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.

Carbon Dark Mode offers an efficient dark mode for jailbroken iOS 12 users

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 17, 2019

Dark mode has become such a popular concept that Apple’s upcoming iOS 13 software update will incorporate it out of the box, but jailbreakers have already had access to dark mode-centric jailbreak tweaks for what feels like several years now. Still, it isn’t uncommon for developers to release new dark mode-oriented jailbreak tweaks with improved feature sets or performance.

Carbon Dark Mode by iOS developer OxideLabs is one such release, and according to the developer, it’s up to 3.5 times more memory efficient than ‘other’ dark mode jailbreak tweaks on the market today.

Apple sues mobile device virtualization company Corellium, cites ‘copyright infringement’

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 16, 2019

Apple’s legal team filed a lawsuit against mobile device virtualization company Corellium LLC this week for purported “copyright infringement,” citing that Corellium’s business model “is based entirely on commercializing the illegal replication of the copyrighted operating system and applications that run on Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and other Apple devices.”

Corellium’s services are a valuable asset to security researchers because they enable deployment of Apple’s mobile operating system in a virtualized environment. With such a tool, hackers can research iOS vulnerabilities, and in the case of unc0ver lead developer Pwn20wnd, it can even help with jailbreak tool development by ensuring stability across all device and firmware combinations.

EnableMeAhora lets you theme the toggle switches in the Settings app

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 13, 2019

If you have a jailbroken handset in your possession and you’re into aesthetic customizations, then you just might come to appreciate a newly-released jailbreak tweak dubbed EnableMeAhora by iOS developer i0stweak3r.

EnableMeAhora allows you to colorize and reshape the toggle switches and sliders in your Settings app however you like. Above, you’ll see a few examples in which the tweak has modified the appearance of iOS’ native toggle switches.

FluidTabs lets you swipe between an open app’s tabs

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 13, 2019

You’ve undoubtedly happened upon an app on your iPhone in which tabs appear at the bottom of the interface for navigating said app. Many native apps, in addition to third-party downloads from the App Store, use this type of navigation interface.

Users generally tap on the tabs at the bottom of the app to get from one view to another, but a newly-released and free jailbreak tweak called FluidTabs by iOS developer tomt000 brings this concept to the 21st century by allowing users to ‘swipe’ between an open app’s tabs.

Bedrock brings Minecraft’s funny splash screen messages to your Lock screen

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 12, 2019

It was only a couple of weeks ago that we broke the news about a jailbreak tweak release called McSettings that could theme your Settings app to look and feel more like the popular Minecraft game, but now you can do the same with your Lock screen with the help of a new add-on called Bedrock by iOS developer Samg_is_a_Ninja.

As you might’ve discerned for yourself already, Bedrock brings the nostalgic Minecraft-centric splash screen messages to your iPhone’s Lock screen. These are generally one-liners and somewhat tacky, but Minecraft lovers will be excited to hear that they animate precisely as they would in the game on your computer.

Sileo v1.3.1 released, now uses ‘zsh’ for package installations

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 11, 2019

The Sileo Team released another update for the Sileo package manager Sunday evening, this time bringing it up to version 1.3.1.

The announcement was shared via the Sileo Team’s Twitter page just a couple of hours ago, and as it would seem, the update switches to zsh as the default shell for installing packages on jailbroken handsets:

New concept reimagines the process of changing a jailbroken handset’s root password

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 11, 2019

Anytime you jailbreak an iOS device, one of the first things you’re ever advised to do is change your handset’s root password, which is commonly used to access elevated privileges in mobile terminal when entering complex commands. The password is always “alpine” out of the box, but users can change this to almost anything they want to increase their handset's security from a commonly-known password.

As imperative as changing the root password may be, many jailbreakers either forget to do so or shrug off its importance. For that reason, we’re particularly fond of a sleek concept that was shared to /r/jailbreak over the weekend that rethinks the way jailbreakers will interact with their root password after jailbreaking their handset for the first time.

Jailbreak tweaks of the week: Appaze, PortraitXI, WeatherUnlockText, and more

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 11, 2019

We fashion together an easy-to-digest jailbreak tweak roundup every week such that you can make well-informed decisions about what to install on your pwned handset. This week is no different.

In this roundup, we’ll talk about all the latest jailbreak tweaks to be released on most significant repositories from Monday, August 5th to Sunday, August 11th. As always, we’ll discuss our favorite releases first and then cap things off with an outline of the rest afterward.

Appaze lets you set brightness and volume levels on a per-app basis

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 10, 2019

If you’ve ever fancied setting custom display brightness and/or speaker volume levels for individual apps before, then it’s your lucky day. A newly-released jailbreak tweak dubbed Appaze by iOS developer AnthoPak lets you do these things with ease.

As shown in the screenshot examples above, Appaze utilizes the Home screen’s native 3D Touch menus to function. Upon pressing firmly on an app icon to reveal its menu, users will find two new additions, including “Set custom brightness” and “Set custom volume” at the top of the list.

Developer behind ‘Brenbreak’ Apple Watch jailbreak teases SSH capabilities

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 10, 2019

iPhones and iPads have been jailbreakable for more than a decade, but the Apple Watch doesn’t quite seem to receive as much attention as those handsets in the pwnage department. For that reason, a work-in-progress Apple Watch-centric jailbreak dubbed ‘Brenbreak’ by @ethanpepro has been particularly intriguing, to say the least.

The mastermind behind the Brenbreak Apple Watch jailbreak has been sharing regular updates via Twitter since April, and with one of the most recent updates indicating a Q4 2019 public release, it should come as no surprise to anyone that @ethanpepro shared yet another momentous milestone just last night:

PortraitXI enables native Portrait photography on single-lens handsets

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 7, 2019

Apple’s iPhones sport some of the best mobile point-and-shoot cameras in the industry. While their megapixel counts aren’t always as high as some of the Android-powered handsets out there, an iPhone’s camera stands apart from the rest because of the powerful software that drives it, and this includes the Portrait mode that comes baked into the native Camera app.

Portrait mode comes in handy at times when trying to snap the ideal photograph of a subject – be it an object or a person. Sadly, it’s limited to handsets that are equipped with dual cameras, with the iPhone XR being the lone exception to this rule, but jailbreakers can now take advantage of a newly-released jailbreak tweak called PortraitXI by iOS developer foxfortmobile to circumvent this needless limitation.

This tweak replaces your iPhone’s ‘swipe up to unlock’ text with weather info

Anthony Bouchard ∙ August 7, 2019

If you’ve been using an iPhone for more than a week, then you probably don’t need to be reminded to “swipe up to unlock” or “press home to unlock.” Apple designs its devices to display this text whenever you’re looking at your locked handset’s Lock screen, and to some, it feels unnecessary.

If you’re ready to rid yourself of that silly text with something more useful, then chances are you’ll come to appreciate a newly-released and free jailbreak tweak called WeatherUnlockText by iOS developer XCXiao. This tweak replaces the standard text string with weather information for your current location, as shown in the screenshot example above.