Jailbreak

Dove is a free all-in-one jailbreak tweak for customizing iOS 13

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 3, 2020

All-in-one jailbreak tweaks have become a dime-a-dozen these days as jailbreak tweak developers begin to realize just how much jailbreakers prefer using one tweak that can do everything over using a plethora of smaller tweaks to achieve the same means.

The latest all-in-one jailbreak tweak to hit the shelves is a new and free release called Dove by iOS developer fahlnbg, and it covers a wide variety of iOS elements, including but not limited to the App Switcher, the Home Screen, the Lock Screen, Control Center, and notifications, among other things.

Security researcher Brandon Azad leaves Project Zero to join Apple

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 2, 2020

The jailbreak community lost a valuable asset on Friday as renowned hacker and security researcher Brandon Azad, known for his involvement with Project Zero and for his work in discovering tfp0 exploits for iOS and iPadOS alike, was hired by Apple.

Azad made the shocking announcement Monday afternoon via Twitter, noting that the bittersweet transition to Apple’s side of the security research fence would begin as soon as next week:

Surenix launches Vantaye, a Dark Mode-friendly icon theme for all iOS & iPadOS devices

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated June 9, 2024

One of the takeaway new features that shipped with iOS and iPadOS 14 just a couple of weeks ago is the ability to “theme” your Home Screen’s app icons. This is one of many features from Apple’s latest and greatest mobile operating systems that seems heavily inspired by the jailbreak community. That said, it’s not surprising that some jailbreak community theme creators have started porting themes over to iOS and iPadOS 14.

Joining that list is esteemed graphic designer and theme creator Surenix, who just this week released a new Dark Mode-friendly theme for iOS and iPadOS 14 dubbed Vantaye. This theme puts a darker spin on your handset’s Home Screen app icons, and if you recall a theme for jailbroken devices that Surenix named Ayedapt that was released earlier this year, then some of these icons probably look familiar…

PerfectGrabber upgrades the Notification Center grabber in full-screen apps & games

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 2, 2020

Gamers and full-screen app users alike share the likelihood of benefiting from the likes of a newly released and free jailbreak tweak dubbed PerfectGrabber by iOS developer Netskao.

PerfectGrabber makes it easier to determine the time and your current battery level by incorporating them directly into the Notification Center grabber that traditionally appears when you pull down from the top of the display in a full-screen app, including but not limited to games.

Apple stops signing iOS 14.0, halting downgrades from iOS 14.0.1

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 1, 2020

One week after officially releasing iOS & iPadOS 14.0 to the general public, Apple launched its first update for the new mobile operating system in the form of iOS & iPadOS 14.0.1 with minor usability bug fixes. As we approach one week after the release of the aforementioned update, it may not come as much of a surprise to most iPhone and iPad users that Apple has unsigned iOS 14.0 this evening.

When Apple unsigns a firmware, they are effectively preventing users from downgrading to that specific version of firmware. This means that anyone who updated to iOS 14.0.1 will not be able to go back to iOS 14.0 if they are, for any reason, unsatisfied with the latest update.

Easy YouTube upgrades the YouTube app on jailbroken devices with VLC-inspired gestures

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 1, 2020

Not only is YouTube one of the most popular ways that iPhone and iPad users enjoy video consumption on the go, but the YouTube app also happens to be one of the top-downloaded apps from the App Store overall. Despite its popularity, however, the YouTube app certainly fosters wiggle room for improvement, and the jailbreak community has taken notice of this fact.

Meet Easy YouTube, a newly released and free jailbreak tweak by iOS developer miro92 that brings two of the VLC media player’s most popular in-frame gestures for adjusting the display brightness and volume levels to the official YouTube app.

Puck brings an ultra low power mode to jailbroken devices

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated October 5, 2020

Some people are more battery conscious than others, but some folks truly don’t mind letting their battery level get so low that it lurks in the danger zone — a state of inevitable automatic shutdown.

If you align with the latter camp and you’re using a jailbroken device, then this may pose problems for tweak reliability and usability because modern jailbreaks tend to be semi-tethered or semi-untethered. With that in mind, a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called Puck by iOS developer Litten may be a handy addition to handsets that see deeper battery drain than others on a regular basis.

Colorize 3D Touch and Haptic Touch menus on the Home Screen with Koi

Anthony Bouchard ∙ September 30, 2020

Having the ability to customize iOS or iPadOS’ native aesthetics is one of the top reasons to jailbreak your iPhone or iPad. That said, if you have a pwned handset at your disposal and you enjoy making it stand out from the crowd, then we think you may come to love a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called Koi by iOS developers Litten and woodfairy.

Koi is an incredibly simple tweak that offers its users an aesthetically pleasing color upgrade for the Home Screen’s 3D Touch or Haptic Touch menus, but unlike other tweaks released in the past, Koi colorize the background blur rather than the menu interface itself.

CClock adds a date and time module to Control Center on pwned iPhones

Anthony Bouchard ∙ September 30, 2020

The Status Bar plays host to a digital clock almost all of the time, except of course when you launch Control Center. Once you do, the clock disappears from the Status Bar and is replaced by the cellular and Wi-Fi connection indicators and your carrier’s name instead.

Few people would refer to this as a problem, but it’s an annoyance for some who wish that the time would merely remain in the Status Bar even after Control Center is launched. Fortunately, a new and free jailbreak tweak called CClock by iOS developer Obumbravit offers a useful workaround.

Legizmo lets iOS 13 jailbreakers install watchOS 7 on their Apple Watch

Anthony Bouchard ∙ September 29, 2020

Jailbreakers are often the few prideful few who refuse to update their iPhone’s firmware for the sake of enjoying the plethora of benefits that a pwned device brings to the table. Unfortunately for jailbreakers who use Apple Watches, this means keeping their favorite wearable on a lower firmware too; but that may not be the case anymore.

Enter Legizmo, a new development that was created to allow jailbreakers to update their Apple Watch firmware without upgrading the firmware of their jailbroken iPhone. For example, someone with a jailbroken iOS 13 iPhone should now be able to install and use watchOS 7 without a hitch, something that Apple normally blocks via the Watch app until the iPhone gets updated first.

New Tweet indicates that an iOS 13.7 jailbreak could be coming soon

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated November 12, 2020

The latest available jailbreaks at the time of this writing are Odyssey and unc0ver, each of which support up to and including iOS and iPadOS 13.5 on all devices. With that in mind, one Tweet in particular shared this Tuesday evening by the Twitter account @FreeTheSandbox appears to be turning quite a few heads in the jailbreak community.

The Tweet, illustrated in the screenshot above, appears to tip off that a yet-to-be-named jailbreak team is in the midst of forming and that it will work on a jailbreak tool that will support iOS and iPadOS 13.5 to 13.7.

Unlock true app backgrounding on your jailbroken iPhone or iPad with bakgrunnr

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated January 31, 2022

One of the things Apple continues to improve on the iOS and iPadOS platforms with every major yearly software update is multitasking, and while they’ve achieved leaps and bounds over the years while maintaining minimal impact on a device’s limited system resources, one thing that we can honestly say is still lacking is true, full-fledged application backgrounding.

It remains to be seen if Apple will ever integrate true application backgrounding into its mobile operating system experience, but if you’re jailbroken, then you won’t need to wait that day to come. A newly released and free jailbreak tweak dubbed bakgrunnr by iOS developer udevs lets you have this ability right now, starting today.