3U Tools: Great iOS Tool Or Chinese Malware

3U Tools is a source of controversy in the jailbreak world. Some say that it is malware sending your data to servers in China, while others say it is a great way to jailbreak, install apps, and more. Both r/jailbreak and r/legacyjailbreak have rules against it. Before I start, I would like to say that this article is for information only to assist you in your decision on whether or not to use it, and every user should make their own decision.

3U Tools

What is 3U tools?

3U Tools is software that can do many of the things iTunes can: backup, restore, and more. It can also install apps, jailbreak your device, and much more. It is available for Mac, Windows, and iOS.

 What is 3U Tools?

Positive: Get it

Many online sources suggest that, when downloaded from the official website only, it is completely safe. An article in r/jailbreak says that, while it does take information about your Apple device to a server, it says so in the terms and privacy policy and therefore is not malware. Although, according to Reddit, it does send data like serial number and ecid, it is sending it to a remote server, and you cannot make warranty claims with that information.

Negative: Absolutely not.

In a word: malware: stealing data, tweaking MD5 files for jailbreaks [implying tweaking the originals], and sending this to China. China doesn’t exactly have a peachy track record either in this field, which, in my opinion, only throws fuel on the fire.

So, in conclusion, 3U Tools is suspicious, but, as one Reddit user said, “doubt you risk much? With how many years they’ve been around without being caught of anything really bad (except farming data, but at this point it’s not even that surprising), they’re probably still safe.+They’re 99% more likely to put something bad on your PC than on your phone; they control their software, not the jailbreaks, which are closed source and kind of hard to reverse.” So, while I advise user discretion, as long as your anti-virus doesn’t trigger outside of jailbreaking [turn anti-virus off for that, as it’s one of the only reasons Jailbreak will fail.],