After jailbreaking your iPhone or iPad, you’ll get all your favorite jailbreak tweaks and add-ons from what are known as repositories. You can browse and utilize almost any repository with a package manager app, with the most mainstream of those being Cydia, Installer, Saily, Sileo, and Zebra.
When I first started jailbreaking many years ago, most tweaks and add-ons could be had from one of just a few large and centralized repositories, but much has changed since then. Several large and centralized repositories have shuttered, and the Cydia Store no longer operates. The circumstances presented a hot soup of opportunity for developers wanting to host packages on their own repositories.
While some large and centralized repositories still exist today, like BigBoss, Chariz, Havoc, and Twickd, jailbreakers will quickly learn that several add-ons aren’t published on them. Sometimes this is because tweak developers don’t feel their work is ready to go full-public yet, and sometimes it’s because bigger repositories don’t offer the payment flexibility or depiction formatting that developers can command on their own platforms.
The hunt to find more jailbreak repositories
Previously, iDownloadBlog attempted to maintain a list of the best third-party jailbreak repositories that you could add to your favorite package manager app. Sadly, not all those repositories see activity anymore, and countless new ones have been created since then; in fact, there’ve been so many new ones added that we couldn’t keep up. For that reason, we recommend using of an online tool such as iOS Repo Updates or Parcility to help out with that.
Both iOS Repo Updates and Parcility are incredible resources for jailbreakers who might be looking for more things to do with their jailbroken handset(s). The home page of each website immerses users with featured packages and repositories, which are ideal for not only discovering jailbreak tweaks, but also for finding new repositories that you can add to your package manager app.
We’re going to give you a quick look at both iOS Repo Updates and Parcility below, just in case you’ve never heard of or used them before.
iOS Repo Updates
What you’re going to find with iOS Repo Updates is that it provides intuitive searching capabilities with respect to the packages and repositories you can use on your jailbroken iPhone or iPad.
Near the top of the website are options for browsing. You can also use the dedicated search bar to look for individual packages when you aren’t exactly sure what repository it’s being hosted on.
The iOS Repo Updates website keeps well over 200+ repositories in its records, allowing you to quickly browse their contents:
Upon clicking on a specific repository, iOS Repo Updates provides a convenient link to add it to your package manager app:
A few things I really appreciate about iOS Repo Updates are that it has been around the longest and that it lets me browse the new Havoc repository.
Parcility
Parcility, on the other hand, offers a slightly more aesthetically pleasing interface, with what’s perhaps just as intuitive of searching capabilities to help you find the best add-ons and repositories for your jailbroken iPhone or iPad.
Much like iOS Repo Updates, Parcility separates content into sections dedicated to packages and repositories. The website also offers a search bar at the top with powerful filtering options.
Parcility supports more than double the number of repositories, with well over 550+ on file. You can click on any of those to view their contents from the comfort of your web browser and decide if it’s right for you:
When you click on a specific repository, Parcility also displays all the different packages that are hosted in that source:
Something I enjoy about Parcility is the vast number of repositories it supports – old and new. On the other hand, I’m a bit peeved that it hasn’t picked up support for the new Havoc repository yet since it’s officially succeeding Packix to become the biggest jailbreak repository to support paid packages today. Maybe soon?
Why finding more repositories is important
If you rely solely on the repositories added to your iPhone or iPad by default post-jailbreak, then you’re missing out. Since repositories are where jailbreak tweaks and add-ons are being hosted, adding more to your device exponentially expands the scope of the catalog you get to choose from.
Many awesome packages aren’t hosted on default or large and centralized repositories, so it falls on the individual jailbreaker to be proactive in their approach to finding new ones. In fact, many of my favorite add-ons are hosted on third-party repositories, generally owned and operated by the developer who created the hosted packages.
In some fringe cases, I’ve even seen developers host packages on another developer’s repository.
In addition to a the importance of tweak discovery, I find browsing packages and repositories from a web browser on my computer infinitely helpful. That’s because I can research jailbreak tweaks and repositories without waiting between device resprings and source refreshes to continue searching for more.
Wrapping Up
If you’re in awe after learning that there are literally hundreds of different repositories that you could be adding to your jailbroken iPhone or iPad right now, then we’d totally understand. Fortunately, having the knowledge of where to look means you can discover better jailbreak tweaks and trick out that device beyond what you ever thought possible.
Keep in mind that not all repositories are actively maintained, and that you’ll want to keep an eye on the last time packages on those sources were updated to ensure that you’re using up-to-date tweaks with your jailbreak — especially for newer versions of iOS or iPadOS.
Did you find any new jailbreak repositories by using iOS Repo Updates or Parcility? Be sure to let us know in the comments section down below.