This tweak automatically hides the Home Bar when it isn’t needed

Newer iPhone and iPad Pro models have ditched the traditional Home Button in favor of an edge-to-edge display that sports a software-based Home Bar instead. The Home Bar can be used for unlocking, returning to the Home Screen, toggling Reachability, and switching between apps, but many would argue that it doesn’t always need to be visible.

For those looking for a solution to this quandary, a new and free jailbreak tweak called AutoHideHomeBarX by iOS developer Asterix can automatically hide the Home Bar when it isn’t needed and cause it to reappear again when it is.

In the animated GIF below, you can discern for yourself how the Home Bar fades from view after just a few moments. Once the user interacts with the display again after the Home Bar disappears, it reappears, ready to accept input from the user.

After you’ve installed AutoHideHomeBarX, you’ll find a dedicated preference pane in the Settings app where you can tweak a few different settings:

Here, you’ll be able to:

  • Toggle AutoHideHomeBarX on or off on demand
  • Disable the Home Bar gesture for moving between recently used apps
  • Disable the Home Bar gesture for accessing Reachability
  • Choose between one of two Home Bar styles:
    • Automatically hide
    • Always hide

The developer includes a Respring button at the top right of the preference pane to make saving any changes you make to the tweak incredibly easy.

We like that the tweak incorporates different options for interacting with the Home Bar, such as disabling the app-switching swipes and being able to hide the Home Bar at all times. Then again, the tried and true different strokes for different folks rule applies here, and other may have different opinions as to how this tweak will serve them.

If you’re interested in giving AutoHideHomeBarX a try, then you can snag it for free from the BigBoss repository in your preferred package manager. The tweak supports jailbroken iOS 11, 12, and 13 devices with Home Bar functionality, including the iPhone X and later and the latest iPad Pros.

Do you think AutoHideHomeBarX is an improvement over the native Home Bar experience in iOS? Let us know in the comments.