Cody Lee

Cody Lee, iDownloadBlog.com’s longest-serving Editor, joined the site in 2008. He specializes in uncovering the best deals on Apple products, apps, and accessories. With years of experience in technology journalism, Cody helps readers save money while staying informed about the latest trends and updates in the Apple ecosystem. Cody’s history with smartphones goes almost as far back as he does. As the son of a Nokia employee, he was exposed early on to handsets like the N91 and the Communicator. He has since been involved in nearly every aspect of the mobile phone industry. While going to college, he worked at a Nokia factory, building handsets, and later moved on to a sales position at a major wireless carrier.

Apple Plans to Fight Fingerprints With a New Screen Coating

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2011

A new patent application surfaced last week that points to Apple's extensive research regarding oleophobic coating. The ingredient is used to fight off skin oils, which cause fingerprints and smudges on touchscreen displays.

Apple originally introduced the coating back in 2009 on the iPhone 3GS, but this application describes a more efficient method for applying the material. Mix in the fact that the patent was just filed in February, and we could see Apple use this on their upcoming smartphone...

Double At: Insert Your Email Adress by Double Tapping the “@” Key

Cody Lee ∙ August 14, 2011

And the onslaught of jailbreak utilities continues, with this new release from iSam. The package will allow you to automatically insert your email address into a text field upon double tapping the "@" key.

While you could accomplish this with an app like Xpandr, Double At is much more simple. This utility is for power users who are constantly sending out their email address from their iDevice...

IconCommands: Make Your Icon Tapping More Productive

Cody Lee ∙ August 14, 2011

We've seen a flurry of jailbreak tweaks surface over the last few days, and it doesn't look like it's slowing down. Multiple packages turned up in Cydia today, but the one we're going to cover in this post is IconCommands.

The utility allows you to set customized actions for when you tap on an app icon. For example, you can set applications to launch on a single tap, hide once double tapped, and delete after 3 taps. I know it sounds similar to Apptivator, but it's actually very different...

Copic: Add Contact Photos to your Call Lists, Contact Lists, and Text Messages

Cody Lee ∙ August 14, 2011

I love jailbreak utilities that add contact photos to stock iOS apps. It makes your contacts seem more like real people, rather than pieces of data.

Cydia provides a couple of options to pull this off. SMSEnhancer adds contact photos to the Messages app, and IPicMyContacts does the same for your contact list. And then there's Copic, which actually does what the other two tweaks do, and more....

SleepDepriver: Prevents Your iDevice from Going to Sleep

Cody Lee ∙ August 14, 2011

As an iDB writer, I spend a lot of time downloading and installing Cydia packages on my iPhone. The problem is that I don't want my device locking in the middle of my work, and toggling off the autolock feature is a 5 step process.

Naturally, I turned to Cydia for a utility to solve my problem. There were a couple of good options available, but I really liked SleepDepriver. Unlike the other jailbreak tweaks, SleepDepriver disables your screen from dimming...

NoSearchCorrect: Disable Autocorrect in Safari Search Field [Updated]

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 17, 2017

The autocorrect feature in iOS is pretty annoying. Where is it the most annoying? The Safari search bar. Everyone knows the search field is much better at predicting what you're typing than Apple's autocorrect.

And for that reason, Filippo Bigarella created NoSearchCorrect. This simple utility disables the frustrating feature when performing searches in mobile Safari...

Screenshot Customizer: Add Colors and Patterns to Your Screenshot Flash

Cody Lee ∙ August 13, 2011

Jailbreaking your iDevice gives you the ability to customize it beyond your wildest dreams. Not only are there themes and icon packages that can change the look and feel of iOS, there are also tweaks available.

And if you really have an appetite for customizing, this next utility might just make your day. Now you can personalize something I'm willing to bet you would have never thought of, your screenshots...

Cupertino Releases Plans for Apple’s Awesome New Campus

Cody Lee ∙ August 13, 2011

What do you do if you have $75 billion dollars in the bank, and your company is growing so fast that you can't find a big enough area to house your operations?

That's easy, you design and construct a seemingly stadium-sized building out of pure glass to send a message that your company is innovative and that money isn't an object. And that's exactly what Apple's doing...

German Airport Officials Believe They May Have an iPhone 5 in Custody

Cody Lee ∙ August 13, 2011

Here's something you don't hear every day. Multiple news outlets are reporting that two men were picked up in a German airport after an x-ray machine picked up a knife in one of their bags.

The weapon alone isn't that interesting, but what they found after searching through the rest of the luggage is certainly intriguing. German officials think they may have been one of the first ones to lay eyes on the iPhone 5...

Will Apple Add Bluetooth to the iPod Nano this Fall?

Cody Lee ∙ August 13, 2011

We've heard several rumors about Apple's expected smartphone refresh this Fall, and even some gossip that we'll see a new tablet. Heck, there's even been some murmurs of a new iPod touch sporting a 3G radio.

All of this speculation has overshadowed Apple's typical September announcement: new iPods. However, Seth Weintraub of 9to5Mac believes it will still be an eventful Fall for Apple's MP3 player line — particularly the Nano. The tiny music player got a huge makeover last year, but that could have just been the beginning...

FlashCam is Two Jailbreak Tweaks in One: Flashlight and Camera Access From the Lockscreen

Cody Lee ∙ August 13, 2011

The empty lockscreen in iOS makes for an interesting place to deploy jailbreak tweaks. In fact, it seems like we've seen an excess of them since Apple unveiled the lockscreen-based camera shortcut in their upcoming iOS 5.

The feature has inspired tweaks like CameraLock and FlashLock, which allow you to access the camera and its flash respectively, without having to unlock the device. Now there's a utility available that combines both tweaks into one package...

Add a Homepage Button in Mobile Safari with This Tweak

Cody Lee ∙ August 13, 2011

I'll be the first to admit that Safari's mobile browser in iOS isn't the greatest. It's lacking some serious features that you'll only find in third-party applications. However, it is the stock browser, and for that reason alone it's the most popular.

Luckily, the jailbreak community is really good at tweaking stock iOS apps to make up for missing options. Such is the case with this next tweak, which adds a homepage button to the feature-starved browser...