Every once in a while, a jailbreak tweak hits Cydia that offers a fun new aesthetic to your iOS device(s). Some end up becoming hits, while others slowly disappear into the archive of Cydia’s ever-expanding jailbreak tweak library.
Depthicons on the other hand, a new jailbreak tweak release created jointly between developer Ryan Petrich and designer Surenix, may just end up being the next hit, and we’ll show you why in this review.
Taking parallax to a whole new level
You may be familiar with the parallax effect that occurs in iOS 7 and later when you move your device around.
As long as Low Power Mode is turned off and you don’t have the Reduce Motion feature enabled on your device, your Home screen should appear to shift around as you move your device because it’s programmed to sense movement from the accelerator and gyroscope. This was intended to add a feeling of depth to to the once static Home screen.
But now, Petrich and Surenix have re-imagined the idea behind Parallax by applying it not only to the Home screen‘s wallpaper relative to the app icons, but also by applying the effects directly to the actual app icons themselves. Check it out:
As you can see, not only does the wallpaper and placement of the app icons appear to move as we tilt our device around, but Depthicons is taking things a step further by actually animating the Home screen icons themselves so that they move in 3D space while our device is moved and tilted.
The effect is actually quite advanced, and works for every app icon on your Home screen. It takes features of the app icon and allows them to move independently of the background itself. Although it works better for some app icons than others (namely the stock ones), it even works for all of the odder types of app icons out there, so you can rest assured that it’s not only being applied to some of your apps.
Configuring Depthicons
When you install Depthicons, a preferences pane is added to the Settings app so you can configure it to your liking.
Here, you can enable or disable the tweak on demand, as well as adjust the sensitivity, which might be a good idea if you’re one of the few known to get motion sickness from looking at a moving Home screen for too long. The three sensitivity options are Light, Medium, and Strong.
You’ll also notice a band of four sample icons in the middle of the preferences pane. As you change the tweak’s sensitivity, you can play around with the accelerometer and gyroscope to see how the setting will impact your app icons in real time.
Just adjust the setting until you’re comfortable with how it looks and responds to movement, and then close the Settings app, as changes are going to be applied to your app icons immediately without the need to respring your device.
My thoughts on Depthicons
Every once in a while, a jailbreak tweak that sets a milestone in the fun of jailbreaking gets released. I think this is one of those tweaks.
It’s not really going to add any useful functionality to your device, but it’s one of those classic novelties that you’ll remember for years to come as a fun ‘quirk’ of jailbreaking.
I would put this tweak right up there with tweaks like Graviboard (a new version called Gravitation is available for iOS 9) in that it’s something you can play with over and over and not get bored of.
My opinion? I love it. And by buying it, you’ll support two very highly respected developers in the jailbreak community who have worked hard to continue to bring you quality releases. So it’s a win/win for everyone.
Wrapping upp
Depthicons is a great new way to add some fun to your newly-jailbroken iOS 9.3.3 device by building off of the parallax effect and applying it to your app icons.
For those interested in trying it out, Depthicons can be downloaded from Cydia’s BigBoss repository for $2.99.
What do you think about Depthicons? Let us know in the comments below!