iOS 26 has its first rootless jailbreak, 326 days after the operating system launched. Developer Lars Fröder, known as opa334, released Dopamine 3.0, adding support for iOS 26.0 and iOS 26.0.1 on devices with A12 or A13 chips.
A12 and A13 chips power iPhones from the XS generation through the iPhone 11 lineup, along with several iPad models, and anyone running iOS 26 on an A14 or newer chip, which covers every iPhone 12 and later, remains outside Dopamine’s reach. The constraint reflects the progressively harder security surface Apple has built into its more recent silicon, where hardware-level protections make publicly viable exploits increasingly rare.
The iOS 26 headline may draw attention, but the more practically significant part of Dopamine 3.0 is its expanded backward compatibility. The release extends support across a wide range of chip families and firmware versions, covering devices as old as A8 and reaching back to iOS 15.8.7 on certain hardware, a range that covers a large installed base of iPhones and iPads previously outside Dopamine’s scope. For users who deliberately stayed on older firmware, or security researchers who need to work against specific iOS versions, that expanded range matters more than the iOS 26 addition.
Compatible Devices
The following chip families and iOS version ranges are supported in Dopamine 3.0:
- A12, A12X, A12Z, A13: iOS 16.6 through iOS 18.7.1 and iOS 26.0 through iOS 26.0.1
- A14, M1: iOS 16.6 through iOS 17.3.1
- A15, A16, A17, M2: iOS 16.5.1 through iOS 17.3.1
- A10: iOS 15.8.7 through iOS 15.8.8 and iOS 16.7 through iOS 18.7.1
- A10X: iOS 15.8.7 through iOS 15.8.8 and iOS 16.7 through iOS 17.7.11
- A9, A9X, A11: iOS 15.8.7 through iOS 16.7.16
- A8, A8X: iOS 15.8.7 through iOS 15.8.8
What’s New in Dopamine 3.0
Here are the release notes for Dopamine 3.0″
- Adds the Titan PPL/SPTM bypass by Alfie, introducing support for all devices running iOS 16.5.1 through iOS 17.3.1
- Adds the momentarius PPL bypass by staturnzz and TheRealClarity, introducing support for A12/A13 devices running iOS 16.6 through iOS 18.7.1 and iOS 26.0 through iOS 26.0.1
- Adds general support for SPTM devices up to iOS 27 betas for testing on Corellium; real-device support remains limited to iOS 17.3.1 because there is no SPTM bypass for iOS 17.4 or later
- Adds the ClearSword exploit by TheRealClarity, described as a cleaner alternative to DarkSword with better reliability
- Adds a workaround for DarkSword/ClearSword on A8 iPads, iPad 5, iPad 6, and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, with contributions from sk8ingDuck and wh1te4ever
- Fixes issues found in the Dopamine 2.5 betas, including settings not being saved
- More securely identifies the Dopamine app used to jailbreak the device, while addressing problems caused when a signing tool renames the app bundle
The developers have also released Dopamine 3.1, which brings the below fixes:
- Fix Titan not working on ARM_LARGE_MEMORY kernels (Mainly M1/M2 iPads)
- Fix XPF being broken on some iOS 15.x versions
- Fix kfd exploits being broken on iOS 16.x
- Fix ClearSword / DarkSword showing up as supported even on devices that do not support them
- In DarkSword / ClearSword workaround message, add notice about A8 possibly requiring multiple attempts
The 326-day gap between iOS 26’s release and its first public jailbreak is consistent with a broader trend of Apple closing the window for publicly disclosed exploits on current software. Where jailbreaks once arrived within weeks of an iOS release, the combination of tighter hardware security and fewer researchers publishing exploits publicly has stretched that timeline considerably.
Apple has absorbed many features that once required a jailbreak, custom keyboards, widgets, sideloading via alternative distribution, and more granular system controls, leaving the practical motivation narrower than it was a decade ago. The users most interested in Dopamine 3.0 today tend to be security researchers, enthusiasts, and people running legacy devices who want capabilities Apple won’t provide at the system level.
Fröder has been one of the most consistently active jailbreak developers in the community, and Dopamine’s continued development on current iOS versions keeps at least one serious tool in the conversation.
