Unlocking iPhone 5S vs Jailbreaking: The Differences Explained

The Apple iPhone 5s was a major hit that required Samsung and many other competing brands to go back to the drawing board in order to come up with a better design that was worthy of competing against the iPhone 5s and more specifically an unlocked iPhone 5S.

Millions of consumers have purchased this particular model around the world since it was originally released in 2013. However, there are quite a few consumers that have wanted to expand the horizon of quality features and benefits even further by making the decision to jailbreak their iPhone 5s model. What exactly does that mean? Is it the same as having an unlocked Apple iPhone 5s? What are some of the benefits and consequences of jailbreaking your iPhone 5s?

What Does It Mean to Unlock a Phone?

It is wise to not confuse unlocking iPhone 5S with jailbreaking it, because they are two different processes all together. Many people seem to get them confused primarily because of the fact that both processes seem to go against the grain of standard cell phone usage. However, it is imperative for you to understand just how they are different.

When you make the decision to unlock iPhone 5s, you are severing the ties with your service provider so that they no longer have any ownership over your phone. For example, if you decide to purchase an iPhone 5s from Verizon, there is no way that you would be able to use that phone while it is in a locked state with AT&T or Sprint, for example. In most cases, you will be required to purchase a brand new phone with your brand new carrier because locked phones are programmed to only be used through their respective service providers. An unlocked phone, on the other hand, can easily be used by several different carriers since it is not programmed to be attached to one exclusive carrier. Therefore, if you unlock your Verizon iPhone 5s, you can take it over to AT&T or Sprint, for instance, without any complications or delays.

The Difference between Unlocking & Jailbreaking

When you decide to jailbreak iPhone 5s, you are actually doing a lot more than just unlocking it from the attachment that it is programmed to have with your service provider. Jailbreaking your iPhone 5s consists of completing compromising the structure of iOS within your phone overall. You will be completely changing the way that your phone operates in general, providing you with unrestricted access to the operating system itself that would not have been available otherwise.

Unlocking your phone deals specifically with the service provider itself, but it truly has nothing to do with the way that your phone operates. Jailbreaking, on the other hand, completely changes everything and does so much more. To understand the basic concept of these two processes, you can simply think about a door. Unlocking the door only means dealing with the actual lock. Jailbreaking is more likely to be compared to removing the door completely from the hinges all together and having free, open access to the home all together

The Key Benefits of a Jailbreak

There are so many different benefits that can be explored and experienced by making the decision to jailbreak your iPhone 5s. As mentioned earlier, you are going to have full access to your phone – something that you may not have even known was ever possible to achieve in the past. There is a wide variety of programs and applications that Apple will not allow you to download on your iPhone 5s without it being jailbroken, so this provides you with access to endless possibilities by finally having direct access to a complete library of programs that you probably never knew existed.

Another key benefit of jailbreaking iPhone 5s is that you will be able to make changes and modifications within the iOS that you were not able to do before jailbreaking the model. There are quite a few applications that can be downloaded and installed as well as settings that can be modified in order to increase the overall efficiency of your device overall that you will be able to benefit from directly by jailbreaking your phone.
The Consequences of Jailbreaking

Along with the many benefits of jailbreaking and unlocking iPhone 5s, you also need to focus on the consequences and repercussions that are involved as well. Jailbreaking your iPhone 5s is a very risky process that can easily backfire on you in a wide variety of different ways. The jailbreak iPhone 5s processes will eliminate the barriers and walls that have been programmed within the iOS to keep you protected against cybercriminals and online hackers, so this will be a problem that you will need to deal with directly on your own without the protective support of a standard Apple iOS structure. You will also be eliminating your warranty coverage and technical support benefits that you may be currently enjoying through your service provider and manufacturer. You will basically be on your own without any support or assistance from your carrier or Apple whenever something goes wrong with your iPhone 5s.
The Bottom Line

There are truly a lot of different points that you need to consider before making the decision to unlock iPhone 5s. Deciding to unlock an iPhone 5S does not come close in comparison to the risk that are involved with unlock iPhone 5s model. There are many different benefits that you can explore right away by doing so as well, so make sure that you pay close attention to the full spectrum before making any final decisions.