others will be free. The options will be limited for a short while as many of them need updating to suit the new jailbreak, but there will be some working. If you get lost just tap on the ‘featured’ menu and it will open up a list that jay Freeman made to make your life easier. There’s also the community list if you keep scrolling down that gives JailbrekaQA support and the Reddit category if you like to speak to people about what you are facing.