Cydia

Cydia news and information: read the latest development about Cydia, including jailbreak tweaks.

5 tweaks that you must download after jailbreaking iOS 6

Once the iOS 6 jailbreak is released, there are a few tweaks that you absolutely must download. Thankfully, Cydia will be better equipped to handle the barrage of users so that you will be able to download all of your favorite apps and tweaks with little issue.

While we wait, why not consider a few of my must-have jailbreak tweaks for iOS 6? Post jailbreak, we'll follow up with more recommended apps and tweaks, but we think this list would be enough to wet your appetite...

Worried that Cydia will be too slow after the jailbreak? Don’t worry too much

It's the same story with almost every jailbreak. The new jailbreak is released, and folks rush to download all of their favorite jailbreak apps and tweaks. The result is a less than primed experience due to the stress that this places on Cydia and the repos hosting the various packages. After a new jailbreak is released, it usually takes a few days for everything to calm down to somewhat normal levels.

This time around, though, Saurik, and the repo managers appear to be taking preemptive actions to ensure a smoother experience immediately post jailbreak release. While nothing is assured until the inevitable deluge of user requests places stress on the system, you should look forward to a much better experience than in times past.

Will Cydia packages need to be updated for the iPhone 5’s larger screen? Not necessarily

A lot of folks have been wondering what kind of impact the larger screen of the iPhone 5 will have on their favorite Cydia packages. According to Saurik, the creator of Cydia, the impact should be negligible.

One of the things that I really appreciate about Saurik, is that he's never too busy to take the time to explain his position, an idea, or to clear up a misconception. That's exactly what he did when a Reddit user complained about the potential lack of iPhone 5 compatible Cydia software...

Cydia developers rush to update their apps and tweaks as iOS 6.1 jailbreak looms

One way that I can always tell that a jailbreak is getting ready to be released, is when I see a bunch of apps and tweaks being updated to support the latest major firmware. That's exactly what's happened in the past, and that's exactly what's happening right now.

Since there's been no untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.x, most developers haven't bothered to update their tweaks and apps to support this firmware. Makes sense. That is all about to change, as soon as this week, even. Hence, many devs are scrambling to get the needed updates out to support the latest version of iOS.

What would you say if you met Jay Freeman, the developer behind Cydia?

For most people, Jay Freeman isn't exactly a household name. Neither is Saurik, his online alias. That said, if you've used a jailbroken iPhone since 2008 then you've definitely seen both names frequently. Saurik is the developer behind Cydia, the package manager we use to easily install tweaks, themes, and other software that Apple won't allow developer to distribute through iTunes.

You might know his name, but would you recognize Jay Freeman if he was walking down the street? If you did, would you approach him? Would you ask him questions? Would you pose for a picture with him and post it on Reddit? Well, that's what the first stranger who recognized him did...

Over 20 million iOS devices seen running Cydia in past 2 months

TechCrunch has published a lengthy article today entitled "Behind The Scenes of The iPhone 5 Jailbreak." The piece takes a look back at all of the jailbreaks that have been released over the years, as well as at the work being done on the current jailbreak.

While the report doesn't offer any new information regarding the progress of the iOS 6 JB, it does have a couple of interesting tidbits sprinkled throughout its contents. One of them, for example, is the number of devices that are currently running Cydia...

Infiniboard updated with Iconoclasm and OverBoard support

In what seems like the first bit of news from the jailbreak scene in quite a while, Chpwn announced today that an update for his popular Infiniboard tweak is now available in Cydia.

The utility, which allows you to add an unlimited amount of icons to each springboard page, now works with Sakurina's Iconoclasm and Ryan Petrich's OverBoard tweak...

Chpwn releases rebuilt Infiniapps with iOS 6 support

The Infiniapps are some of the most popular tweaks on the jailbreak scene. There's Infinidock, which lets you add more icons to your iOS dock, Infinifolders, which does the same thing for folders, and Infiniboard, which adds vertical scrolling to your Springboard.

If you're a fan of the trio, you'll be happy to know that Chpwn has recently updated all three of them to support iOS 6. In fact, he's completely rebuilt them from the ground up to eradicate long-standing bugs, and improve the stability and performance of the tweaks...

Weblin — yet another “Cydia alternative”

First, let me just say that this rant isn't strictly about Weblin. It's about any such service — past or future. Please read this before trying to create the next Cydia alternative.

I speak totally for myself when I say this, but I'm sick and tired of these so-called Cydia alternatives. They are usually slow, unresponsive, and serve no real purpose. Not only that, but they potentially leave you at risk security wise, and their legality falls somewhere in a grey area.

Weblin is yet the latest such "alternative". Now this review isn't meant to be harsh. Okay, who am I kidding, it is meant to be harsh, but it's in no way trying to disrespect an obviously talented developer behind the project. The problem is that these alternatives serve no purpose. They don't do anything that Cydia doesn't already do 100 times better, and for that reason they are pointless to me.

You'll see what I mean inside. Take a look as I take Weblin for a spin on video...

How to add Facebook, Twitter, and more search options to Spotlight

The awkwardly named SLightEnhancerSearch, is a recently released jailbreak tweak that adds a ton of new search options to the stock Spotlight search on iOS. When it was first released, I ran into many issues with the tweak, namely, the search options not showing up on the Spotlight page when enabled.

The tweak was updated today, and the developer seems to have stamped out all of the bugs that plagued the initial release. SLightEnhancerSearch, as silly as its name may be, is a quality jailbreak tweak that many will no doubt find useful...

New jailbreak tweak supplants Siri with Google Search

Well that didn't take long. Just a week after Google's revamped Search app with new voice technology made it into the App Store, a jailbreak tweak has been released that will allow users to supplant it for Siri in iOS.

The voice recognition tech in the new Google Search app has received a lot of praise for its speedy response times and accurate results. And now, thanks to the new tweak NowNow, you can access it from anywhere...

iPad 4 jailbroken

Hot on the heels of the iPad mini being jailbroken, well-known developer and iOS hacker Chpwn has announced that he has hacked his iPad 4. Both tablets officially went on sale last Friday.

As Chpwn points out, Cydia doesn't look any different on the fourth generation iPad than it did on its predecessor. But the fact that it's been jailbroken is actually pretty significant...