iPhone 4 owners can now run non-Apple approved applications thanks to the release of Jailbreakme 2.0. The utility tool has been launched a week after US regulators announced it was lawful to hack or jailbreak an iPhone and will enable users to download and install a variety of software and programs on their handset that have not been officially approved by Apple. The BBC reports that iPhone owners are losing FaceTime and multimedia messaging services as a result of using the tool, though an online posting by the team behind the tool claims that “jailbreaking doesn’t slow down your device or use any extra battery… a jailbreak lets your device be how you want it.”

Jailbreak’s developers say it works on all iPhones and iPod touches running iOS 4 and, unlike previous Jailbreak applications, which required the user to be connected to an external computer before they could install it, this latest version can be accessed and installed using the iPhone’s own Safari web browser.  Unofficial apps won’t make Apple the usual 30 percent share of download revenue, and last week the Californian vendor released a statement warning users against using jailbreaking utilities. “Apple’s goal has always been to ensure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience,” the statement noted. “As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.”