A few months ago I jailbroke (hacked) my iPhone 3G running iOS 3.1.3 using Redsn0w 0.9.4. Redsn0w is a tethered jailbreak, which means I have to run Windows software on a computer connected to the phone through the data cable. Redsn0w installs the jailbreak into firmware, so it persists through reboots. It took three tries to get it to work: so make sure you back up your data and have a lot of time.

Given that the jailbreak was free, I was expecting an open source ethic for jailbroken apps. I was totally mistaken: the jailbreak app installer, Cydia, has set up a parallel grey-market app store.

Two of the best original reasons to jailbreak an iPhone no longer apply:

• a computer can use it to access the Internet (“tethering”), but Rogers now allows this for all phones
• wifi-only apps like Skype can run over the cell network, but Apple now allows this for all apps

Some of the apps I was looking forward to using but ended up costing money:

QuickReply

The ability to reply to a text message in the notification screen, without dropping you out of whatever app you’re using.

LockInfo

Preview upcoming apppointments and unread messages on your lock screen. There are free alternatives that didn’t work.

Some of the free apps I did enjoy:

Five Icon Dock, Five Rows and Five Columns

These three apps combined increase the apps on your home screen from 20 to 30.

SBSettings

Single-touch access to things like turning the ringer off in software so you don’t have to worry about the button getting bumped in your pocket at a movie theatre.

Poof

Hides unused app icons like Weather and Camera where I have third-party replacements.

I can’t believe that people would pay for an app that may be completely unusable after an operating system upgrade. Many of the jailbreak apps were buggy, including the installer Cydia. My phone in general became buggier, occasionally spontaneously restarting or freezing up. I was quite disappointed in jailbreaking and decided as soon as iOS 4 was released I’d get a clean slate.