iOS

Jailbreak a supported iPhone/iPad so you can recover the real on-device artifacts DVMA writes. There are two jailbreak tools - which one you use depends on your chip and iOS version:

• A8-A11 chips (iPhone 6s/7/8/X, iPad 5/6/7, …) → palera1n. Uses the unpatchable checkm8 bootROM bug, so it works on any iOS the device runs - including iOS 17 / 18 that no software jailbreak reaches. (Dopamine can also cover some of these on older iOS, but checkm8 is the cleaner, version-independent path for A8-A11.)
• A12+ chips → Dopamine (the four pages below): iOS ≤ 17.3.1 on all supported devices, and up to 18.7.1 on A12/A13.

Not sure which? Do Step 0 first - it reads your exact chip + iOS off the device, then this table tells you which tool to use.

Dopamine flow (A12+, iOS ≤ 17.3.1; A12/A13 up to 18.7.1) - four ordered pages, top to bottom:

1. Download Dopamine - where to get it, which file to grab.
2. Install Dopamine on the phone - pick ONE installer (Sideloadly / AltStore / SideStore / TrollStore / CLI) and follow its self-contained recipe.
3. Run the jailbreak - open Dopamine, pick a package manager, install OpenSSH.
4. Verify iOS artifacts - pull the artifact off-device (backup, SSH/SCP/Filza, or the Simulator - no jailbreak needed for most modules).

checkm8 flow (A8-A11, any iOS incl. 17/18) → palera1n (checkm8 devices), then Verify iOS artifacts.

Start here on this page: confirm your device actually qualifies (Step 0). If it doesn’t, nothing below will work - and for modern iPhones you usually can’t downgrade into the window (see the collapsible note).

Dopamine is a rootless, semi-untethered jailbreak. “Rootless” = only part of the filesystem is writable, but the app sandbox is readable (which is all we need to recover DVMA’s artifacts). “Semi-untethered” = after every full reboot you must re-open the Dopamine app and tap Jailbreak again.

What you need before starting

• A TEST iPhone/iPad you don’t care about (jailbreaking weakens security).
• A computer (Mac or Windows) for the one-time install of Dopamine onto the phone - unless you use SideStore, which only needs the computer for first pairing. A USB cable.
• A throwaway Apple Account (make a new free one - do not use your real Apple Account). Free-account installs expire after 7 days and must be re-installed; that’s fine because you only need the app long enough to jailbreak.
• (Recommended) libimobiledevice on the computer so you can read the device’s exact model/iOS and, later, pull artifacts via backup. Install it in Step 0 below - it’s the very first thing to do.

Step 0 - Check your device qualifies (do this first)

Fastest path - let your computer read it (recommended). Before touching the phone’s menus, plug it into your Mac/PC over USB and let the device tell you its exact model + iOS version. This is also the tooling you’ll reuse later for the backup-based artifact verification, so installing it now costs nothing.

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# macOS (Homebrew). Linux: apt install libimobiledevice6 ideviceinstaller
brew install libimobiledevice ideviceinstaller

# Plug the phone in via USB, then on the phone tap "Trust This Computer"
# (enter your passcode). Now read model + iOS straight off the device:
idevice_id -l                                   # should print a 40-char UDID
ideviceinfo -k ProductType                      # e.g. iPhone14,5  (marketing name below)
ideviceinfo -k ProductVersion                   # e.g. 17.3.1  ← this is your iOS version

• No UDID / “No device found”? The phone isn’t paired yet - unlock it, re-plug the cable, and tap Trust This Computer on the phone. If it still doesn’t appear, the cable is charge-only (try another) or you haven’t accepted Trust.
• What’s ProductType? Apple’s internal model id. Map it to a marketing name at theapplewiki.com/wiki/Models (e.g. iPhone14,5 = iPhone 13, iPhone15,2 = iPhone 14 Pro), then read the chip from the table below. ProductVersion is the iOS version you match against the range.

Manual path (no computer / prefer the phone): on the phone go to Settings → General → About → read Model/Chip and iOS Version, then match the table:

The common case: a recent iPhone (A14+) is only jailbreakable on iOS ≤ 17.3.1 with Dopamine. If it’s on 17.4+, Dopamine can’t jailbreak it and there’s no checkm8 path either. See “Can I downgrade to get into the window?” below - for these chips the honest answer is almost always no.

A8-A11 are the exception: checkm8 is a hardware bug, so palera1n jailbreaks them on any iOS version - even iOS 18 - with no signing window to worry about. (Verified here on an iPad 7 / A10 running iOS 18.7.10.)

Once your device qualifies, continue to the right tool for your chip: A8-A11 → palera1n →, or A12+ on iOS ≤ 17.3.1 (A12/A13 up to 18.7.1) → Download Dopamine →.