Jailbreak for iOS 6 and iOS 6.1 reaches 7 million iPhones and iPads

The latest iOS jailbreak, Evasi0n, for version 6 and 6.1 of Apple’s platform has only been out for four days but is already the most popular iOS jailbreak to date with 7 million users cracking their devices.

This is the first iOS jailbreak compatible with the new iOS devices, including the iPad 4 and iPhone 5.

Jay Freeman, the hacker behind the build, revealed that as many as 5.15 million iPhones have been jailbroken, along with 1.35 million iPads, though the figures don’t specify numbers for specific models.

A report from Forbes says the increased demand on previous jailbreaks comes from Apple’s increasing sales with each new iteration of the iPad and iPhone. In 2012 Apple sold 136 million iPhones globally.

There aren’t figures for the adoption of earlier jailbreaks, but Freeman says that the amount of new traffic to get hold of the latest build is highly noticeable and unlike anything he’s seen before.

More users appear to be discovering that jailbreaking an iPhone or iPad opens up much more customisation and a wider variety of apps to choose from than you’ll find on Apple’s ‘walled garden’ ecosystem.

‘Smart phones have become more and more popular, but they’ve maintained a closed experience that makes it difficult for people to get what they want,' said Freeman.

‘Therefore people have needed to turn to jailbreaking to fill the gap,’ he added.

He also believes a longer period of anticipation for the jailbreak of iOS 6.1 than any other previous build has generated much more interest and initial enthusiasm surrounding its launch. The equivalent jailbreak for the iPhone 4S took 98 days compared to 136 days for the iPhone 5.