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.

Sileo v1.5.0 beta 1 now available for testing with 2x speed boost and dark mode

The Sileo Team took to the @GetSileo Twitter account early Thursday morning to tease the imminent release of an updated beta version of the Sileo package manager with more than twice the speed performance of the latest public release.

As of just an hour ago, that beta version is now available for testers. Those using the Electra Team’s Chimera or Electra jailbreaks are free to download Sileo Beta v1.5.0 beta 1 from the default repository on each jailbreak:

Apple stops signing iOS 12.4, preventing downgrades to a jailbreakable firmware

We all knew it was coming, and now it’s official – iOS 12.4 is no longer being signed by Apple.

The Cupertino-based big tech company closed the signing window for iOS 12.4 late Wednesday evening, effectively preventing downgrades from the newer iOS 12.4.1 release, which was released more than two weeks ago to re-patch the Sock Puppet exploit that Apple inadvertently un-patched in iOS 12.4.

This jailbreak tweak lets you play videos in the background via Safari

While refreshing my sources in Cydia this week, I happened upon a particularly interesting jailbreak tweak dubbed playbackSafari by iOS developer CydiaGeek. Intrigued by the name and the brief description provided in Cydia’s ‘Changes’ tab, I tapped on the tweak to learn more about it, and I’m glad that I did.

With playbackSafari, you can begin playing a video in the Safari web browser and then close the app or lock your device without experiencing interruptions to the playback. While leaving the app would prevent you from watching the video, it’s worth noting that the audio continues playing in the background.

NoDNDBanner disables the Do Not Disturb banner on iOS 12’s Lock screen

If you’re using any of the latest versions of iOS, then you’re probably familiar with the Do Not Disturb banner that rears its ugly head on the Lock screen whenever you have this feature turned on.

While it’s nice to be reminded that Do Not Disturb mode is toggled on, I find the banner to be somewhat intrusive in that it takes up space on the Lock screen and must be manually dismissed. Fortunately, a new and free jailbreak tweak called NoDNDBanner by iOS developer MrGcGamer does away with it automatically.

Pwn20wnd updates unc0ver jailbreak with more bug fixes

It’s been less than 24 hours since hacker and unc0ver lead developer Pwn20wnd dropped the largest stability and reliability update for the iOS 11 & 12-centric unc0ver jailbreak tool to date, but that hasn’t stopped him from updating the tool some more with additional improvements.

Just this afternoon, Pwn20wnd shared a series of Tweets denoting that unc0ver versions 3.6.2 and 3.6.3 had been released:

Cosmos is an excellent all-in-one SpringBoard customization tweak

One of the best ways to take advantage of your jailbroken iOS device is to download an all-in-one SpringBoard customization jailbreak tweak. These kinds of tweaks often combine the functionalities of several standalone tweaks into one, giving you the most bang for your buck.

Springtomize is perhaps one of the most well-accepted all-in-one SpringBoard customization tweaks ever made, but it’s not the be all and end all of iOS tweaking; many others, including the more recently released Cosmos tweak by iOS developer Sirius24, are worth taking a look at.

This tweak prevents you from adding duplicate tracks to Music playlists

If you take advantage of Apple’s native Music app to enjoy songs from your favorite artists, then you probably already know just how easy it is to add the same song to a playlist more than once.

Although Apple hasn’t integrated any safeguards against duplicate songs in your playlists, iOS developer Frozen Penguin is here with a solution in the form of a new and free jailbreak tweak called Dejavu2.

Sileo Team launches Sileo v1.4.2 beta 1 with native dark mode support

Just a few hours ago, the Sileo Team teased a gorgeous set of screenshots depicting what appeared to be an iOS 13-like dark mode for the Sileo package manager. The Sileo Team didn’t say when it would be getting released, but that small detail doesn’t seem to be all that important anymore.

Just within the past hour, the Sileo Team released Sileo v1.4.2 beta 1. It was announced via the official @GetSileo Twitter page, and from what we can tell, this is the first iteration of the proprietary package manager to support a native dark mode feature:

Pwn20wnd releases unc0ver v3.6.0, claims ‘biggest stability and reliability update ever’

If you’re currently taking advantage of Pwn20wnd’s unc0ver jailbreak tool on iOS 11 or 12, then we have some wonderful news for you! Unc0ver v3.6.0 is now available to download, and according to Pwn20wnd, this is the biggest stability and reliability update ever released for this particular jailbreak tool.

Pwn20wnd announced the update just a few minutes ago via Twitter while linking to the brand-new unc0ver.dev webpage where future iterations of the jailbreak tool will be hosted from now on:

Sileo Team teases upcoming update for Sileo with dark mode support

Just minutes after Pwn20wnd released the most substantial stability and reliability update ever for the unc0ver jailbreak, the Sileo Team teased what appears to be an upcoming update for the Sileo package manager with a drop-dead gorgeous dark mode user interface that appears to be heavily inspired by Apple’s upcoming iOS 13 software update.

The Sileo Team shared the images above via the official @GetSileo Twitter page just minutes ago, adding that it would be ‘coming soon:’

Security researcher Umang Raghuvanshi open-sources Sock Puppet 3 exploit for iOS 12.4

Matrix code hacked iPhone.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve undoubtedly witnessed the staggered inclusion of support for iOS 12.4 in the Electra Team’s Chimera jailbreak tool and Pwn20wnd’s unc0ver jailbreak tweak over the course of the past month. This feat was made possible with a revised version of the Sock Puppet exploit dubbed Sock Puppet 3 by security researcher Umang Raghuvanshi (@umanghere).

From what we can gather, today (Sunday, September 8th) is Raghuvanshi’s Birthday, and the lad has opted to celebrate his special day by open sourcing the Sock Puppet 3 exploit to the general public, a move that he hopes will contribute to even more great works in the community:

Jailbreak tweaks of the week: CCBrightnessExtended, Docky, Storage3D, and more

If you're happily jailbroken on iOS 11 or 12, then you're likely wondering what you should install on your device to make it less boring. Fortunately, this jailbreak tweak roundup can help.

In this roundup, we’ll talk about all the jailbreak tweaks released from Monday, September 2nd to Sunday, September 8th. As usual, we’ll kick things off by discussing our favorites and then wrap everything else up in an outline afterward.