The iPhone X doesn’t have a Home button like traditional iPhones do. Instead, Apple has users swiping up from the bottom of the display to leave applications and unlock the handset.
But even if you’re still rocking a traditional Home button-equipped iPhone, you can take advantage of a new free jailbreak tweak dubbed HomeGesture by iOS developer MidnightChips to simulate the iPhone X-like swipe gestures on unsupported devices.
Indeed, installing this tweak lets you bypass the Home button entirely, allowing users of the iPhone 8 and earlier to swipe up from the bottom of the display to close apps and access their locked device. Furthermore, the tweak ports various aspects of the iPhone X-centric UI to your non-iPhone X handset.
Once installed, HomeGesture adds a preference pane to the Settings app where you can configure a few options:
Here, you can:
- Hide or show the Status Bar carrier on demand
- Hide or show the Home bar at the bottom of the display
- Hide or show Status Bar-based breadcrumb links
- Toggle “swipe to unlock” prompt hints
- Toggle Control Center’s top-right bar
- Hide or show the Torch button on the Lock screen
- Hide or show the Camera button on the Lock screen
- Hide or show the page dots on the Lock screen
- Disable the gestures when there’s a keyboard present
- Disable gestures entirely while keeping the iPhone X-like UI
The developer includes a complimentary “Apply” button at the top right of the preference pane so that you can save changes to the tweak’s options after making them.
If you’re starting to feel a bit of buyer’s remorse after opting for the cost-effective iPhone 8 instead of the top-tier iPhone X, then HomeGesture is one way to make your handset feel more like Apple’s flagship device.
Moreover, if you’re interested in trying HomeGesture out for yourself, then you can download it for free from Cydia’s Packix repository. The tweak works on all jailbroken devices running iOS 11, obviously excluding the iPhone X.
Note: There is a dependency bug in HomeGesture version 1.7.4 that may cause problems with functionality, but this should soon be fixed in a future update.
Do you like using your Home button, or do you like the idea of having iPhone X-like swipe gestures? Let us know in the comments below.