Years after becoming one of the go-to destinations for iOS jailbreaks, Cydia\u2019s app store is disabling purchases. Users will be able to access existing downloads through the store and access purchases via third-parties, but beginning this week, they\u2019ll no longer be able to buy apps through the store\u2026<\/b>
\nYears after becoming one of the go-to destinations for iOS jailbreaks, Cydia\u2019s app store is disabling purchases. Users will be able to access existing downloads through the store and access purchases via third-parties, but beginning this week, they\u2019ll no longer be able to buy apps through the store.
Founder Jay \u201cSaurik \u201c Freeman revealed the news via a Reddit post this week recommending users remove PayPal accounts from their profile. Freeman notes his initial plan to shut the service down by year\u2019s end, before ultimately opting to close down the purchasing mechanism this weekend over the PayPal issue.
The software engineer cites the toll running the service has taken on his personal life and finances in making the decision. \u201c[T]his service loses me money and is not something I have any passion to maintain: it was a critical component of a healthy ecosystem,\u201d he writes, \u201cand for a while it helped fund a small staff of people to maintain the ecosystem, but it came at great cost to my sanity and led lots of people to irrationally hate me due to what amounted to a purposeful misunderstanding of how profit vs. revenue works.\u201d
Cydia was launched 10 years ago, shortly after the first iPhone was jailbroken. The service has offered users a way to bypass Apple\u2019s own App Store lockdown, building up a rabid fanbase in the process. Ultimately, however, jailbreaking\u2019s popularity has waned in the intervening users.
The exact future of the Cydia community remains unclear, though Freeman has promised a \u201cmore formal post\u201d about his plans next week. We\u2019ve reached out for further comment.<\/p>\n