Jailbreak

‘UnthreadedJB’ untethered jailbreak released for CDMA iPhone 4 on iOS 5.1

Make sure you read that title very carefully before you get too excited. Yes, there's a new jailbreak out, and yes, it's untethered. But odds are, you're not going to fit its compatibility requirements. It only works for CDMA versions of the iPhone 4, and the app only runs on Linux.

It's called UnthreadedJB, and it's developed by a group of people under the same name. To be fair, this is the first untethered jailbreak we've seen for iOS 5.1—I believe Absinthe 2.0 was for iOS 5.1.1—so it doesn't come without acclaim. And several users have confirmed that it works...

‘Orangered’ delivers Reddit push notifications to iOS devices

Reddit has grown exponentially as a link-based community over the past few years, emerging as one of the de facto places for breaking news, funny images, IAMA question and answer sessions, and more. And memes -- lots and lots of memes. The surging popularity of the website can make staying on top of new posts, comments, and mentions increasingly challenging.

Looking to make the Reddit experience more manageable on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, developer Julian Weiss has released a new jailbreak tweak called Orangered. The tweak brings Reddit push notifications to iOS systemwide, including both the Lock screen and Home screen, for the following supported Reddit apps: Alien Blue, Karma, Upvote, iAlien, amrc, and Redditor…

Apple was right, widgets just ain’t cool

Without a doubt, one of the biggest differences between iOS and Android is its fundamental handling of information. Google decided to allow widgets onto a phone's Home screen so that, theoretically, users would have the information they need right at their fingertips. Apple, on the other hand, has doggedly stuck to its guns over the years, with iOS remaining a collection of app icons rather than live widgets.

Over the years there have been plenty of arguments amongst those in the tech community as to which was the best way to go. Android users will repeatedly point to widgets as one of the main reasons they prefer their phones over the iPhone or even one of the Windows Phone handsets. Sitting halfway between iOS and Android, Windows Phone features live tiles that offer up information from the phone's Home screen a la widgets, but that's just not enough for some. It's widgets or nothing, man, and that's the way it is.

But iOS users can have their cake and eat it. They can have widgets on their home screens just like Android users, whilst still having that iPhone they so love. But the real question is: should they? Even if they should, I'd argue that fewer people actually would than we might think...

‘LastPic’ released on Cydia

LastPic, the jailbreak tweak that allows you to attach the last taken photograph into an iMessage conversation, has been released on Cydia. The tweak, which we discussed on Monday, is an iMessage implementation of a feature that has been a staple in the popular Tweetbot Twitter client.

LastPic is a free download, and it's available on Cydia's BigBoss repo right now. For those of you browsing this post on an iOS device, you can click here to be taken directly to Cydia for the download.

A beautiful verbal clock for your Lock screen

Continuing our Lock screen modding series, we take a closer look at an elegant verbal clock. Having an affinity for well-designed typographical imagery, this verbal clock is a perfect addition for my iPhone. A sleek black, gray, and white interface, I am impressed with the elegance of its minimalism. Follow us beyond the fold to find out how to set your iPhone up similarly...

A simple Lock screen that displays the local weather forecast

The iPhone Lock screen has not changed since 2007 and it is certainly boring, even outdated. Everyone loves a good Lock screen and we wanted to give a quick how-to for a simple tweak. Getting things looking fresh on your iPhone can be a jumbled mess while plowing through Cydia, looking for the right packages. A few days ago we had users submit their favorite Lock screens, screen shots, and tweaks, which led to this post. While this initial posting is simple, we hope it inspires you to construct your own beautiful Lock screens...

How to back up your jailbreak tweaks before updating in iOS 6

Many of our regular readers have been asking us about backup solutions for their devices after the release of iOS 6.1.2 and the jailbreak that followed shortly afterwards. I want to be clear here: automated backups can be very bad news. If you restore your tweaks without going through Cydia, and an update breaks a single tweak, you won't have a fun time attempting to find the incompatible package that crashes your phone at startup. While minor updates (like 6.1 to 6.1.2) are less likely to cause conflicts, the risk is never zero.

With that warning in mind, there are a number of options for backing up your Cydia tweaks when upgrading to iOS 6.1.2...

How to enable HDR Camera mode on iPad, and iPod touch 4G

HDR is a photography mode that stitches together several pictures along a range of exposure settings. Using various algorithms, the effect creates pictures that can have fewer dark or washed out spots than a conventional digital still, which is great if you intend to capture textures and detail instead of glare or shadow.

Apple introduced HDR photography to iOS 4.1, but the feature wasn't rolled out to every device. The devices that currently lack the option to enable HDR in the stock camera app include the iPod touch 4G, iPad mini, and the iPad 2 to the iPad 4. Lucky for us, this disabled feature is fairly easy to manually reintroduce on a jailbroken device...

‘Enable Copy text in Facebook’ makes using the official Facebook app less frustrating

Have you ever had to jump through hoops to log into a desktop website because an app won't let you copy the text on your phone? This should never happen, but for some unfathomable reason, major services like Facebook do not allow for copying text in-app (the Facebook app currently allows users to copy text from messages and comments, but not from status updates or posts).

Luckily you can get rid of the annoyance, even if Facebook won't fix the issue themselves. 'Enable Copy text in Facebook' is a tweak that allows jailbroken iOS devices to capture the text directly from Facebook posts themselves...

Always know what song is playing with NowPlaying on Status Bar

Do you hate it when you're listening to music, and you can't remember the name of the song you're listening to? This might not seem like such a problem with your own music collection, but what if you have a streaming app running in the background?

Sure, you could jump to your music player or podcasting app and check to see what was just playing or check the Lock screen, but that can get to be a pretty big disruption. If you just want to take a peek, install NowPlaying on Status Bar instead...

Save battery life at night with AirplaneScheduler

Airplane mode is a setting in iOS that allows users to disable wireless radios while the mode is active. This includes all cellular reception, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are initially disabled but can be re-enabled with Airplane mode still active). It's intended to put the device in a state where it is safe to use on a plane, but some users have taken to the feature as a power-saving mode.

AirplaneScheduler is a very comprehensive timer tweak that presets toggles for Airplane mode, allowing users to toggle Airplane mode on and off automatically on a recurring basis...

Increase video playback speed with FastForward

Ever wanted to speed up video playback on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch? While it's not a thought that occurred to me, Harrison Apps (the developer behind Universal Video Downloader) says that their new tweak is great for speeding up recorded University lectures.

The tweak is called FastForward, and it alters the speed of film clips that take advantage of iOS' native video APIs. With FastForward enabled, you should be able to give your long winded professors a bit of a boost...