Jailbreak Your Apple TV – Guide for Apple TV 1, 2 & 4
Owning an Apple TV is an upgrade to your TV setup, because it allows you to play music, videos and movies from your other Apple devices, be it iPhone, iPad or AirPlay. You can also get awesome apps from the App Store – if you own a 4th gen Apple TV. If you own an older generation, then you won’t be too impressed.
What if we told you that you can upgrade your Apple TV, no matter its generation? You can add new apps and services on it and make Apple TV a lot more interesting. To get that, you must jailbreak its software.
If you own an older generation of Apple TV, than you should definitely do it, as there are a lot more pros than cons.
Here is what you can get on your jailbroken Apple TV:
- You can get Kodi, to play music, videos or podcasts.
- aTV Flash (black) – FireCore will allow you to play different file extensions (.mkv, for example), it will let you access Last.fm and other unofficial apps, and it’s also an internet browser.
How to Jailbreak Your Apple TV
Since there are four generations of Apple TV, there are several ways of jailbreaking their software.
The first Apple TV can be jailbroken with Rowmote, but the software is outdated and it won’t feel as amazing as the second and fourth generations.
Jailbreaking Apple TV 3
No matter what you find on the internet, you should know that there is no software that can jailbreak your Apple TV 3. If you find offers, they are scams. However, you can install Plexconnect and use their server – ‘Plex Media’, that doesn’t need a jailbroken device. This way, you will have more content on your Apple TV.
Jailbreaking Apple TV 2
You can jailbreak your Apple TV 2 if it runs iOS 5.3 (released in 2013) with this software: Seas0nPass, which you can get from the FireCore website.
Here are the steps for jailbreaking your Apple TV 2:
- Go on FireCore website and download Seas0nPass.
- Unzip the downloaded app and move it to the folder where you keep your other apps.
- Use a micro – USB cable to connect your Mac to your Apple TV.
- Open Seas0nPass app and click to create IPSW.
- When it’s prompted, simultaneously press on the Apple TV remote the ‘Menu’ and ‘Play/Pause’ buttons.
- After Seas0nPass finishes jailbreaking your TV, click ‘Done’.
- Now you can remove the USB cable and connect your Apple TV to a power source and to the television with a HDMI cable.
When you turn on your Apple TV, you will see a logo – FireCore’s.
Jailbreaking Apple TV 4
As it’s the last generation of Apple TVs, you should understand that there are some limitations to jailbreaking it. The main problem is that if you turn off your Apple TV, you will have to jailbreak it again and so on. The good news is that your Apple TV goes to sleep mode and you don’t need to turn it off.
Another restriction is that you must run tvOS 10.0 – 10.1 to jailbreak the forth generation of Apple TV. If you have updated to tvOS 10.1.1 or a newer build, then you won’t be able to jailbreak it, because this technique has been patched by Apple in the latest updates.
Here are the steps for jailbreaking your Apple TV 4:
- Download Cydia Impactor and the jailbreak file – liberTV on your Mac/PC.
- Connect your Mac/Pc to the Apple TV by using a USB-C to USB-A cable.
- Open Cydia Impactor and then drag – drop the liberTV jailbreak file inside the app. Click ‘Start’ to initiate the installation.
- The app will ask for your Apple ID and pass, to sign the app so that it will be allowed to be installed on the Apple TV. You may also create a new Apple ID if you don’t want to give the personal one.
- Cydia Impactor will install liberTV in the Apple TV. When it’s done, disconnect the Apple TV from your PC/Mac and plug it into the TV.
- You should see a new app on your Apple TV – LiberTV. Open it and select what options you want for the jailbreak and then press ‘do it’.
- Now the jailbreak process will start and should tell you ‘Success! Your TV has been liberated!’ once it finishes.