Ventana brings a Windows 10-inspired Lock screen to jailbroken iPhones and iPads

If you like how the Windows 10 Lock screen looks and feels, then you’ll probably enjoy using a jailbreak tweak called Ventana by iOS developers CoolStar and Jeremy Goulet. This tweak redesigns your iPhone or iPad’s Lock screen to make interface elements appear more as they would on a Windows 10 device.

Right out of the box, Ventana themes the Now Playing interface, any incoming notification banners you might have waiting for your attention, and the date and time display. Ventana also provides you with a Siri shortcut akin to the Cortana shortcut that you might find on Windows 10.

In the screenshot examples above, you can see that Ventana looks great on the iPad, taking full advantage of the extensive screen real estate to display all those wonderfully-themed UI elements. But Ventana also works on the iPhone, albeit in a more compact fashion:

Your mileage may vary, but I think Ventana looks and feels better on the iPad than it does on the iPhone. The additional space makes more room for UI elements and reduces the clutter.

As you might come to expect, Ventana is more than just a pretty face; with form comes function. Citing Ventana’s description, the tweak incorporates support for the following features:

– Slide up to unlock!

– Support for using native notifications and notification tweaks on iOS 10 and higher!

– Custom Metro-inspired notifications on all iOS versions! (Optional on iOS 10 and higher)

– Option to group notifications and sort them by app

– Media Controls inspired by desktop Windows 10 (for iPad) or Windows 10 mobile (for iPhone)

– Quick reply support in notifications (iOS 9 and higher only)

– Siri (“Cortana-like”) suggestions on the Lock screen (iPad only)

3D Touch support in notifications (native style only)

– Full, unhindered access to Lock screen widgets and camera (iOS 10 and higher only)

– Option to enable Lock screen clock seconds

Once installed, Ventana adds a preference pane to the Settings app where you can configure the tweak on demand:

Here, you can:

  • Toggle the tweak on or off on demand
  • Enable or disable the seconds indicator on the Lock screen
  • Use iOS 10+ style notifications
  • Group alike notifications
  • Display Siri Suggestions (iPad only)

Overall, Ventana seems like a wicked-cool jailbreak tweak for large-screened iOS devices. 

For those wanting to give Ventana a try: the tweak is available for $1.99 from the Havoc repository and supports jailbroken iOS & iPadOS 7-14 devices. Just make sure your jailbreak is compatible before buying.

What are your thoughts about Ventana and the curious compatibility circumstances? Discuss in the comments section below.