Jailbreaking: Who Does It?

With so many people out there jailbreaking their iOS phones and devices, we're delighted to see someone finally got around to making an independent study of who the average jailbreaker might be.

For those who don't know, jailbreaking is the process by which one hacks his iOS phone or device to gain more control over what he can and cannot do with the device.

"Hack" being the operative term here that makes some people a little anxious about the whole thing. Particularly as you're not really supposed to jailbreak your phone or other devices. But people are doing it and now Reddit user spiceman54j has created a series of charts showing just who those people might be.

spiceman54j reached out to 400 Reddit users in the r/jailbreak forum to come up with his numbers and charts on the breakdown of jailbreakers:

Gender

An overwhelming number of men jailbreak compared to women, spiceman54j has found. In his survey, he discovered that of the 400 people with whom he conversed, only 14 were women.

Age

A vast majority of the jailbreakers answering spiceman54j's survey said they are teenagers, with those in their twenties being the second largest age group. People in their forties made up the smallest age group of jailbreakers, which is pretty amazing in light of the fact they were beaten out even by those who claim they are under the age of 14 (which comprises the second smallest group).

Location

More than half of spiceman54j's interviewees hail from the U.S., making the country the largest home for jailbreakers. Chile, Czech Republic, Ireland, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Turkey and a fair amount of other countries all make up the smallest group, with one jailbreaker per country.

Skill Level

The largest group of jailbreakers claims to be "advanced users," one level below "developer" and two levels below the highest level ("hackers," making up the smallest group).

"Average users" made up the second largest group of jailbreakers in spiceman54j's survey.

Other questions in spiceman54j's survey include whether or not jailbreakers would switch to non-iOS devices if jailbreaking were rendered impossible, how much they would be willing to pay to jailbreak their devices and what kind of battery life the jailbreakers' devices tend to have.

There are plenty of other fascinating questions, as well, but we're interested in the "average" jailbreaker here, who seems to be a teenager in the U.S. who either uses an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 and has approximately 28 tweaks installed, according to an analysis of the charts by iDownloadBlog.

The blog also makes sure to remind us that "you could poke holes in this survey for days — like the fact that 20% of evasi0n.com's 5 million first-week visitors were from China, who would probably not be hanging out in an English-speaking subreddit. But still, you can't argue with the data that is presented."

For those interested in answering the survey, do so here.

What do you think of the results of this survey? Totally bogus or right on the money? Do you think jailbreaking is cool or totally not? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Like what you're reading? Follow @profklickberg.

© 2024 iTech Post All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

More from iTechPost