There was a brief window when the 7th gen line of Kindles could be jailbroken, but it didn’t last for long before Amazon released a software update closing the hole, and for a long time the only way to root was to take apart the Kindle.
Now there’s a new jailbreaking method for Kindles that makes use of a factory firmware downgrade loophole.
The new jailbreak works with the Kindle Paperwhite 2 and 3, the Kindle Voyage, and Kindle Touch 2 (the one that was just replaced by the new Kindle).
Once you downgrade the software to an earlier version on your Kindle, you can easily install the jailbreak and then update back to the current 5.8.1 Kindle software.
The newer software cannot be easily jailbroken so that’s why you have to downgrade first.
So far the Kindle Oasis isn’t included in the jailbreaking fun, or the new Kindle, but people at MobileRead are working on a solution. The factory firmware for those two devices is the newer kind so that could be a problem.
Head on over to MobileRead for all the information about the new jailbreaking method. There’s also a handy step-by-step tutorial outlining the process from beginning to end and it all looks fairly simple.
What does this jailbreak do?
And…is this considered illegal? Or is it simply a warranty issue?
It might be illegal, depending on where you live, lokal laws differ greatly.
The real danger is bricking the Kindle if something goes wrong, then you also lose your warranty. If everything works, with the older jailbreaks you could reset the Kindle to factory settings, and the jailbreak is gone.
Not having looked into it, I cannot say how this works with this new jailbreak. If it is not possible to delete the jailbreak and load the factory settings, this should come with a big warning.
If time allows, I will look into it tomorrow or over the weekend and report back, now Germany is just losing to France in soccer (0:1 Football EM), so I will go to sleep early (10:25 pm MESZ in Hamburg, Germany).
😀 thanks. If you can get to it awesome…if you can’t, no biggie.
Just read the instructions, and thought about the benefits.
Sorry, I will not try it out, unless the process gets cleaner, without deleting all Documents and downgrading the firmware. See below my answer as to the possible benefits, they are slim to none.
I will monitor the instructions, and follow them when it gets simpler, or I feel like it.
What is the the benefit of jailbreaking a Kindle? I mean, why bother?
As I had my Paperwhite (1.st Gen) jailbroken, there are two benefits:
– Custom screensaver images (like Maggie Cheung, awesome b/w pic, NerdHerd-Logo from Chuck), different one selected from a folder, each time it gets called, not the boring Amazon ones.
– Ability to add fonts. Some firmware ago on older Touch and Paperwhite this was possible without Jailbreak, but they took that away.
You could also add Apps, but I did not find one which I wanted.
Would like something like Measures (convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, uptodate Currencies), probably a Calculator.
And the main reason: because you CAN :-).
“I am root, if you see me laughing, you better have a backup!”.
I love my 3rd generation Paperwhite, except that sometimes I want to turn off the light completely, which doesn’t seem possible withe the latest software. For reference, this trick allowed you to turn off the light completely, but it no longer works with the latest software update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIhnWP3gusk . Would downgrading the software allow a PW3 owner to use this trick for turning off the light? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
I, too, wonder about the advantages; this page seems to sum it up nicely but I don’t know how complete or up-to-date is:
http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle_Touch_Hacking
Yeah, jailbreaking opens up all kinds of custom mods and hacks to install, even an ePub reader like Koreader. I’m not sure on the current state of things either but I’ll do a followup post soon when I get around to jailbreaking one of my Kindles.
Oh, also:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205064
The coolest of them all, probably: FROTZ SUPPORT!!!! Wow…