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Untethered jailbreak released for iOS 7

The bypass allows deeper access to devices running iOS 7.0 through 7.0.4, the Evasi0n team says.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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For many iOS 7 users, one of the things missing from the mobile operating system since its release three months has been the ability to jailbreak devices -- until now.

The Evasi0n team announced Sunday morning it had released an untethered jailbreak for devices running iOS 7.0 through 7.0.4. The security bypass gives iPhone, iPod, and iPad owners deeper access to the software on their devices than Apple allows.

The jailbreak takes 5 minutes to install and works on both OS X and Windows-based machines, according to Evasi0n, which included step-by-step installation instructions. The bypass allows devices to be rebooted without connection to an external device.

Apple is, of course, expected to eventually fix the exploits Evasi0n is using to jailbreak the company's devices. The company has long recommended that users not jailbreak their device at the risk of security vulnerabilities, shortened battery life, unreliable voice and data, disruption of services, and the inability to apply future software updates.