iPhone News

Text Heads are coming to biteSMS [Updated]

A new feature is coming to what is arguably the best text messaging app for iOS. If you listened to our previous episode of Let's Talk Jailbreak, then you already have a good idea what it is. On the podcast, I speculated about what big new feature could be coming to biteSMS after its developer hinted about a brand new addition. My guess was Text Heads.

Today, we can confirm that, indeed, Facebook inspired "Text Heads" are coming to biteSMS. After a few hints, the confirmation came straight from the horse's mouth.

The iDownloadBlog top news stories of the week – April 28, 2013 edition

Like every Sunday, we bring you the stories that were the most popular on iDB during this past week. Whether it is a news piece, an editorial, a tutorial, a new jailbreak tweak, or an accessory review, we sum it all up in one convenient place.

If you like what you're reading, please make sure to spread the love by sharing our posts on your favorite social network.

We're usually hanging out a lot on Twitter and Facebook, more rarely on Google+.

How to get Facebook Chat Heads with MessageBox New iPhone commercial: Photos Every Day Concept video shows what iOS 7 could look like without skeuomorphism Tim Cook talks new product categories, downplays chances of larger iPhone Apple announces WWDC 2013 for June 10-14, confirms iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 previews WWDC 2013 tickets: gone in 120 seconds Atom now available for download on Cydia Accentify tints iOS chrome, no WinterBoard required iPhone 5S delayed as coating material interferes with fingerprint sensor How to set up multiple email signatures on your iPhone or iPad The best note-taking apps for iPad FocusTwist: boost your iPhone photography with refocusable photos 10 apps to check out this weekend

Of course, don't forget to listen to the latest episode of our podcast, Let's Talk Jailbreak:

We’re social! Find iDB on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, App.net, YouTube, and in your RSS reader. Also make sure to subscribe to our new podcast!

RemoteTweet lets you share the Remote app’s now playing track

RemoteTweet is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to send a tweet advertising the song currently playing via the App Store's Remote app. The Remote app is an app that can be used to connect to local iTunes libraries on the same Wi-Fi network. This lets you control that iTunes library remotely using an iOS device.

With a combination of the Remote app and RemoteTweet, you can now easily advertise your now playing song via Twitter. This is despite the fact that the song is playing on a remote iTunes library, and not your actual iOS device.

Accentify now available on Cydia

Accentify — the jailbreak tweak that allows you accent iOS' chrome with custom colors — is now available on Cydia's BigBoss repo for $0.99. The tweak, which we previewed last week, works without needing WinterBoard.

The iOS chrome can be customized with over a dozen highly vibrant colors, and the changes take effect without necessitating a respring. Take a look inside for more information and screenshots from the release...

Reeder updated with Feedbin and standalone RSS support

As promised, Reeder is continuing to receive updates to prepare for a post Google Reader world. Today, Reeder 3.1 was released, and with it comes Feebin and standalone RSS support.

Although standalone RSS is nice to have, Feedbin is the big ticket item in this update. Feedbin, as you may well know, has gained a lot of traction lately as users seek to migrate their feeds to an alternate service ahead of Google Reader's July 1st demise.

How to get Chat Heads on iOS right now with MessageBox

Normally speaking, mainstream outlets like The Verge don't run posts on topics like jailbreaking or jailbreak tweaks, but one in a while they do. For instance, they will be happy to cover a tweak like Auxo, which transcends barriers of interests, even for those who've never jailbroken an iPhone.

Recently, another jailbreak tweak has graced the front page of The Verge: MessageBox. It's the tweak, that as I'm sure you all know by now, allows you to enable Facebook's new Chat Head feature system-wide. It, too, proved to be a very popular topic of interest in the tech community. What? Facebook's Chat Head on iOS? And so soon?

If you've been around jailbreaking for any length of time, you probably weren't surprised to see Chat Heads appear on iOS within such a short period of time. In fact, I outright predicted it in this tweet. It was even less surprising when I heard who was actually behind the tweak — Adam Bell. Adam is an excellent developer and designer, and he's come up with some of the community's most innovative releases.

Ever since MessageBox was first shown off, I've been in contact with Adam while he's been knee-deep in code. For the record, MessageBox is still in beta, but the potential for greatness is undeniable. The demand is so great that a deluge of tweets, emails, and other forms of communication have landed on Bell's digital doorstep. Now he's decided to release a beta version of MessageBox as an answer to the demand.

What should you expect? I thought you'd never ask...

Platinum helps you complete search queries in Mobile Safari

One of my favorite features found in Google Chrome for iOS is the ability to build on search queries without initiating the search. Unfortunately, stock Mobile Safari doesn't have this capability. That's where Platinum, a new jailbreak tweak available on Cydia, comes in.

Platinum allows you to complete search queries on Mobile Safari with ease. There are no settings or options to configure, just install it and go. Take a glance inside for a look into how it works...

If Apple loyalty holds up, iPhone will surpass Android in U.S. market share by 2015

Whenever I stumble upon a survey predicting that Apple's iPhone will loose traction to not just Android, but Windows Phone as well, my blood starts to boil in my veins.

And just like clockwork, you can count on the likes of IDC and Gartner to come out of the woodwork every now and then with wild predictions of the iPhone's demise by 2015, 2016 or 2017.

History has taught me to take such long-term predictions with a healthy dose of skepticism, even more so if data comes from big name firms whose crystal ball peering is based on "polls" that sample a few hundred random people, at best.

With that in mind, here's a survey that paints a rather rosy future for the Apple smartphone. Noting that Android is actually losing one out of every six customers to other phone vendors, Yankee Group ran their spreadsheets and determined that Apple will surpass Android in U.S. market share by 2015, provided Apple brand loyalty numbers hold up in the coming years...

We’ve got the latest version of Velox. Here’s a sneak peak

We've scored a 95% complete build of Velox 1.0, and considering that the tweak is a very hot topic on Twitter right now, we wanted to provide you guys with a brief update.

Apex Development is putting the finishing touches on the tweak, fixing small graphical issues and other minute bug fixes. Here is what we know thus far...

Old iPhone bug continues to drop last word from some iMessages

As if the now regular outages weren't enough, an old and utterly bizarre bug continues to plague Apple's iMessage service, one that deletes the last word of certain texts and iMessages.

The issue actually raised its ugly head last December, but blew up recently as many disgruntled users took to Twitter to complain about the hiccup. The problem appears to manifest itself with certain phrases and certain words only.

Exhibit A: sending someone "I could be the next Obama" followed by a trailing space could result in "Obama" being hidden from the received message. Instead of "Obama", the recipient gets a big blank space where “Obama” should be. Likewise, sending "The best prize is a surprise" could similarly result in "surprise" being dropped on the recipient's side...

LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes arrives to iOS

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes landed on the Mac last year and now an iOS version is here for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Produced by TT Games under license from the Lego Group and published by Warner Bros. Entertainment, LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes (I hate capitalized brand names so I'll just write 'Lego' henceforth) has Batman and Robin characters joining forces with other Dark Comics heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and others.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to stop the notorious villains Lex Luthor and The Joker from destroying Gotham City. The game scored nice reviews due to its 3D platforming mechanics and light puzzle solving. I've include the launch trailer and more in way of detail after the fold...

iMDB adds global release dates, actor heights and aliases, more eye candy

IMDb, the popular online film database owned by Amazon since 1998, issued its last major update to the iOS client back in December 2012.

That release (version 3.0) brought out a fresh new look on the iPad while enhancing iPhone filmographies with TV episode details and prettier image galleries, among other features. Today, iMDB version 3.2 landed on the App Store.

The software continues to refine the experience for movie buffs. For starters, non-US users will be pleased to know that the app now lists worldwide movie release dates, for example. They also enhanced the database with all-new actor heights and aliases, crazy credits and other tidbits, included right after the break...