When developing WebWatcher for iPhone/iPad, Awareness Technologies weighed the pros and cons of creating an iCloud monitoring solution versus a Jailbreak solution.
Apple released iOS 8.3 last week, which continues to patch any ability to jailbreak the device running 8.1.3 or later. iOS 8.1.3, which was released earlier this year, officially patched up the TaiG iOS 8 jailbreak and those patches carry over to iOS 8.3. A support page on Apple’s website lists the TaiG Jailbreak Team as the source for a security vulnerability that Apple patched up in iOS 8.1.3, which means that iOS 8.1.3 is un-jailbreakable, and as an extension, iOS 8.3 is unjailbreakable as well.
WebWatcher is the only monitoring software that does not require you to jailbreak the device making it the only solution compatible with iOS 8. Competing products that require jailbreaking will only work with devices running iOS 7 or below. As of April 2015 82% of all iOS devices have upgraded to iOS 8.
iCloud Monitoring Solutions
Pros:
- Nothing to install on target device
- No risk of voiding device warranty
- No risk of damaging target device
- Compatible with iOS 8
Cons:
- Requires target device has iCloud backup enabled (which it is by default)
- Apple ID & Password of target device is required
- Fewer recorded data types than jailbroken solutions
- Recorded data is available after the latest iCloud backup (typically once every 24 hours)
Jailbreak Monitoring Solutions
Pros:
- More recorded data types available
- Recorded data is available in near real-time
Cons:
- Jailbreaking is a very complex process
- Voids Apple warranty
- Can permanently damage (brick) the target device
- Will no longer work if target device upgrades to iOS 8
- iOS 8 cannot be jailbroken
With WebWatcher, jailbreaking is NEVER required as there is no software to download. All you need is to enter the Apple ID & Password into a secure web-based interface. For protection and convenience, WebWatcher has been developed as an iCloud Monitoring Solution.
