Is jailbreaking safe?

[eastercat]

I also said that the pirated apps would likely crash the phone--crashing it to the point where you have to re-do everything. You didn't address that issue. As far as the virus and spyware issues are concerned, I stand by what I wrote. No one knows what was done to these pirated apps. Anyone stupid enough to d/l them deserves whatever consequences arise as a result.
Saying that the OP'll be fine, as long as no unofficial repos are added, ignores the OP's interest in pirating--since the pirate apps aren't on official repos.
I can't believe you would condone using pirated apps--at least, it reads like you're doing so.

OP asked a smile question, wondering if it was safe to jailbreak, regarding virus exposure. Based on the cryptic portion, I'm assuming that OP is also interested in pirating apps.

The simple answer is, "Yes". It is perfectly safe to jailbreak. You will not "fry" anything. You will not invalidate your warranty. I've yet to hear of a real virus out in the wild that anyone has to be worried about. Installing *********** is safe, too, and you're not going to increase your exposure to viruses or spyware using it - but we can't talk any more about it here.

[tanbam]

I'm not condoning pirating, but I'm also not going to suggest that the phone will crash if anything other than approved software is installed. I have definitely heard of people needing to restore their phones (mostly because they couldn't figure out how to fix it otherwise) due to software installation, but in every case that I know of, this been from stuff on approved repos that was either half-baked or conflicted with something else.

I was attempting to make the point that it's just as safe to jailbreak your phone and install non-App Store software is as safe as installing anything on your PC. If you install "Free Moviez DLoads" on your phone OR your computer, you're probably going to run into trouble at some point.

If someone asks me if Jailbreaking is safe, I've got to answer the same way that I would if someone asked me if getting Internet service is safe. Yes, but be aware of what you're doing. And I still stand by the idea that anything that you do to the phone can be undone if you know what you're doing.

I will also state that, as far as malicious code goes, you cannot expect the App Store (or stock, built in software) to be completely safe, either. Apple doesn't drill down into the code deeply enough to ensure that app submissions are safe, and there have been several apps that have been pulled after questionable code has been discovered. Apple itself has been accused of collecting too much data and has had to remove their own "spyware".

[eastercat]

Huh, I've never had an issue with using jb apps, but I don't use that many either. Also, I've found the jb community has done a good job of plugging the holes that apple has created--accidentally or not.
Sorry for the misunderstanding and thanks for clearing it up.

I'm not condoning pirating, but I'm also not going to suggest that the phone will crash if anything other than approved software is installed. I have definitely heard of people needing to restore their phones (mostly because they couldn't figure out how to fix it otherwise) due to software installation, but in every case that I know of, this been from stuff on approved repos that was either half-baked or conflicted with something else.

I was attempting to make the point that it's just as safe to jailbreak your phone and install non-App Store software is as safe as installing anything on your PC. If you install "Free Moviez DLoads" on your phone OR your computer, you're probably going to run into trouble at some point.

If someone asks me if Jailbreaking is safe, I've got to answer the same way that I would if someone asked me if getting Internet service is safe. Yes, but be aware of what you're doing. And I still stand by the idea that anything that you do to the phone can be undone if you know what you're doing.

I will also state that, as far as malicious code goes, you cannot expect the App Store (or stock, built in software) to be completely safe, either. Apple doesn't drill down into the code deeply enough to ensure that app submissions are safe, and there have been several apps that have been pulled after questionable code has been discovered. Apple itself has been accused of collecting too much data and has had to remove their own "spyware".

[FAC3L3SS]

It's all in what you do. I didn't like the idea of jb, but I needed MMS enabled and I wanted a regular carrier logo instead of the "HOME" I was getting. TetherMe and Zeppelin are the only two Cydia apps I use. The phone functions 100%, no delays, no freezing, nothing. I didn't dive way into the world of Jailbreaking as all I needed were the two tweaks I got. It's all about what you put into it an watching what you do.