iOS 8

The perfect jailbroken iPhone: iOS 8 edition

Now that the iOS 8.4 jailbreak is out, I thought I'd create a new "Perfect Jailbroken iPhone" post for you. If you can remember, I started this series a very long time ago, and it has remained popular until this day.

Lots of people want to know what makes a perfect jailbroken iPhone. Do you need the perfect jailbreak tweaks to make a perfect iPhone? Not necessarily.

And just because a tweak or app makes this list, doesn't means it's my absolute favorite, or that I even use it everyday. The perfect jailbroken iPhone does not equal my favorite jailbroken iPhone.

The name of the game here is practicality, usefulness, and improvement. With these tweaks + 1 theme for good measure, I put together an all star phone capable of doing very much.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Watch the video and judge for yourselves.

iOS 8 adoption flat at 84 percent, but iOS 8.4 matches Android KitKat and Jelly Bean adoption

A history of iOS 8 usage paints a rosy picture of more or less steady adoption of Apple's latest and greatest mobile operating system. But according to latest data published Wednesday on Apple’s dashboard for developers, iOS 8 adoption rates have remained flat at 84 percent of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices in the wild, as measured by the App Store on July 6, 2015.

Two weeks ago, the same 84 percent figure was captured by Apple, indicating that the number of users who have upgraded from previous iOS editions to iOS 8, or bought a new device with iOS 8 pre-installed, wasn't enough to move the needle.

More interesting than that, however, is the latest data point by analysts Mixpanel which basically tells us that the recently-released iOS 8.4 software update now accounts for 40 percent of all iOS usage, just one week after release.

iOS 8.4 with Apple Music, Beats 1 and revamped Music app hits iPhone, iPod touch and iPad

As promised, Tuesday morning Apple released the free iOS 8.4 software update which introduces an all-new Music app with Apple Music and Beats 1 built-in. The over-the-air update is now available for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices. As these things take some time to propagate, the software update may not show up in your region yet.

“This update introduces Apple Music—a revolutionary music service, 24/7 global radio, and a way for fans to connect with their favorite artists—all included in the redesigned Music app,” release notes accompanying the update explain. “iOS 8.4 also includes improvements for iBooks and bug fixes,” Apple states.

To apply the update over-the-air, open the Settings app on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and choose Software Update in the General section. Alternatively, connect your device via USB cable to a Mac or Windows PC running the latest version of iTunes and an update prompt should pop up automatically.

If you enjoy jailbreaking as much as we do, you're wholeheartedly advised to read this first in order to prepare for iOS 8.4 properly.

iOS 8.4 launching at 8am Tuesday, iTunes Match song limit increasing to 100,000 with iOS 9

Former Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers wrote in a blog post yesterday that iOS 8.4 with Apple Music will release for public consumption on Tuesday, June 30, at 8am Pacific / 11am Eastern. A few hours later, however, Rogers has updated his post removing mention of the specific timing.

“Tuesday morning we’ll be unveiling the next chapter,” reads the post. “Please make a note to upgrade to iOS 8.4 Tuesday, June 30 and listen to our first day of broadcasting.”

Rogers is now a Senior Director of Apple Music.

Power Saver Mode tweak brings impressive iOS 9-inspired battery management features to older firmware

iOS 9 has some significant new power saving features that will lend users up to an additional three hours of battery life. Dubbed Low Power Mode in iOS 9, users can eek out up to an extra 3 hours of battery life with the option enabled.

Low Power Mode works by disabling animated wallpapers, Mail Fetch, Background App Refresh, motion effects, and, as recently discovered, throttling the CPU.

Power Saver Mode, a new iOS tweak developed by Elijah Frederickson, tries its best to provide many of the same benefits to jailbroken iPhone users on iOS 8. Power Saver Mode increases contrast, enables Reduce Motion, disables Background App Refresh, location services, Cellular Data when on Wi-Fi, and more. 

84 percent of devices are now using iOS 8

According to Apple’s dashboard for developers which monitors iOS devices that are accessing the App Store, iOS 8 is now powering 84 percent of active iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices in the wild.

The most recent data point was measured by the App Store on June 22, 2015 and represents a single percentage point increase over the 83 percent milestone from two weeks ago.

A month ago, iOS 8 adoption rate stood at 82 percent.

Fleksy Keyboard introduces Imoji stickers, smart suggestions for GIFs and more

Fleksy, the powerful iOS 8 keyboard which lets you use gestures, GIFs and emoji, has increased its functionality in the latest update issued today.

Now the app features an integrated Sticker keyboard in partnership with Imoji, taking visual communication beyond animated GIFs. You can easily browse, search and send Imoji stickers directly in Fleksy: just tap a sticker to copy it, then paste it in a message.

To add a sticker to your favorites, double tap it from the keyboard. You can access your recently used stickers, browse endless collections of reactions,  check out what's trending and more.

iOS 8 adoption rate stays flat, iOS 7 continues to lose ground

According to Apple's dashboard for developers based on App Store access data, iOS 8 adoption rate has remained flat at 82 percent of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices. By comparison, two weeks ago iOS 8 was found to power 82 percent of iOS gadgets.

As iOS 7 continues to lose ground, it's lost a single percentage point compared with the seventeen percent mark two weeks ago. The latest stats arrive ahead of Apple's iOS 9 preview due next month at the annual summer conference for developers in San Francisco.

SwiftKey keyboard launches theme store

SwiftKey, the popular gesture keyboard for iPhones, iPads ands iPods with iOS 8 or later, today launched a brand new theme store featuring a dozen themes for customizing the look and feel of its keyboard.

After debuting on Android in 2014, the built-in theme store is now available to iOS users with twelve newly designed themes, priced from 99 cents to $1.99.

LockEmoji prevents the iOS keyboard from reverting to another input mode

If you regularly use the emoji keyboard on iOS, then you've no doubt experienced the issue that causes your keyboard to revert to another input method.

This problem generally arrises when doing one of two things: after tapping send in a chat app like the Messages app, and on first keyboard activation when the current input mode is emoji.

If you're unfamiliar with the issue, it's a little difficult to describe without actually showing you. Check out our video demonstrations, which shows you how LockEmoji—a free new jailbreak tweak released on Cydia—tackles this issue.

Sunrise Calendar update introduces Meet, the fastest way to schedule one-to-one meetings

Sunrise, a powerful cross-platform calendar application, on Thursday launched Meet, a companion iOS 8 keyboard specifically designed to make scheduling one-to-one meetings ridiculously easy.

Available as a free update to the Sunrise app in the App Store, Meet lets you schedule one-to-ones with another party like a pro, without having to leave the context of the app you're currently in or switch to Sunrise for that matter.

iOS 8 grows to 82 percent of devices in the wild

After passing the eighty percent mark two weeks ago on the heels of Apple Watch launch, and less than a month before WWDC 2015, Apple's mobile operating system has been found to now power 82 percent of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices in the wild.

The new data comes via the official App Store Distribution dashboard, which is publicly available on Apple's portal for developers. iOS 7 has kept its seventeen percent share from two weeks ago while older versions of the software continue to comprise about two percent of legacy hardware out there.