How to

How to access Google’s Inbox service on Safari

A month ago, Google launched a new iPhone app called Inbox, a different take on email which uses Sparrow-like gestures to help you achieve Inbox Zero nirvana and surface the most relevant items that tend to get lost in an avalanche of unwanted emails users get bombarded with.

Available on iOS, Android and Chrome, Inbox leaves fans of Apple's Safari browser in the dark. It's fortunate that there's a quick workaround to that, let me show you how.

Inbox is available free in the App Store.

Disable WhatsApp read receipts with this jailbreak tweak

WhatsApp recently introduced a new feature that automatically sends read receipts to the sender once the recipient has seen the message. Showing in the form of two blue check marks as seen in this screenshot above, this new feature could potentially raise privacy concerns for some users. If you don't want your contacts to know whether you've read their messages or not, there are a couple ways to disable WhatsApp read receipts.

How to use Facebook profile pictures for your iOS contacts

I have dozens of contacts in my iPhone that don’t have a picture attached to them. Sometimes, I’ll get a band’s information at a show and will even forget who they were months later. Pictures always help in situations like these. I’m better with faces than I am with names.

For a while now, Apple has included the ability to merge your friends’ Facebook information, including updated profile pictures, to your contacts in iOS. It only takes a few seconds and we’ve got a short tutorial for you below.

How to jailbreak iOS 8.1 with Pangu for Mac [video]

The Pangu Team released their Pangu utility for Mac earlier today, so Mac users who were waiting for compatibility with their operating system have no excuse to not jailbreak any longer.

In this post, we will show you how to use Pangu for Mac to jailbreak iOS 8.1. This post was created for an iPhone, but note that the steps are exactly identical, no matter what device you want to jailbreak (ie. an iPad or iPod touch). Likewise, any iOS 8 firmware version can be jailbroken using this tool, including iOS 8, and iOS 8.0.2.

How to enable full 60 FPS video recording on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

With the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple's brought out support for shooting full HD video in a smooth sixty frames per second (FPS), as opposed to prior models which limit 1080p video capture to a suitable thirty frames per second.

High frame rates make motion-intense videos even more awesome. For example, video shooting at 60 FPS gets rid of the stutter when panning the camera or capturing fast-moving objects.

And with YouTube now accepting 60 FPS uploads, you can share your silky smooth footage with the web at large. While both new iPhones default to capturing video in the traditional 30 FPS, all it takes to enable the new frame rate is flipping a switch in the Settings app, here's how.

How to disable Notification Center and Control Center on the Lock screen

By default, access to Notification Center and Control Center is available system-wide on iOS, meaning that you can access both features from the Lock screen, from the Home screen, and from any app. These two features are very convenient, but can also represent a security or privacy concern. With that in mind, iDB reader Eric asked us this morning on Twitter how to disable both grabbers for Notification and Control Center on the Lock screen. In this post we will show you how to do just that.

How to jailbreak iOS 8 and install Cydia using Pangu 1.1.0 on Windows [Video]

The definitive version of Pangu for Windows is here. This version, as you've likely read, is complete with a bundled Cydia installation and English text. There are also a few differences in some of the screens that you'll encounter during the jailbreak process.

If you've yet to jailbreak iOS 8, then you no longer need to wait around for anything (outside of a version for the Mac). This is the complete version of Pangu, that makes it super-simple to jailbreak just like jailbreaks of old. Pangu 1.1.0 is a great tool, and it works very well.

Check out our final complete Pangu 1.1 iOS 8.x jailbreak video tutorial inside. It only takes 8 easy steps.

How to use a passcode with the iOS 8.x jailbreak

At this point in time, running Cydia on a jailbroken iPhone can still be a bit confusing for users who aren't always knee-deep in this stuff. One of the biggest issues encountered when running Cydia on a jailbroken iOS 8 device at the moment involves using the passcode and Touch ID.

After installing Cydia on a jailbroken iOS 8 device, many are reporting that establishing a passcode sends them into a bootloop. I verified that I encountered the same issue.

Let me just preface this by saying that the problems encountered here are no fault of the Pangu team or of Saurik. This jailbreak is a work in progress, and we've been advised that the jailbreak is only for developers at the moment. That said, many of you are adventurous and want to take the plunge as soon as possible; as do I.

In this video, I share an unsanctioned workaround to the boot loop issue. I show you how to establish a passcode on a device with Cydia and Cydia Substrate installed. I've tested this out, and have recorded the entire Cydia installation process for your convenience. Have a look inside for the full tutorial.

How to jailbreak iOS 8.x with Pangu on Mac OS X using a virtual machine

Although you never can tell with these sorts of things, it doesn't look like we'll be seeing an OS X version of Pangu in the immediate future. Although I'm sure that the Pangu guys are working feverishly on an OS X version of the jailbreak tool for iOS 8.x, it likely lags behind other priorities, such as translation, embedding Cydia, etc.

With that in mind, what options exist for those of us in Mac-only households? You could, of course, visit a friend who owns a Windows machine. Or, you can do what I always do, and install Pangu and jailbreak using a Windows virtual machine on OS X. In fact, you may be surprised (or not), but I don't own a Windows machine, and haven't in years. But I'm always able to jailbreak on day one due to my Windows virtual machines.

In this tutorial, I'll tell you how to set up and install a virtual machine for free in order to jailbreak iOS 8.1 with Pangu on your Mac.