You may remember back in November when we shared the news about a novel Status Bar widget system called Helium by iOS developer LeminLimez, which effectively gave users more control over the look and feel of their iPhone’s Status Bar whether they were jailbroken or not.
The Helium add-on received a few important updates this past week that are worth mentioning, especially if you’re already using Helium or if you’re considering using it for the first time.
Project lead developer LeminLimez announced those updates via the project’s Discord channel between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning:
Among those updates are versions 2.1, 2.2, and 2.2.1, each of which we’ll discuss in more detail below:
Helium v2.1
– Widgets can now be placed at the top, bottom, or center of the screen
– Added custom height setting
– Added settings for blur style and alpha
– Added setting for text alpha
– Added the option for Fahrenheit in device temperature widget
– New charging symbol widget that shows up when the device is plugged in
– Fixed issue where the height of one label impacted all of them
– Fixed URL schemes not workingHelium v2.2
– Added adaptive text color option on the Settings page
– HUD now persists through resprings
– Improved update speed and consistency of the charging symbol
– Other minor bug fixesHelium v2.2.1
– Added date formatting localization support
– Added additional network widget preferences
As you can see, the most recent updates, which started rolling out on Friday, include a significant number of changes to the Helium Status Bar customization platform and widget system.
Version 2.1, which is the most considerable update of them all, added a ton of new features such as where widgets can be placed, UI customization, and more widget options. Versions 2.2 and 2.2.1 were each smaller updates that included additional new features, as well as bug fixes.
If you’re an existing Helium user, then you should download and install the latest version at your earliest convenience via the project’s GitHub page. Anyone that isn’t already taking advantage of Helium should obviously start at the newest version available to ensure they’re able to take advantage of the latest features and improvements.
Helium can be installed on iOS 14.0-16.6.1 & 17.0 with the TrollStore perma-signing utility whether the end user is jailbroken or not. The .tipa file that you can perma-sign can be had from the GitHub page linked above. You can learn more about what Helium looks like and what you can do with it in our original review; however, please note that more options have been added since then.
Also see: How to install TrollStore
Are you planning to take your Status Bar to the next level with the Helium extension? Let us know why or why not in the comments section down below.