KillMyOTA

KillMyOTA is a MacDirtyCow add-on that blocks OTA software updates on iOS/iPadOS.

If you’re one to stay on the lowest possible firmware and avoid software updates because you’re hopeful that a jailbreak could eventually come for your iPhone or iPad, then you’ve proven your wisdom. But that won’t stop a badge from appearing on your Settings app at some point after your device learns that it has a pending software update.

In the past, users would install a tvOS profile on their iPhone or iPad to jam the over-the-air (OTA) software update mechanism on their iPhone or iPad so that it wouldn’t see any pending software updates. Consequently, this would also prevent the Settings app from displaying an annoying red badge to remind you of it every single day.

But now that we have the enhanced MacDirtyCow exploit at our disposal, using the tvOS profile is no longer a necessary means of hiding OTA updates. That’s because the new KillMyOTA add-on by iOS developer @haxi0sm for the MacDirtyCow exploit works in exactly the same way for iOS 15.0-16.1.2 devices.

One important note here is that @zhuowei’s latest MacDirtyCow exploit code provides sideloaded apps with unsandboxed perms, which means there’s a sense of persistence. This means that even after a device reboot, you won’t need to re-run the app to turn the OTA blocking effect back on. In fact, re-running the app would revert your OTA blocking and allow the device to see pending software updates.

As some have pointed out in the /r/jailbreak release post, this actually makes KillMyOTA better than using a tvOS profile because the latter can actually expire. So if you forget to renew the tvOS profile post-expiration, then you would end up with a pending software update. KillMyOTA doesn’t expire, so it lasts however long you want it to.

Using KillMyOTA doesn’t require a jailbreak, so it’s a great way to continue staying on the lowest possible firmware for your device while waiting for one to launch. Additionally, you maintain your MacDirtyCow bug susceptibility, which means you can continue installing compatible apps in the meantime – a win/win for users in this boat.