iDownloadBlog.com

Circuitous – A Different Take On iPhone App Switching

Guest Author ∙ Updated August 24, 2016

This is a guest post by iDB reader Jeton Aliji. If you'd like to send your articles to be published on the blog, make sure to check out the guidelines.

In the ModMyI repo today we have a new package called Circuitous, which is another app switcher, but this one has a more different approach which some of you might like.

Dan Zimmerman, the author calls Circuitous a “custom app switcher”. Circuitous shows applications in a dock on the right side of your springboard.

The app activation methods are controlled by Activator, the superb centralized gestures and button management for iPhone OS which is developed by Ryan Petrich. It's good to see more and more apps who use Ryan Petrich's library.

Apart from showing the dock (with an activation method you choose from Activator), Circuitous has an option to cycle through open apps (both forward and backward) by letting you choose the activation method to cycle through the open/backgrounded apps.

From my own experience, I find Circuitous very user friendly and less obtrusive than the other apps, as it covers only part of your springboard and not the whole page.

For activating the dock I have chosen the Home Button double press ( used to be kirikae on that spot, but now I activate kirikae by double tapping on the status bar).

Circuitous joins the rank of apps such as ProSwitcher and Kirikae, and the best thing of all these is that they use Activator to manage their activation settings.

Try it for youself, it’s free and of course share you thoughts about it.

Jeton is a 28 y/o Albanian who loves to play and try new Cydia tweaks and apps. He believes that the jailbreak scene is a showcase of the creative geniuses and the beautiful minds of the people that make the iPhone more that it was meant to be. You can find Jeton on Jeton on Twitter where he also has an iPhone Dev list where he keeps up with all things Cydia.

Apple Finally Makes Links In App Store Apps Descriptions Clickable

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

Until now if you wanted to click on a link in the description of an app in the App Store on your iPhone, well, you couldn't. Links were not clickable, which sometimes was very inconvenient.

A Small but noticeable change, Apple finally made these links clickable. I found out about it today while updating Tweetie.

Or maybe it's been here forever and I'm just figuring it out?

Update: @TouchReviews told me on Twitter that links have been clickable only in the 'updates' section. Very amateurish of me; I should have know that.

Street Fighter IV Review

Guest Author ∙ Updated March 27, 2018

If you are in your 30s, you may remember the popular arcade game "Street Fighter II." I remember literally watching hours of people playing the game. (I rarely played the game; I mostly sucked but I wanted to save money). And now, you can get the latest version of the game right on your iPhone with Street Fighter IV [iTunes link] for $9.99.

Immediately, hardcore SF fans will see that there are only eight characters to choose from. In the normal SF IV game, there is a total of 19 playable characters. SF IV Producer Takeshi Tazuka says there are less characters because of the limited amount of CPU memory in the iPhone, 256MB of RAM for the 3GS and 128MB for the 3G.

Otherwise, this game really kicks (no pun intended). As far as onscreen controls go, this is one of the better ones. If you didn't like touch controls before, this will not change your mind but it is more than adequate. Here's a list of buttons: punch, kick, special attack and focus attack. The touch joystick is on the left. These are transparent on the screen and do cover up the players a little, but it hasn't affected my enjoyment of the game.

I have a 3G and the game is so memory-intensive that I do experience crashes. 3GS and newer iPod Touch owners will probably do better.

For those who are new to the game, there is a dojo that will help you to learn the moves. There is also a free-sparring mode and a training room mode to help you perfect your combos and special attacks.

Other features include Bluetooth support for iPhone head-to-head combat and the ability to save your best games.

I'd say at $9.99 this game is a steal. Some may want to wait for a price drop, but SF fans should get this one immediately.

iPhone Stuff You Missed This Week

Sébastien Page ∙ March 14, 2010

This is a summary of all the articles that were posted on the blog this week:

SBSettings actually makes your iPhone better? Cydia update makes it a little less slow How to fix push notifications on hacktivated iPhones iDongle boots your tethered 3.1.2 iPhone AT&T confirms move to a "variable pricing model" ScreenRecorder records everything you do on your iPhone Poll: did you preorder an iPad?

Poll: Did You Preorder Your iPad?

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 12, 2018

I'm just curious to see if any of you actually preordered an iPad. I didn't for the simple reason that I'm currently out of the country. I think I will buy my iPad in France when going there in a couple of months.

Did You Preorder Your iPad?opinion

ScreenRecorder Records Everything You Do On Your iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ March 12, 2010

ScreenRecorder is a new application by Elton Bolzanac that allows you to record a video of your iPhone screen. Per the description of the app:

This application let’s you take video captures of your screen. This is extremely useful for quick tutorials or demonstrations, or when you want to show proof of a new hack you have accomplished. There are obviously many other uses for this. For example, you could use this like a “Notes” application, but with video instead of words!

Keep in mind that video recording is a very intense process, so crashing is very frequent on videos that have a capture time of more than 45 seconds.

I haven't tried this app myself but from what I understand it is pretty unstable. While it sounds like a very promising app, I think it's a little pricey at $1.99. Maybe a few updates to make it more stable will make this app very useful.

Have you tried ScreenRecorder yet? If so, please share your thought by leaving a comment.

AT&T Confirms Move to A “Variable Pricing Model”

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

A few months ago I wrote an article showing how AT&T was going to move to a pay-per-byte model on its 3G plans. Recently, AT&T CEO Randall L. Stephenson confirmed this move in an interview for the WSJ.

He said that AT&T is carrying half of the nation's wireless data traffic. He said that carriers will eventually move to a "variable pricing model," and that it was inevitable that heavy users should pay more than low users.

I think it's a big move that makes sense for both AT&T and its users. Of course, these new "variable pricing models" will start with the iPad which offers 250MB plan at $15/month and an unlimited plan at $30. It's just a way to get us used to it.

What do you think? Do you welcome this move to introduce various plans depending on your data consumption?

iDongle Boots Your Tethered 3.1.2 Jailbroken iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

MuscleNerd recently tweeted about a new device to boot tethered jailboken 3.1.2 iDevices without pluging it to a computer. This standalone piece of hardware is called an iDongle.

Now why would you need an iDongle? You might want to get one of those babies if your jailbroken iPhone or iTouch gets stuck at the "Connect-to-iTunes" logo everytime you reboot. The iDongle will save you a trip to the computer and can be very handy if you accidentally reboot your tethered device on-the-go.

According to the creator of the iDongle, this little piece of hardware is able to tether boot your jailbroken device, and optionnally jailbreak and hacktivate it if not already done. Looks like a savior for many of you who don't want to be able to reboot your jailbroken iPhone anywhere/anytime.

What the catch? well the catch is that the iDongle is pretty much a prototype so far. It works but the creator needs your help to start manufacturing them in large quantities. You can help by buying a prototype at a good price, or simply by donating for a pre-order. I suggest you check out the iDongle website for more information.

In the meantime, watch this video to see see the iDongle in action. It's a bit boring but it works!

What do you think about the iDongle?

How to Fix Push Notifications On Hacktivated iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ March 10, 2010

If you have recently "hacktivated" your iPhone, which means activating it to work with carriers other than the official ones, you may have encountered push notification issues. In most cases, push notifications don't work properly or even don't work at all.

There is a simple fix for this and it's called Push Doctor. Simply add the following source to Cydia then look for Push Doctor: http://www.cmdshft.ipwn.me/apt/

After installing Push Doctor, reboot your iPhone.

Push Doctor works very well with 3.1.3 and 3.1.2. It is free and has the support of the Dev Team, so you can go with it safely.

Cydia Update Makes It A Little Less Slow

Sébastien Page ∙ March 9, 2010

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about why Cydia sucks and how it could be improved. Maybe Saurik heard me because he decided to give Cydia a small update that aims at making it faster.

This update supposedly speeds up the loading time and improves the error checking when refreshing the sources.

I installed the update but unfortunately, I didn't see much improvement in speed. Hopefully, you'll get better luck than I did...

Have you installed the update yet? Does it feel like Cydia is faster?

SBSettings Actually Makes Your iPhone Better?

Cody Lee ∙ March 8, 2010

When the iPhone initially launched in 2007, the much anticipated iPhone OS required an arsenal of jailbroken apps to perform even the mildest tasks such as MMS and video recording. But through product refreshes and several software updates, that list of apps is shrinking and the iPhone OS is now considered among the industries top mobile platforms.

Now that functions such as copy/paste and video recording are available in the stock OS, jailbroken applications like Clippy and Cycorder are no longer necessities. Now I know your thinking, "So what are you saying Cody, I no longer 'need' to jailbreak my iPhone?" Not even close.

As long as Apple continues to disable users from customizing their springboard backgrounds and their icons, and of course forcing them to remain with AT&T even though other carriers get far better coverage in their home area, and continue to ignore several other missing features, iPhone users will have a reason to jailbreak. One app I continue to jailbreak for, because you can only get it from Cydia, is SBSettings.

Now let me explain. The feature I think Apple continues to miss the boat on is shortcuts. If I want to turn my bluetooth on, it is a 4 step process, 5 if you count the unlock screen. Same with changing the brightness, it's a 4 or 5 step process. Other mobile platform developers have addressed the need for shortcuts to commonly used functions in the form of widgets or shortcuts in an always on screen task bar, but for some reason Apple resists.

Enter SBSettings By Big Boss. A simple, skinnable device manager that's actually been around for quite a while. The application and themes for it can be searched for and downloaded from the Cydia App Store, so of course it's available to jailbreakers only.

The first thing you'll notice about SBSettings is how easily and quickly it launches once installed. Requiring nothing more than a finger slide across the top banner, the application drops down in the form of a window with several icons. Now the default theme is gaudy but I found it was easy to install downloaded themes by clicking the 'more' icon you see in the image below.

The theme I use is 'iPhone Congruency' and I love it because it looks stock, like it is supposed to be there. Once you got it looking good, again from the 'more' icon, you need to decide which 'toggle' icons are showing. If you don't see a toggle you want, more can be downloaded through Cydia, and can be added in this same 'toggle' screen once downloaded.

I personally like the 'processes' toggle. Although the iPhone isn't known for having great multitasking capabilities, the phone can still get bogged down with Mail, SMS, iPod, and Safari apps all open at once. The 'processes' toggle lets you shut these apps down and give your iPhone a quick boost in recovered RAM.

With toggles to turn bluetooth and wifi off and on with one touch, this app is definitely a time saver. It also gives you other great features like a quick launch App dock to launch apps from instead of scrolling through all of your icon-loaded spring boards, and the ability to re spring (or restart your iPhone, once again with one or 2 touches instead of 5 and 6 touches.

Between the time saving shortcuts, ease of use, and the fact that I can make it blend in with the rest of the phone's GUI with a quick skin download, this free app from BIG BOSS available from Cydia is a must have in my opinion.

Hopefully Apple will stumble across this little gem at some point and really take the idea of 'widgets' and 'shortcuts' more seriously. It would really be nice to see some sort of implementation of Apple's popular dashboard widget screen get ported to their mobile devices. But for right now we must use the tools we have in front of us, and with apps floating around like SBSettings, maybe thats not such a bad thing. ;op

iPhone Stuff You Missed This Week

Sébastien Page ∙ March 7, 2010

For those of you who missed some of this week's articles, here is a recap:

You're nothing without your iPhone What are your 5 most used apps? Favorite apps of the month Milk Crater: a different way to browse your iPod Do you remember the first day you had your iPhone? Netflix on the iPhone? Yes please! InfiniBoard