If you’re without a jailbreak and your firmware is too new for any of the recent developments in the jailbreak community recently (I’m looking at all of you who are on iOS or iPadOS 16.6-17.0 and using TrollStore 2), then you might want to pay attention to this.
The RootHide development team has been hard at work on a Procursus-based bootstrap that can be installed on TrollStore-equipped devices so that those users can run a basic jailbreak-like environment. The team is also working with skilled designers like @haxi0sm and @sourceloc to build beautiful user-friendly user interfaces:
I spoke briefly with the RootHide development team about the project, and they tell me that they started the project to explore what could be possible on non-jailbroken devices. Obviously, if you’re using TrollStore instead of being jailbroken, then this applies to you.
According to the team, the basic jailbreak-like environment provided by this bootstrap includes access to important tools such as:
- Command line tools
- OpenSSH
- Sileo & Zebra package manager apps
- NewTerm 3 (mobile Terminal)
- Theos to develop jailbreak tweaks
- Enable tweaks for apps (App Store apps, system apps, and TrollStore apps)
- And much more…
Even more fascinating is that the basic jailbreak-like environment doesn’t require a kernel exploit and doesn’t read or write to kernel memory. That said, it all works fully within the confines of the CoreTrust bug being used by TrollStore 2.
Also see: How to install TrollStore 2 on A12+ devices on iOS 16.0-16.5 & 16.6 beta 1 with Misaka
Unfortunately, while users can use this bootstrap to utilize tweaks inside of apps, they won’t be able to use it to install SpringBoard or system-based tweaks. This remains an exclusive feature of jailbreaking, and is why it’s only considered a “basic” jailbreak-like environment at this time.
It’s possible that SpringBoard or system-based tweak support could be added in the future by way of kernel exploit support, but the definitive path of this project remains to be seen, especially given the recent news about the KTRR bypass and how it may enhance jailbreak development in the future.
In any case, anyone who is running a firmware unlikely to be jailbroken in the near future, such as iOS or iPadOS 16.6-17.0, and has TrollStore 2 installed, can probably take advantage of this project when it launches publicly. At this time, it’s in a closed beta for developer testing only.
Are you excited to see what RootHide’s Procursus-based bootstrap for TrollStore 2 will bring to the table? Let us know in the comments section down below.
