Genie unlocks your iPhone with simple gestures

Genie Cydia Tweak

On a recent article that I wrote, a reader was surprised after reading that I am generally disinterested by a lot of jailbreak tweaks. It might not make sense, given that I write for a blog that is consistently on top of covering the jailbreak scene. Allow me to explain: it’s not that jailbreak tweaks do not pique my interest, but rather that some are simply too complex or cumbersome to provide a meaningful purpose.

That’s not to discount the fantastic work that developers put into creating jailbreak tweaks. There are just as many good tweaks as there are less impressive ones. Genie is a new Lock screen extension that is a good example. Not only does it provide useful functionality for unlocking your iPhone, but it is a lightweight tweak that isn’t dragged down by dozens of confusing settings or unnecessary features. Check it out… 

Genie Settings Tweak

Genie is an iOS extension that allows you to unlock your iPhone using gestures. After enabling the tweak through the Settings app, you can configure which gesture unlocks your device from quite a long list: left swipe, 2-finger left swipe, 3-finger left swipe, 2-finger right swipe, 3-finger right swipe, double tap, triple tap, upwards swipe, 2-finger upwards swipe, 3-finger upwards swipe, downward swipe, 2-finger downward swipe or a 3-finger downward swipe.

Beyond that, there are just a few other settings that can be configured. There is an option to “Disable Normal Unlock,” which makes the gesture action the only way to unlock your device. You can also toggle on “Bypass Password” to avoid entering your passcode when using the unlock gesture. This is perfect for me, since it’s annoying to constantly enter your passcode at home, but too insecure to disable it altogether.

Genie is the work of iOS developer Phillip Tennen, whose name probably sounds familiar if you’ve read our post about Helius or use any of his other half-dozen tweaks. You’ll need an iPhone running iOS 7 or later to use Genie, which is 99 cents on the Cydia Store. If you’re on the fence about purchasing it, this review should tip your scale in favor of buying it.

What do you think of Genie?