If you’ve jailbroken an iPhone or iPad in the past five years, then you should be at least vaguely familiar with the Packix repository. It served as one of the biggest places for jailbreak tweak and theme developers to host their content, including paid packages in a post-Cydia Store community.
Today, the Havoc repository announced via Twitter that it was succeeding Packix, an entirely new repository for jailbroken iPhones and iPads that aims to one-up the user experience for both users and developers alike.
In a blog post, Havoc CEO Alex Stich (A.K.A. @leftyfl1p) explained that Packix owner Andrew Wiik had gotten busy with other jobs and aspects of life, which took away from his available time to work on and improve the quality and functionality of the Packix repository.
Consequently, Havoc will pick up where Packix left off with a motivated new team that promises sellers a familiar place to house packages while simultaneously bringing an elegant new design and enhanced experience.
Here’s more information from the blog post:
Havoc will be able to provide Packix sellers a new home with a familiar family and a brand new design that is both modern and elegant. Fan-favorite packages such as Viola, DopeConvos, and Snapper 2, are just some of the products that Havoc is proud to offer.
Here is just a sample of what Havoc has to offer it’s sellers:
– A brand new platform and dashboard, written from scratch with many quality of life improvements that provide an overall smooth experience
– An extensive teams and permissions system to allow collaboration with fellow developers & designers
– Global light & dark mode throughout the entire platform
– An energetic staff team ready to work with sellers to make the most out of their products
– Other payout options besides PayPal
– A wide variety of package pricing tiers starting at $0.99
– And more…All Packix sellers along with the rest of the jailbreak community are invited to apply to Havoc. Those transferring from Packix will find a seamless, automated transfer process with little to no effort on their end. Those who would like to transfer to Havoc from another repo can do so right from the marketplace tab in their account page without leaving the site.
With Packix closing its doors, it will no longer accept new packages starting today, February 15th, 2022. Developers currently hosting packages on Packix may continue submitting updates for existing packages until May 15th, 2022. By August 15th, 2022, the Packix repository will be put into an archival state.
In the archival state, Packix will continue to host free packages for the jailbreak community indefinitely, however paid packages will be gradually removed over a six-month period after August 15th, 2022 as the team attempts to find those paid packages a new home, presumably on Havoc.
If you already own a paid package on Packix currently, then the developer of that package will have the option of transferring your license over to the Havoc (or another) repository. This will ultimately fall into the responsibility of tweak developers to be proactive.
While developers who currently host packages on Packix are welcome to transfer to Havoc, they’re not required to do so. Developers may choose to host on a different repository instead, however Havoc will offer the most seamless transition. Havoc welcomes developers who host on other repositories as well, including Dynastic Repo, which also recently shut down.
If you’re a jailbreaker, then today’s move should only prove beneficial as Havoc’s entire reason for being is to offer a cleaner, more performant repository with a fluid user experience. You can continue to use Packix, even post-archival; however, you’re going to want to add the Havoc repository to your device going forward to view and install newer packages.
To add Havoc to your favorite package manager app, you can use the URL provided below:
https://havoc.app
Longtime jailbreakers know that jailbreak repositories come and go. In fact, an increasing number of jailbreak developers opt to host from personal repositories as opposed to large and central repositories as this offers more granular control for selling packages and faster turnaround time for update publishing.
What are your thoughts on the shift from Packix to Havoc as one of the jailbreak community’s primary repositories? Be sure to let us know in the comments section down below.