LockShot tweaks your Lock screen so you can almost see what’s behind it

LockShot Example

LockShot is a new jailbreak tweak in Cydia that brings a new blurred aesthetic to the Lock screen so you can see what’s behind it.

In this review, we’ll show you how it works and provide some examples of its tantalizing appearance.

A peek behind

The Lock screen is like the cover of a book; it’s the first thing you see every time you go to unlock your device. It’s also the layer of security between your device and any unwanted hands.

Out of the box, you can configure your Lock screen can have either the same or a different wallpaper from your Home screen. The wallpaper is opaque, and there’s no way to see through it. On the other hand, when you unlock your device, everything you can do with it comes into focus.

LockShot changes the way you look at your Lock screen by treating it more like a frosted window into your device. The tweak gives you a sneak peak at what is waiting for you just after you unlock your device, but it’s blurred heavily enough that you can’t actually make out any text or personal information.

In this example, we see the Home screen underneath the Lock screen’s blur:

LockShot Home Screen

You can see the colors of the Home screen apps just hiding behind that frosted glass effect, but it’s not clear enough that you can make out any text or important details.

Below, we have an example of the Weather app hiding behind the Lock screen:

LockShot Weather

The same aesthetic applies. Here’s yet another example, this time with Cydia:

LockShot Cydia

Configuring LockShot

The tweak will also add a preferences pane to the Settings app, letting you configure the tweak however you might like to:

LockShot Preferences Pane

Among the things you can do here are:

  • Enable or disable the tweak on demand
  • Enable or disable the zoom animation when unlocking your device
  • Configure the custom blur radius that you want
  • Enable a color tint effect
  • Choose the tint color you want to use
  • Respring your device to save your settings

My thoughts on LockShot

I really like what I’m calling the “frosted window” effect, and I’m not really into any of the color tinting options, but I do know that there are some people out there who may feel a little uneasy about giving anyone the chance at all to peer into what might be behind the Lock screen.

For that reason, I have to play the Devil’s advocate here. There are two kinds of people out there: those who will like this tweak and those who won’t.

For those who like cool effects, I think this is a nice way to add some flavor to your device so you’re not just looking at a picture for a wallpaper.

Of course, from a security perspective, it does provide a preview into the app you were using last. In some cases, the blur isn’t enough to hide what you were using. For example, you can tell quite clearly when I was in the Cydia app, so anyone can assume that’s what I was doing last on my device.

Really, it all comes down to personal preference.

Wrapping up

LockShot is a cool new mean to change the way your Lock screen looks on your jailbroken iOS 9 device. With it, you can have a little tease of what’s hiding behind your Lock screen.

If you’re interested in trying LockShot, you can download it from Cydia’s BigBoss repository for $0.99.

What are your thoughts on LockShot, and would you consider using it? Share in the comments.