Anthony Bouchard

Anthony Bouchard joined the iDownloadBlog.com team in 2016 after originally covering Apple and iPhone jailbreak news at ModMyi.com. As an experienced editor, he brings more than 15 years’ worth of jailbreaking knowledge to our in-depth guides, opinion pieces, and news articles. His passion for device customization and user choice sparks his strong push to empower readers with the tools they need to explore and enjoy the freedom that comes with jailbreaking. Anthony blogs about not only jailbreaking, but also Apple software & accessories, drones & photography, and Nintendo gaming systems. Anthony honed his advanced technical knowledge over the years with hands-on projects ranging from gaming PC builds to engine repair mechanics. His never-ending hunger for knowledge is why you’ll always find him tinkering – tearing things apart and putting them back together to understand what makes them tick.

New FutureRestore GUI makes unsigned iOS downgrades and upgrades more approachable

The FutureRestore GUI.

Excellent news for those who’ve been wanting to take advantage of futurerestore to downgrade or upgrade to an unsigned version of iOS or iPadOS – you’re no longer limited to using command line interfaces (CLI) to do so.

On Monday, the community was pleasantly surprised by the release of a new user-friendly and Java-based futurerestore application for macOS dubbed FutureRestore GUI (GUI of course stands for graphical user interface).

MediaBar14 augments the Home Bar with powerful media controls

All of Apple’s notched devices, iPhones and iPads alike, come equipped with a software alternative to the Home Button known as the Home Bar — the thin line that manifests itself at the bottom-center of the display.

I love the Home Bar as an alternative to the antiquated Home Button, especially when paired with the bigger edge-to-edge displays that modern iPhones and iPads now possess. But with a jailbreak, it’s possible to make the Home Bar even better than it already is.

Customize the toggling sound of your pwned iPhone’s flashlight with FlashSound

If you use your iPhone’s rear-facing LED flash as a flashlight to help you navigate dark environments from time to time, then you’re far from alone.

Right out of the box, Apple provides a shortcut on the Lock Screen for the aforementioned purpose, and it even offers a satisfying amount of haptic feedback when toggled. As for a cool sound effect, however, users are left underwhelmed.

CallFavorites lets iOS 14 users dial favorite contacts via a Haptic Touch gesture on the Home Screen

We all probably have at least a few favorite contacts saved on our iPhones, whether it’s close family or our best of friends. Fortunately, Apple allows you to set up favorite contacts in the Phone app so that it’s easier to get in touch with them when life necessitates it.

Designating a contact as a ‘favorite’ contact in the Phone app moves that person’s contact information to the dedicated Favorites tab at the bottom of the app, but if you were looking for even more added convenience, then we think you’ll come to appreciate a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called CallFavorites by iOS developer pixelomer.

RingPercentLabel adds battery percents to items in iOS 14’s Battery widget

It was only a couple of days ago that we showed you a free jailbreak tweak called CompactBatteryAvocado, which improved the overall look and feel of iOS & iPadOS 14’s native Battery widget by adding numeric battery percentage labels to each item that appears inside of it.

But as it would seem, CompactBatteryAvocado isn’t the only jailbreak tweak in town that can serve the aforementioned purpose. Enter RingPercentLabel, an alternative to CompactBatteryAvocado by iOS developer P2KDev that serves the same purpose, albeit with a slightly different aesthetic.

SmartBattery 2 gives jailbreakers more control over their handset’s battery & device behavior

SmartBattery iOS 15

One of the things that most iPhone users pay close attention to is their battery consumption. Apple likes to insinuate all-day battery life for most of its iPhones, but the unfortunate reality is that most activities drain substantially more battery than we’re led to believe, such as online gaming, operating the device in a low signal environment, using the device as a personal hotspot, and so on.

To help combat the issue of a draining battery, some users carry external battery packs or extra charging cables on or about their person to ensure that they’ll always have a way to keep their handset alive throughout a demanding day. But why do that when you can fine tune your handset’s software to keep the battery powering your handset even longer?

Jailbreak tweaks of the week: HomePlus Pro, SmartNetwork 2, Xenon, & more…

With so much happening in the jailbreak community recently, especially with regard to the unc0ver jailbreak picking up support for iOS & iPadOS 14.0-14.3, it’s a great time to get involved in the community. Whether you’re new to jailbreaking, returning after a short hiatus, or simply looking forward pwning your handset on the latest firmware, then you’ve come to the right place.

In this roundup, we’ll showcase all the latest jailbreak tweaks and news tidbits from the week spanning Monday, March 1st to Sunday, March 7th. As usual, we’ll talk about our favorite releases first and then wrap things up with an easy-to-digest outline of everything else afterward.

Unc0ver jailbreak updated to version 6.1.1 with additional bug fixes and improvements for iOS 14

Ever since the unc0ver jailbreak added support for iOS & iPadOS 14.0-14.3, the tool has received a steady stream of updates from lead developer Pwn20wnd with various bug fixes and performance improvements to improve the performance and stability of the jailbreak experience overall.

While unc0ver v6.1.0 was recently released to resolve all known issues with its iOS & iPadOS 14.0-14.3 support, it seems that more room for improvement was discovered following that release, as the tool was just updated again to version 6.1.1 this afternoon.

Odyssey v1.3.1 beta 1 now available for iOS 13.0-13.7 with cicuta_verosa support

While much of the jailbreak community’s interest recently has been hyper-focused on the unc0ver jailbreak adding support for iOS & iPadOS 14.0-14.3, many continue to wait for CoolStar to launch Odyssey14 (an interim name for the upcoming  Sileo-supported iOS & iPadOS 14.0-14.3 jailbreak that will likely receive a new name once released).

While such a jailbreak isn’t yet out to the general public, it should be noted that CoolStar released a new public beta of the Odyssey jailbreak for iOS & iPadOS 13.0-13.7 on Friday. The new public beta, dubbed version 1.3.1 beta 1, provides access to the brand new cicuta_verosa exploit on iOS & iPadOS 13 devices, among other exploit-related changes.

Upgrade the Battery widget on jailbroken iOS 14 devices with CompactBatteryAvocado

One of the most considerable changes Apple made in iOS & iPadOS 14 involves the completely overhauled widget experience.

Among the plethora of widgets that Apple provides out of the box on iOS & iPadOS 14 is the Battery widget, which gauges the battery levels of your handset and connected accessories, be it a pair of AirPods/AirPods Pro, an Apple Watch, an Apple Pencil, or another Bluetooth accessory.