Get a better understanding of your iPhone’s signal strength with Bars

By , Mar 26, 2012

Has your iPhone’s signal strength indicator ever lied to you? Perhaps it showed that you had poor cell phone reception, but you were still able to make perfectly clear phone calls. Or vice versa?

Well, if you’re losing faith in the 5 little bars that sit in the top left hand corner of your handset, you may want to check out Bars. The new jailbreak tweak promises to give you a more accurate reading of your iPhone’s cell service…

Bars developer, phoenix3200, describes the tweak as a signal indicator replacement for your iPhone that “lets you see more about your signal strength, without having to decode what its RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) is.”

Installing the package is as simple as it gets, and there’s no settings to mess with or customize. After your handset re-springs, the utility takes effect. I noticed that after I installed it, the end signal bar was only half full instead of full-sized.

I suppose this tweak could come in handy for folks who are in areas with varying degrees of signal strength, but I don’t think I’ll have much use for it since I am constantly connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Nevertheless, if you want to try out Bars for yourself, it’s available in Cydia, in the BigBoss repo, for free.

What do you think of Bars?

  • Share:
  • Follow:
  • Thomas Gehman

    1G iPad on iOS 5.1 compatible??

    • jose castro

      no ipad, but does work on iphone 4 5.1 tethered

  • http://twitter.com/kylebshr Kyle Bashour

    Like maybe somebody needs to go back to grammar school :P

    • http://twitter.com/jmarsh5 Justin Marshall

      Like, yeah. I agree.

    • http://www.iPhonecaptain.com Mitch

      Who are you referring to?

  • http://twitter.com/bergonse Eduardo

    @Thomas Gehman, YES.

  • http://twitter.com/jake1047s jacob wolin

    I’ve been using bars for a while and I love it

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=523635240 Dan Castro

    i can’t find it on cydia :(

    • http://www.facebook.com/SpideyRules Scott Curry

      Nor can I…

      • http://www.iPhonecaptain.com Mitch

        Maybe its another “Infamous IDB Preview” LOL

    • http://www.facebook.com/SpideyRules Scott Curry

      Nor can I…

  • Santi Hervella

    Hey, could you please post your wallpaper from the picture? It looks sweet! Thanks.

  • Anonymous

    I’m a bit confused as to what this tweak does. Could we get a video demo or even a proper link?

    • http://twitter.com/jmarsh5 Justin Marshall

      If your phone is only receiving 3 and half bars worth of signal it will show 3 and a half instead of showing 3 bars (or 4 bars, not sure which way it goes.)

      • Anonymous

        Ah, that is cool indeed.

  • http://twitter.com/1Getz Chris Goetze

    This is a cool tweak. I now show 3 1/4 bars instead of the 3 before the tweak. Needed? No. But definitely nice just to see the exact signal strength.

  • http://www.facebook.com/carlosdanielpinto Daniel Pinto

    The Bars are too small, don’t you think?

    • http://www.facebook.com/petiblaster Peter Meljkuti

      Why cant i find it on cydia? :(

  • http://twitter.com/rcnino Ryan Canino

    It would be cool to have something like this for WiFi too.

  • http://twitter.com/profpuma Higgs Bosons

    are you able to customize colors of bars?