Your parent is referring to a DMCA exemption approved by the US Copyright Office in 2012. Jailbreaking phones is currently legal &quot;where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of [lawfully obtained software] applications with computer programs on the telephone handset&quot;[0], while jailbreaking tablets is not.<p>See also this timeline of the EFF&#x27;s efforts in getting DMCA exemptions: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eff.org&#x2F;issues&#x2F;dmca-rulemaking" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eff.org&#x2F;issues&#x2F;dmca-rulemaking</a><p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;IOS_jailbreaking#United_States" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;IOS_jailbreaking#United_States</a>