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.

Lyrication v2 adds slick music lyric support iOS’ Now Playing interfaces

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated October 16, 2024

Music enriches our lives at a spiritual level, and that’s one of the reasons why it can be so enjoyable to turn on the radio when you’re at work or undertaking a menial task. But if you’ve ever listened to a song and couldn’t distinguish its lyrics before, then you’d understand easy access to song lyrics is such an imperative ingredient for the ideal mobile music player, much like your iPhone.

Many music streaming applications already come with lyric functions out of the box, but this only applies to when you’re in that particular app. Apple could and should make the user experience more useful by allowing lyric viewing from the Now Playing widget anywhere in iOS, and that’s one reason why a free jailbreak tweak called Lyrication v2 by iOS developer Marcel Braun exists.

Cydia Substrate updated to version 0.9.7109 with more bug fixes

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 23, 2020

Following a pair of updates released for both the Cydia Substrate and Substrate Safe Mode packages bright and early Sunday morning, it seems that Saurik has pushed a second update for the Cydia Substrate package Sunday afternoon to fix a few bugs that were introduced in the first update.

The latest version of the Cydia Substrate package is now version 0.9.7109, and according to the change log for this release, Saurik notes the following changes in this release:

Cydia Substrate & Substrate Safe Mode receive twin updates with improvements

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 23, 2020

After a brief hiatus from last month’s rush of Cydia Substrate updates, Saurik appears to be at it again. Starting this morning, checkra1n jailbreak users should be able to refresh their sources and see two notable new updates including Cydia Substrate version 0.9.7108 and Substrate Safe Mode version 0.9.6004.

Both packages are especially important for the checkra1n jailbreak, as one drives tweak injection while the other serves as the last line of defense between jailbreak tweak failures and the possibility of a consequential boot loop. Fortunately, these packages work in tandem to permit jailbreak tweak usage in a safe environment.

Jailbreak tweaks of the week: Comet, Merriam, and more…

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 23, 2020

Got a jailbroken iPhone or iPad, but aren't sure what to do next? This roundup will showcase all the latest jailbreak tweaks in an easy-to-digest list so that you can discern what your next install should be.

As always, we'll kick things off by discussing our favorite releases first. Afterward, we'll outline the rest of this past week's releases in alphabetical order.

Add a splash of color to iOS’ dialer and passcode interfaces with DialerGradient

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated December 9, 2021

Apple’s software user interfaces are somewhat notorious for being both streamlined and professional, but they also tend to be on the bland side of things. The company isn’t known for offering much in the customization department, and this can be a serious pain point for those who demand more personality from their iPhone’s user interface. Fortunately, jailbreak tweaks aplenty can help out with this limiting aspect of iOS.

Enter DialerGradient, a newly released jailbreak tweak by iOS developer NaneraManu that lets iPhone users customize virtually any parameter of their handset’s numeric dialer interfaces, whether it’s the Lock Screen’s passcode interface or the Phone app’s dial pad.

CCTime13 adds a time indicator to the Status Bar in Control Center

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 22, 2020

The iPhone’s Status Bar exists to provide users with pertinent information at a glance. Whether you’re checking to see the current time, your handset’s current signal strength, or how much battery life you’ve got left, chances are you look at it somewhat frequently.

One thing that has always sort of bothered me however is that the Status Bar’s time display disappears when you launch the Control Center interface, and that’s a gripe that a newly released and free jailbreak tweak dubbed CCTime13 by iOS developer 0xkuj aims to solve.

App Switcher Controller lets jailbreakers personalize their multitasking interface

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 22, 2020

Chronic multitaskers are apt to use the iPhone’s App Switcher for rapidly moving between recently-used apps more frequently, but wouldn’t it be great if Apple offered at least some form of user customization for what could be considered one of the iPhone’s most-used interfaces?

If you answered yes to the question above, then we invite you to check out a newly released and free jailbreak tweak dubbed App Switcher Controller by iOS developer Tomasz Poliszuk, as it provides iPhone users with a bevy of options for personalizing the App Switcher interface.

Apple closes signing window for iOS 13.6 to stop downgrades from iOS 13.6.1

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 19, 2020

Apple stopped signing iOS & iPadOS 13.6 Wednesday evening, a predictable move on the Cupertino-based company’s part that is known to prevent users of these particular devices from downgrading from the newer iOS & iPadOS 13.6.1 firmware that was released to the general public one week ago to address a ‘green tint’ issue exhibited by some OLED displays, among other things.

We say predictable because Apple follows this trend like clockwork every time the company releases a new version of iOS & iPadOS, but we digress…

Comet brings iOS 14-inspired widgets to jailbroken iOS 13 devices

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 19, 2020

If you sat back and watched the WWDC 2020 presentation, then you would’ve witnessed Apple’s plans for the upcoming iOS & iPadOS 14 software update slated to launch this Fall. One of the features that stood out most to me was the introduction of authentic Home Screen widgets, which the jailbreak community has enjoyed for years along with several other of iOS 14’s ‘new’ features.

Jailbreakers are typically hard-pressed to partake in major software updates like iOS 14 because of the implications that doing so would have on their jailbreak eligibility. Fortunately, a newly released jailbreak tweak dubbed Comet by iOS developer Dylan West (@iOSthemem0d) brings a multitude of new widgets to jailbroken iOS 13 devices, and it certainly evokes an iOS 14-esque vibe if you know what we mean…

AdjacentPeriod makes the period key appear adjacent to the space bar at all times

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 18, 2020

Chronic typists, especially those who use the iOS platform for such works, will find that the process of adding a period to the end of a sentence is somewhat cumbersome. This is due to how the iOS keyboard is designed, initially necessitating that the user enters a second keyboard state comprised of other symbols just to access the period key.

As you begin using the keyboard in the Safari web browser, however, you’ll notice that a period key naturally appears adjacent to the space bar to make inputting periods easier – this is a valuable asset when inputting URLs. If you, like me, wish that the keyboard experience was exactly like this system-wide, then you’re probably going to appreciate a new jailbreak tweak dubbed AdjacentPeriod by iOS developer Mikeneko.

Lakeside offers advanced custom aesthetics for your iPhone’s application Dock

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated May 2, 2023

From the moment you unlock your iPhone and begin interacting with the Home Screen to launch apps, the Dock is one of the first things you see. It stands out with its pronounced background and exclusive user-selected app list that persists regardless of which page of the Home Screen you’re on. But what if you could customize the Dock even further?

Meet Lakeside, a newly released jailbreak tweak by iOS developer Sirius that lets jailbreakers assume full control over the aesthetics and behavior of their Home Screen’s application Dock in more ways than one. With it, users can enjoy custom colors, borders, styles, and even animations, all of which are extremely likely to capture the attention of others who aren’t already jailbroken.

Merriam is a new all-in-one jailbreak tweak for customizing iOS 13 on a budget

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 17, 2020

As far as the jailbreak community is concerned, the popularity of all-in-one jailbreak tweaks is something that can’t be written off by any stretch. People just seem to love one-stop-shop because of the convenience and performance advantages that it tends to bring to the table; plus, there’s something to be said about the satisfaction of accomplishing the same thing with one big tweak that you can with a plethora of smaller ones.

Springtomize is often the first thing that comes to mind when discussing all-in-one jailbreak tweaks because it has been around the longest and it continues to receive updates with each iteration of iOS. Lately, however, we’ve seen a much higher number of Springtomize competitors that offer different options with a much smaller price tag attached. The latest of such releases is one dubbed Merriam by iOS developer kanns.