‘Bolt’ hides the battery from the status bar, displays simple logo while charging

By Mike Schnier on Jan 19, 2013

You might have noticed that it is uncharacteristically redundant of Apple to have the accurate battery percentage meter beside a graphical representation of the remaining battery life. The interface only needs one or the other, though it’s still good to have an indicator on whether the power cord is connected. Personally, my preference is to stick with the percentage meter and ax the logo.

Bolt is an old jailbreak tweak that we neglected to feature when it debuted in 2011. The tweak is a relatively simple MobileSubstrate hack that removes the space-hogging battery icon from the Status Bar, but still displays a small lightning bolt icon while your device is charging… Read More

 

How to create “blank” icons on the Home screen without jailbreaking

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 18, 2013

The fact that we’ve been unable to jailbreak the iPhone 5 thus far means that it’s difficult to customize the iPhone like we want to, but that doesn’t mean that it’s totally impossible.

As we’ve seen over the past few months, a new category of tweak has emerged — the non-jailbreak tweak. These are tweaks and hacks that one can use to customize their iPhone without a jailbreak. No, it’s not nearly as good as actually having root access to iOS, but it’s a nice holdover until some enterprising group or individual blesses us with a proper iPhone 5 jailbreak.

One of the latest non-jailbreak tweaks that we’ve been able to test out, is one that allows you to place “blank” app icons on the iPhone’s Home screen. This effectively allows you to simulate the ability to rearrange app icons in any preference desired. It’s not perfect, but it may prove to be satisfactory to you until we have a better means of customization. Take a look past the break for our full in-depth video tutorial. Read More

 

Lock Screen Drawer is another iOS 7 toggle concept

By Mike Schnier on Jan 18, 2013

One of the annoying quirks of iOS is there’s no way to quickly toggle battery-draining and data-thirsty features and services we like to use selectively. Of course, that’s without jailbreaking. Considering BossPrefs (the precursor to SBSettings) was released in 2007, it’s about time Apple caught up with the demand for an official quick toggle panel. But how would Apple approach the problem?

Jean-Marc Denis posted one possibility to Dribbble. It’s a concept called ‘Lock Screen Drawer’, which would allow users to access toggles by pulling on a tab under the lock screen clock. Pull the tab, and a small tray slides out. In the concept, the tray is equipped with toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, airplane mode, and hotspot. We’d like to see GPS on the list too, so hopefully there would be a way to customize the toggles… Read More

 

Easily post reminders to the lock screen with Reminders+

By Mike Schnier on Jan 16, 2013

Reminders+ is a new jailbreak tweak recently added to Cydia that allows users to pin bulletins from Reminders+ to the lock screen. With the tweak installed, your reminders will stay on the lock screen; these notes won’t be dismissed if you unlock your iPhone or go into the Reminders app.

To pin notes on the lock screen, all you need to do is go into the Reminders app, find a reminder you want to pin down, and then press down on the text. An Action Menu prompt for adding a bulletin will appear on top of the selected reminder. Once you tap the prompt, the reminder will appear on your lock screen… Read More

 

Auxo designer creates concept video for silent Do Not Disturb alerts

By Mike Schnier on Jan 16, 2013

On Monday, we reported on Sentry’s Do Not Disturb concept. The original concept makes use of a “pull to refresh” gesture in Notification Center to toggle iOS 6′s Do Not Disturb mode, instead of relying on a timer. The DND concept looked elegant and intuitive, and in many ways, Sentry outdid Apple’s implementation of Do Not Disturb. In fact, Sentry even has one more thing up his sleeve to show us.

Early this morning Sentry posted another video to YouTube which expands on the original concept, this time focusing on Alerts in Do Not Disturb mode. Normally, in iOS 6, Do Not Disturb mode applies only when the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is locked, but Sentry has found a way to deliver silent, unobtrusive alerts while the device is still in use… Read More

 

‘Auxo Glasklart’ is one of the first Auxo themes available on Cydia

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 15, 2013

Remember Auxo, the jailbreak tweak that reinvigorates iOS’ app switcher? You’re probably thinking to yourself, ‘Jeff, how can I forget?’ Well, the team behind Auxo promised that their tweak would be themeable, and while we didn’t see any themes to coincide with its release, theme designers are begining to publish their work to Cydia.

One of the first Auxo themes available on Cydia is Auxo Glasklart. Like most themes, it uses WinterBoard as a framework. How do Auxo themes function and feel? Take a look inside as we take Auxo Glasklart for a ride… Read More

 

Flex developer answers questions and explains how Flex patches work

By Mike Schnier on Jan 15, 2013

Yesterday iDownloadBlog reported on Flex, an upcoming jailbreak app that allows users to create their own tweaks on the fly. We had reason to be excited, as Flex can create custom patches for the Springboard or almost any app, all without requiring programming knowledge from users.

While we were optimistic about Flex, some of our readers were curious about how Flex works, and others raised concerns about the unreleased app. Because we felt these concerns deserved addressing, we got in touch with Flex’s developer, John Coates, who was kind enough to answer our questions and provide more screenshots for our readers… Read More

 

‘StatusTab’ lets you access the status bar from within full screen apps

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 15, 2013

If you play a lot of games on your iPhone, then you’re probably used to the idea of full screen apps negating the presence of the status bar. If you find that to be annoying, then a new jailbreak tweak entitled StatusTab may interest you. It allows you to sneak a quick peek at the status bar by swiping on the area where the status bar normally resides.

Needless to say, StatusTab is a simple tweak, but the simple tweaks usually end up being some of the best tweaks. Take a look inside, and judge for yourselves. Read More

 

Write your own jailbreak tweaks on the fly with upcoming ‘Flex’ utility

By Mike Schnier on Jan 14, 2013

John Coates, the developer behind the MissionBoard Pro jailbreak tweak, has posted a thread on Reddit about an upcoming jailbreak app called Flex. Flex is an exciting new app that allows users to make and share their own runtime patches, not just to iOS itself but to any app you have installed.

What can you do with Flex? From the looks of it, you can modify just about any app’s behavior. In the preview screenshots, there are patches for unlimited skips in Pandora, removing the lock screen’s camera grabber, nixing the ratings warning when downloading from the the App Store, and even cheating in games like Tiny Tower. Think of it as a Game Genie for iOS… Read More

 

“Tap to unlock” from the lock screen instead of sliding with ‘tapUnlock’

By Mike Schnier on Jan 14, 2013

tapUnlock is a new jailbreak tweak from the makers of MapsOpener and BrightVol. The tweak replaces the ‘slide to unlock’ bar with a ‘tap to unlock’ button. Personally I’m a fan of the classic slider, as it’s part of how Apple introduced a new paradigm of capacitive screens to the mass market, and it’s something I will always associate with the iPhone.

Unfortunately ‘slide to unlock’ isn’t for everybody. If you know someone who has difficulty using the ‘slide to unlock’ gesture on the lock screen, maybe because of arthritis or another fine motor control difficulty, you’ll get good mileage out of tapUnlock. Alternatively, you might just want it to have something different… Read More

 

Listen to your iTunes library in 3D with ‘Music Collocator’

By Mike Schnier on Jan 14, 2013

Music Collocator is a jailbreak app recently added to Cydia which plays tracks from your library simultaneously using what the developer calls ’3D sound’. In this case, 3D sound means the app plays tracks together, shifting the stereo volume based on where the song is ‘located’ in 3D.

Since Music Collocator pulls tracks from your iTunes library, you have access to your favorite playlists, artists, albums, and genres. Unfortunately you can’t swap individual songs to Music Collocator arrangements à la carte. To get around this limitation, you’ll have to set a custom playlist with each track setup you want, and that’s not an ideal solution. Read More

 

‘Better Switcher Position’ aims to create a better app switcher

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 14, 2013

Better Switcher Position is a simple jailbreak tweak that switches the position of the rotation lock button and the music button found in the app switcher. The idea behind the tweaks is that it more closely aligns the volume control slider found in the app switcher, with the music button.

While the position of the app switcher buttons never really dawned on me before, I guess the developer of Better Switcher Position has a point. Take a look at our hands-on video inside to see what I mean. Read More

 

DismissMyKeyboard allows you to quickly hide the iPhone’s keyboard

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 13, 2013

DismissMyKeyboard is a recently released jailbreak tweak for jailbroken iPhones that allows you to easily dismiss the software keyboard. While the iPad already benefits from such a feature due to the device’s larger area of real estate, the iPhone’s keyboard has no room for a dedicated dismiss keyboard button like you see on its larger brethren.

DismissMyKeyboard solves this issue by allowing you to perform a swipe gesture right on the keyboard in order to dismiss it. Take a look at our video walkthrough inside to see how it functions. Read More

 

‘TorchNC’ and ‘InstaSnap’ spice up Notification Center on jailbroken iPhones

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 12, 2013

Two new jailbreak tweaks have recently appeared in Cydia by the same developer, and they both happen to focus on Notification Center. Specifically, these tweaks aim to add handy shortcuts to the Notification Center pull-down pane.

The first tweak on the docket, TorchNC, adds a shortcut to activate the iPhone’s LED flash. There are other tweaks and apps that perform flashlight functions, but I always find it useful to have it within Notification Center, or directly on the Lock screen.

The second tweak, like the first, is a shortcut for Notification Center. Instead of interacting with the iPhone’s LED flash, InstaSnap is a tweak that allows you to quickly access the camera from within Instagram. Seeing as though this tweak doesn’t require the iPhone only LED flash, it works with both the iPhone and iPod touch perfectly fine.

Take a look as we profile both InstaSnap and TorchNC in our walkthrough videos inside… Read More

 

Infiniboard updated with Iconoclasm and OverBoard support

By Cody Lee on Jan 10, 2013

In what seems like the first bit of news from the jailbreak scene in quite a while, Chpwn announced today that an update for his popular Infiniboard tweak is now available in Cydia.

The utility, which allows you to add an unlimited amount of icons to each springboard page, now works with Sakurina’s Iconoclasm and Ryan Petrich’s OverBoard tweak… Read More

 

Planetbeing says he has an iOS 6.0.2 untethered jailbreak now, but we must be patient

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 4, 2013

iOS hacker Planetbeing posted on Reddit earlier today about the status of the iPhone 5/iOS 6 untethered jailbreak. While there have been many messages regarding the viability of a jailbreak, the famous iOS hacker insists that it’s only a matter of time before a jailbreak is a reality.

In other words, we need to be patient while the guys who have proven themselves time and time again put in work…

Read More

 

Upcoming tweak puts customizable app shortcuts to your iOS lock screen

By Christian Zibreg on Jan 1, 2013

The iPhone’s lock screen has got to be the source of endless inspiration for jailbreak developers and conceptual artists who are constantly coming up with new ways to broaden functionality of your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. UI designer @Sentry_NC of the Auxo fame thought long and hard about juicing up the iPhone’s lock screen and came up with this concept showing how the iOS lock screen pulley grabber could be for more than just the camera app.

What’s best, we heard that jailbreak developer Rudolf Lichtner is already working on turning his idea into a reality. As always, our own Jeff Benjamin will be monitoring the progress of this tweak and sharing his hands-on impressions as soon as the finished code hits Cydia… Read More

 

Auxo for iOS 5.1.x now available on Cydia

By Jeff Benjamin on Dec 30, 2012

Auxo — the popular jailbreak tweak we covered in depth last week — is now available on Cydia with iOS 5.1 support in tow. As you may recall, the initial version only supported iOS 6 out of the gate, and many users, pined for iOS 5.1 support, since a great majority of jailbreakers have chosen to remain on 5.1 firmware for obvious reasons.

Thanks to developer, Kyle Howells, who assisted with porting the tweak, the team behind Auxo was able to meet its turnaround time for adding support for the older iOS firmware. Did the team have to make any sacrifices in order to bring such an awesome tweak to iOS 5.1? It sure doesn’t look like it to me. Check inside as we go hands on with Auxo for iOS 5.1 on video… Read More

 

The top jailbreak tweaks of 2012

By Jeff Benjamin on Dec 28, 2012

A few weeks ago I published a somewhat controversial post about jailbreaking, and how its popularity is waning. This wasn’t intended to be controversial, but it ended up that way, and after some thought I began to backtrack (a bit) on my stance.

The problem stemmed from the fact that I didn’t do a very good job of explaining my stance. I didn’t intend to say that jailbreaking was dead, my main point was just to show how innovation in the jailbreak community was being stifled by sometimes lazy developers, but mostly by Apple’s efforts to stamp out jailbreaking.

While I still stand by my post, I felt that I needlessly ruffled a few feathers, and probably should have kept those thoughts to myself for the time being. When I began to work on this post — the top jailbreak tweaks of the year — it became more apparent that we actually have seen lot of innovation this year. Most of that innovation was earlier in the year, but nevertheless, there have been lots of great jailbreak tweaks to come out in the last 12 months.

Take a look inside as we cover some of this year’s best jailbreak efforts from the development community. I’ll also crown 2012′s top jailbreak tweak of the year. Read More

 

‘Fade’ dims your Home screen icons when invoking Notification Center

By Jeff Benjamin on Dec 27, 2012

Fade is an extremely simple jailbreak tweak that forces the Home screen UI elements to fade when Notification Center is invoked. As you slide down Notification Center, elements like the app icons and the dock will progressively fade from view. As you slide the Notification Center pane up, the effect is reversed, and the elements fade back into view.

There are no options to setup or settings to configure, just install it and it starts working. Take a look inside as we demonstrate Fade on video… Read More

 
Page 5...34567...