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.

This tweak enables all Live Photos-centric features on unsupported handsets

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 15, 2019

Live Photos is one of iOS’ fun and quirky proprietary features that brings many of your photographs and wallpaper backgrounds to life. Unfortunately, Apple limits Live Photos functionality on many of its older handsets, such as the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, and SE, to name a few.

If you use any of the aforementioned handsets and you’re bummed about having a gimped Live Photos experience, then you might want to turn your attention to a newly-released jailbreak tweak called LivePhotoForNon3DTouch by iOS developer anima.

Sileo v1.1.0 released with bug fixes and code optimizations

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 14, 2019

In an unexpected turn of events Friday evening, the Sileo Team announced the release of an updated version of the Sileo package manager for the Chimera and Electra jailbreaks. The latest version of Sileo is now v1.1.0.

The Sileo Team announced the news just moments ago via Twitter, denoting what was new in the update and how it would impact users:

Rishima brings the iOS 13 volume HUD to jailbroken devices

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 13, 2019

Apple’s upcoming iOS 13 and iPadOS firmware updates come jam-packed with new features that are certain to have jailbreakers’ mouths watering.

Fortunately, the jailbreak community has a way of porting many of Apple’s latest software features to older versions of iOS such that jailbreakers don’t feel so bad about not upgrading, and a new free jailbreak tweak release called Rishima (BETA) by iOS developer iKilledAppl3 is an excellent example of this.

ImageCorrect brings image-based text replacement to iOS

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 13, 2019

iOS comes with a native text replacement feature that lets users set shortcuts that will automatically expand to full words or phrases when typed. But wouldn’t it be neat if the same concept applied for images?

I’ve long wondered about this myself, and so I’m excited to share that a newly-released and free jailbreak tweak dubbed ImageCorrect by iOS developer Satvik Borra brings this feature to pwned handsets.

Give your jailbroken handset a clean new aesthetic with Vibrancy

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 13, 2019

If you’re interested in giving your jailbroken handset a refreshingly-pleasant aesthetic makeover, then you just might want to turn your attention to a newly-released jailbreak tweak called Vibrancy by iOS developer Dylan Duff.

Vibrancy transforms the look and feel of your iOS device by adding bright and vibrant blurs to many of your handset’s user interface. Out of the box, Vibrancy supports each of the following components of iOS:

SiriUnlock lets you access more data with Siri without unlocking your handset

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 13, 2019

Siri can make interacting with your iOS handset easier, and more specifically, the ‘Hey Siri’ feature comes in handy when you have dirty hands and you don’t want to touch your device. But when your handset is locked, Apple prevents Siri from accessing certain things to protect your privacy from those who may try to exploit her handiness to reveal personal information about you.

While we can understand Apple’s reasoning for doing this, we also understand that some iOS device power users care more about functionality than privacy, and so it would’ve been nice if Apple offered more flexibility in this department. Fortunately, a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called SiriUnlock by iOS developer CokePokes makes this happen.

SilentMaps makes iOS’ Maps-centric voice navigation more music-friendly

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 12, 2019

Apple’s Maps app comes in handy for me more times than I can count when I need help getting to my destination, but for what it’s worth, the app’s voice navigation tends to become a nuisance when I’m trying to listen to music at the same time.

SilentMaps is a newly-released and free jailbreak tweak by iOS developer LonestarX that aims to resolve this problem by replacing the native Maps app’s voice-centric navigation with subtle sound effects that let you know when a critical turn on your route is near.

This tweak makes the Reachability interface a bit more aesthetically-pleasing

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 12, 2019

Apple seems to be making the shift to larger iPhone displays, and while this is great for media consumption, it also tends to make one-handed usage a bit more challenging in most scenarios. This is precisely why iOS comes with an accessibility feature dubbed Reachability.

Despite how useful Reachability can be at times, its aesthetics sometimes leave a lot to be desired. With that in mind, iOS developer CydiaGeek created a new free jailbreak tweak called ReachabilitySheer to make the Reachability interface look both cleaner and nicer.

iBSparkes teases Cydia running on the first iOS 13 beta

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 11, 2019

Just yesterday, talented security researcher and iPhone hacker iBSparkes teased what appeared to be Saurik’s Cydia package manager running on an iPhone SE with iOS 12.4 installed on it, which was a particularly noteworthy feat given that all public jailbreak tools at the time of this writing only support up to iOS 12.1.2.

The teaser raised several questions, such as whether iBSparkes’ latest exploit would also support Apple’s upcoming iOS 13 software update. Fortunately, we might now have an answer to that question, as iBSparkes shared another teaser just this morning of Cydia running on an iPhone 8 (iPhone 10,4) running the first iOS 13 beta:

iBSparkes teases Cydia running on the iOS 12.4 beta

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 10, 2019

Each of the latest jailbreak solutions, be it the Electra Team’s Chimera tool or Pwn20wnd’s unc0ver tool, only support iOS versions 12.0-12.1.2. That said, a teaser shared just this morning by talented security researcher iBSparkes tends to be particularly exciting.

In the Tweet, iBSparkes shares a screenshot of what appears to be the all-too-familiar Cydia package manager running on an iPhone SE (iPhone 8,4) with the iOS 12.4 beta installed:

Axon offers a ‘Priority Hub’ experience on jailbroken iOS 11-15 handsets

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated December 15, 2022

First released back in 2014, Priority Hub was perhaps one of the most popular notification-centric jailbreak tweaks of all time. It ported BlackBerry 10’s grouped notifications feature to the iOS Lock screen, allowing users to filter missed notifications on a per-app basis.

As time went on, developers have re-made Priority Hub for newer iterations of iOS, and now that both iOS 11 and 12 are jailbreakable, it only seems just that a proper remake should be released for those firmware versions. With that in mind, we’re excited to show you a new free jailbreak tweak release called Axon by iOS developer Nepeta.

Customize the text at the bottom of your Lock screen with this new tweak

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 10, 2019

At the bottom of your iOS device’s Lock screen is a subtle blurb of text that tells you what you should do to unlock your device. On a Face ID-equipped handset, it might say “Swipe up to unlock,” while Home Button-equipped handsets might show “Press home to unlock” instead.

If you’re jailbroken and you’re interested in customizing this text, then you’re in luck because iOS developer Dave van Wijk has just released a new free jailbreak tweak called LSTextChanger that lets you do just that.