How to Jailbreak iOS 8.1 and Install Cydia (Pangu Method) (Video) (UPDATED 11.02.14)

The Chinese developer team called Pangu has struck again. The team that originally jailbroke iOS 7.1 has just released their tool to jailbreak iOS 8.1.

In a similar fashion to their old toolkit, you just need to download it, plug in your iPhone/iPad, and then click the jailbreak button and viola! Jailbroken. Now, in a slightly less similar fashion to their old toolkit, though, you’ll need to manually install Cydia after (but it’s not hard, don’t worry).

Some caveats before we begin. Make sure you have backed up your device in iTunes (and maybe even backup all your photos, too) before you begin, and since this is such an early release, keep in mind that most jailbreak tweaks just won’t work yet (but that’ll change as developers begin to update their tweaks).

Finally, this does require Windows, so you need a Windows computer to use this original version of the toolkit (a newer version is most likely in the works for Mac soon, I’m sure). If you don’t have Windows, you can either install a Windows virtual machine on your Mac, borrow a friend’s Windows computer, or sit tight and wait for the new kit to be released.

Without further ado, here’s how to jailbreak your iPhone or iPad running iOS 8.1 and install Cydia!

UPDATE: Pangu has been updated to version 1.1 and now installs Cydia for you, so it’s even easier! Here’s the updated video:

I. Backup the iPhone/iPad

1. Plug the phone into the computer using the USB and open iTunes.

2. Click on the phone in the left sidebar (if it isn’t showing, then click on View > Show Sidebar).

3. Click Backup.

II. Restore the iPhone/iPad to iOS 8.1

You can try to use Pangu on the version of iOS 8.1 you have, but it is highly recommended to do a clean install of iOS 8.1 before beginning.

1. Use this tutorial and make sure to flash iOS 8.1 NOT iOS 8.1.1 (or higher) since there is no jailbreak currently for those versions. If you restore without following the below tutorial, it’ll automatically flash the latest firmware and you’ll be stuck:

Restore the iPhone

III. Prepare the iPhone/iPad for the Pangu Jailbreak

Pangu is finicky and needs some things disabled or it won’t work properly.

1. Go to Settings > Turn off Wifi.

2. Go to Settings > General > Touch ID & Passcode > Turn off the passcode entirely.

3. Go to Settings > iCloud > Find My iPhone and turn that off as well.

IV. Jailbreak Using Pangu

1. Head to Pangu.io and download the Windows program to your desktop.

2. When downloaded, right-click the program and select Run As Administrator.

3. In Pangu, uncheck the box next to PP.

4. Plug in your iPhone/iPad via the USB cable to the computer.

5. Click the jailbreak button (big blue one) in Pangu and wait for it to finish.

UPDATE: After it reboots a few times, Cydia should be on your home screen. Open it, let it do it’s thing, and you’re all set!

Let me know if it worked for you!

As the Pangu team updates their procedure, I’ll update this one as well.

By the way, if you ever want to start over or undo all of this, here’s how to unjailbreak your iPhone.

Head to our Jailbreak Tweaks section for all the best tweaks to install once jailbroken.

Related Items: ,

140 thoughts on “How to Jailbreak iOS 8.1 and Install Cydia (Pangu Method) (Video) (UPDATED 11.02.14)”

    1. Hey Noah, In the pangu app, click “manage” at the bottom of the screen and then the update button (the arrow pointing up)… its will go to a black screen similar to the ssh… a reboot button will be at the bottom when its finished. After the reboot Cydia will be on your phone (Fashionably Late)

  1. I keep following all the steps in the video, but when I get to the part where it says restart your phone, nothing is hipping

    1. So the very last step? You’ve already done the Pangu jailbreak and sshd the cydia files over? Then you need to reboot the phone manually yourself by holding down the power button a dn turn it back on and then swipe through the home screens and you’ll see Cydia.

      1. i’ve installed pangu on my phone, but I’m not sure if its jailbroken or not. I’ve also done all the other things, like restored it and the winscp and gone through all of that, the console looks like yours did in the video. Im not sure what that is supposed to doing for the phone, or if anything pops up on it. One thing that’s installing on my phone thats not appearing on yours is pangunew.

  2. Do I have to connect to wifi to install cydia or can I plug my iphone into my pc and transfer files through iDevice Manager? Because I do not have WiFi at home :(!

    1. Not familiar with iDevice manager. You need to be able to transfer them and also issue the terminal commands. Does it allow you to issue commands through it? If so give it a try. Otherwise Pangu will eventually update their jailbreak to include Cydia, just wait for that. Can imagine it’ll be more than a few days to a week.

  3. it is saying “unable to access dpkg status area: no such file…”
    the files are in the root of the iphone
    did i do something wrong?

  4. I do all the right steps, but when i click on the blue button to start the jailbreak he stops halfway and than my button turns bleu again and it wont download any further. what do i have to do now ? i did all the exact right steps..

          1. Just make sure that there is no code on your phone, and turn find my iphone off, then it should work 🙂
            I had the same problem, but then I have problems with my phone keeps freezing by the apple icon, and I have to restore the phone, and start all over 🙁

  5. Please Help, console returns the following error:

    dpkg: serious warning: files list file for package `io.pangu.loader’ missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.

    (Reading database … 1062 files and directories currently installed.)

    Preparing to replace cydia-lproj 1.1.12 (using cydia-lproj_1.1.12_iphoneos-arm.deb) …

    Unpacking replacement cydia-lproj …

    dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of cydia-lproj:

    cydia-lproj depends on cydia; however:

    Package cydia is not configured yet.

    dpkg: error processing cydia-lproj (–install):

    dependency problems – leaving unconfigured

    Errors were encountered while processing:

    cydia-lproj

  6. when i hit the jailbreak button on pangu it loads some of it but when it gets to the part of the reboot in starts over how do i fix this

  7. I’ve had a lot of problems with the jailbreak, I had to restore the iPhone 6 plus ios 8.1 8 times so far, because it suddenly freezes by the apple icon… It’s when I have installed something from cydia, then suddenly, when I have to respring my phone, it won’t respring, and just freezes at the apple icon.. Why does that happen? I KNOW that if I jailbreak it again, it will happen again.. So can anybody help me with that? Or have anybody else experienced that same error? PLEASE RESPOND!

    1. This is a very early jailbreak. It has issues. In fact most tweaks in Cydia will simply not work until they are updated by the developers who made them. If you do this jailbreak you’ll need to be patient for people to update their tweaks. Good news is they usually don’t take too long to update them (few days – less than a week).

      Either jailbreak again and wait a few days to install tweaks, or simply wait a few days for the tweaks to be updated and by then the jailbreak should be updated as well and it’ll be easier and more stable too.

      Good luck with whatever you end up doing!

    1. Works fine for me. Either rejailbreak or, as mentioned in the video, just understand its an early jailbreak so there will be bugs. When it gets updated I’ll update the tutorial with the newer jailbreak etc.

  8. dpkg: serious warning: files list file for package `io.pangu.loader’ missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.

    What does this mean?!

  9. /private/var/root$ dpkg -i cydia-lproj_1.1.12_iphoneos-arm.deb

    dpkg: error processing cydia-lproj_1.1.12_iphoneos-arm.deb (–install):

    cannot access archive: No such file or directory

    Errors were encountered while processing:

    cydia-lproj_1.1.12_iphoneos-arm.deb

    this is what happens when i put in the first comand what do i need to do??

  10. so i put the two files into cyberduck and it says upload complete. After i send the two commands and reboot my phone cydia does not show up for me. Any suggestions? ( i do have openssh installed and everything)

    1. No, just try again. Again this is an initial jailbreak and might take a few tries.
      If you can’t get it to work just wait for it to be updated. I’ll update this procedure when that happens.

  11. so i did everything you said and i get to cydia and once i reboot i have only 6 apps left total and thats it no messaging,settings none of that i dont know what to do any suggestions

  12. Chandler de Spirlet

    I have tried multiple times to install cydia, however, Cydia does not show up on my iPod 5. I have tried closing the terminal window and restarting my iPod, and I have also tried just restarting my iPod after I execute both lines of code. Is there anything that I am doing wrong, is there something I am supposed to do with the terminal window after the two line code execution?

  13. i did everything correctly and no cydia icon showed up so i updated the pangu jailbreak under the manage tab of the app and once it had rebooted my iphone 5 i had cydia if that helps anyone 🙂

  14. I had a enormous problem, it didn’t work. After the end of the pangu processing (step 6/6) I tryed to reboot my iPad but it didn’t work. I tryed 5/6 times, but nothing. The Apple logo appears but it disappears after 3 sec. So now I’m restoring my iPad with iTunes, fortunately I have done a saving yesterday in case of problem of the update to iOS 8.1.
    After the restoring, I will try again to jailbreak my iPad. Thank you anyway for you tutorial (y)

  15. Thank you! Just did this now, because I am tired of being stuck with my iPhone with no way out so I need to make the best of it. It worked and I just opened Cydia after rebooting. I guess we will see what happens.

    1. Update: I hate it being jailbroken. Cydia has nothing for apps/tweaks/whatever that are actually compatible with iOS 8.1. That and you can’t find anything in Cydia unless you know exactly what you are looking for. That being said, this tutorial worked great; jailbreaking is just not for me I suppose. Thanks anyway.

      1. Don’t be so quick to hate on it 🙂 As I mentioned in the video, the tweaks aren’t ready yet. The only point of doing this right this second to secure a jailbreak (just in case Apple releases an update and blocks the jailbreak you’ll be good to go).
        With that said, it usually only takes the developers of the tweaks a few days to update their tweaks once a jailbreak is out, so if you’re patient, just wait a while and there should be some tweaks popping up that work slowly.

  16. It didn’t work for me when I tried to download the open ssh from pangu and gave me an error. I’ve tried resetting my various of times and also trying to re-jailbreak it but it never worked. Please help and reply quickly

    1. You were supposed to ignore the errors (as I mention in the video) and just continue anyway. If you still can’t get it to work, just wait for the jailbreak to be updated then.

  17. So, weird thing. Let me skip to the part where my 5s was fully, completely jailbroken through pangu and with cydia and even like 8 tweaks installed. I tried installing WinterBoard on it and the phone froze while I had the passcode turned on afterwards (frozen on the dreaded apple logo). Then, I restored it, and continued to attempt the process over and over again, failing and failing for whatever reason. I lost all my data on my phone because I mistakenly had not made a backup before since I’ve done processes like these so many times in the past. So, friendly tip to all of you out there…forget about the confidence you have, ALWAYS make a backup before trying anything. (UPDATE: Right now, my device has successfully been jailbroken again with Cydia…just felt like posting my story)

  18. Also, forgot to make a question… IS IT SAFE at all to have a passcode if I need to reboot my jailbroken device? I’d really like my privacy back.

  19. Ok, so I get to the part where you copy in the codes, and the first code does fine, but the second code keeps giving me a pop up that says error. I tried multiple times, and it just won’t work. Help!

  20. Jailbreak worked on my iPad 3rd Gen. (I have two Pangu apps.) Thanks for that. Installing Cydia did not, even after several attempts. Here’s my command line log, in case it helps. I’ll just wait for an updated installation procedure.

    /private/var/root$ dpkg -i cydia-lproj_1.1.12_iphoneos-arm.deb

    dpkg: serious warning: files list file for package `io.pangu.loader’ missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.
    (Reading database … 2692 files and directories currently installed.)
    Preparing to replace cydia-lproj 1.1.12 (using cydia-lproj_1.1.12_iphoneos-arm.deb) …
    Unpacking replacement cydia-lproj …
    dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of cydia-lproj:
    cydia-lproj depends on cydia; however:
    Package cydia is not configured yet.
    dpkg: error processing cydia-lproj (–install):
    dependency problems – leaving unconfigured
    Errors were encountered while processing:
    cydia-lproj

    /private/var/root$ dpkg -i cydia_1.1.13_iphoneos-arm.deb

    dpkg: serious warning: files list file for package `io.pangu.loader’ missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.
    (Reading database … 2692 files and directories currently installed.)
    Preparing to replace cydia 1.1.13 (using cydia_1.1.13_iphoneos-arm.deb) …
    Unpacking replacement cydia …
    dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of cydia:
    cydia depends on cydia-lproj (>= 1.1.10); however:
    Package cydia-lproj is not configured yet.
    dpkg: error processing cydia (–install):
    dependency problems – leaving unconfigured
    Errors were encountered while processing:
    cydia

  21. Ok everything works except for part V. Cydia doesn’t appear when i follow ALL steps. Find my iphone is disabled, do i need to shut down icloud completely?

  22. Hey , it totally worked for me but when i wanted to get winterboard from cydia it completely bricked my phone and stayed on the apple logo for 30 min before i was like f this. im resetting my phone right now

  23. The packages don’t install for me. They get stuck at “Setting up cydia-lproj (1.1.12) …” and “Setting up cydia (1.1.13) …”
    Any idea what I’m doing wrong? Rebooting doesn’t give me Cydia after this.
    Thanks.

  24. i tried many time to get cydia from such many blog post . but it’s still din’t work. ohh man this site/blog make me succes to get it. Thumb UP !

  25. I typed in the right ip address for my ipod touch 5g and made sure they were both connected to the same internet but it can`t find the ipod

  26. guest11221k3434324

    beware in installing winterboard because I experienced my phone froze into the logo thing that’s why I restore it again..It really sucks..but the process was so cool and simple just be aware of what you’re going to install,.

  27. Ive installed the panguo app on my ipod and when i go to open it, it immediately flashes and forces shutdown of the app. I dont know how to resovle this. Aslo ive tried the on and off option.

  28. Worked great for me! No problems and I didn’t even have to do a restore on itunes. The Unlockr rocks! Great, user friendly site! Thanks man!

  29. hey i just followed the steps and Cydia did not show up on my iPhone 5.
    I tried reebooting one more time and it still wouldn’t show up.
    Something named “pangunew” shows up and it has no icon and when i open it, the screen just turns black.
    HELP!!!

    1. It essentially flashes the latest firmware onto the device from scratch. This does erase your stuff but since you followed my directions and did a backup first youll get it all back. When it’s done restoring the phone, it’ll ask you if you want to resync the phone and after that youll be all good to go.

          1. OKay i jailbreaked my iPhone and when i jailbreak it, theres an app that said “pangunew”. When i pressed it, it said untrusted app developer, do you trust the developer “iPhone distribution: Hefei Bo Fand communication technology co., LTD” run apps on your iPhone? Trust or Don’t trust. what do i do??

  30. Nooooooooooooooo…
    My IPhone just stuck in a booting-loop and today i’ve restored my phone to IOS 8.1.1 because i would use it again – BUT…Now i can’t jailbreak again. When do you think Pangu release the new Jailbreak???
    Thanks for all the help

    1. Sorry! No clue honestly. They usually wait for a major release (so iOS 8.2 for example), but who knows. Soon as they have something for iOS 8.1.1 or whatever their next version is, I’ll do a video.

  31. I keep getting a interruption error? itsalmost done then right above the progress bar…I get an error in red letters? any idea

      1. I have done this and when I go to choose the file, I just keep getting empty folders, there isn’t a file type that I can select that is the same as the one that iTunes is asking for

  32. Hey, I have an iPod 5th gen. And its running ios 7.1.1 and its jailbroken. If I want to upgrade to the latest ios software do I have to restore my iPod and then install the new ios? If so am I going to have to jailbreak again and reinstall all my tweaks again?

  33. Yay it works!! But why is my iPhone running out of batteries so fast even though I’m not using it? It happened after my iPhone was jailbroken.

  34. the first time i tried it an error pops up saying that my itunes is not up to date, but it is, so i tried on a different computer and then i got an error telling me to check my network. What do i do? PLEASE RESPOND!!!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.