The super jailbreak tool Cellebrite 'fails' with iPhones with iOS 17.4 or higher

It seems that Cellebrite can only unlock iPhones older than 5 years – if the user has not updated to iOS 17.4 or later, released by Apple in March 2024.

Cellebrite is an Israeli company's super jailbreak tool used by law enforcement agencies to unlock smartphones around the world, including iPhones.

The super jailbreak tool Cellebrite 'fails' with iPhones with iOS 17.4 or higher Picture 1 The super jailbreak tool Cellebrite 'fails' with iPhones with iOS 17.4 or higher Picture 1

The secret of how Cellebrite can unlock an iPhone has always been kept under wraps. However, an April 2024 document listing the iPhones the tool can unlock was obtained from a Cellebrite customer and sent anonymously to the publisher. There's one document for Android and one for iPhone, listing all phone models, iOS update coverage, and how to unlock them.

Accordingly, the listed iPhone 12, iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 lines can be unlocked to iOS 17.0.3, and "coming soon" from iOS 17.1 to iOS 17.3.1.

The following iPhone models that are running iOS 17.4 or higher still cannot be unlocked:

iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max
iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max
iPhone SE (second generation), iPhone SE (third generation)
iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 13 mini
iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max
iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max

This means, at that time the Cellebrite unlocking super tool cannot unlock these iPhones.

It seems that Cellebrite can only unlock iPhones older than 5 years – if the user has not updated to iOS 17.4 or later, released by Apple in March 2024.