How to

App Store app works with jailbreak theme to create custom Lock screens

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 28, 2018

Trying to find a decent Lock screen theme in Cydia is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There are thousands of them in there, and there are way more bad ones than there are good. So you're forced to spend hours browsing.

But what if I told you there was an app in the App Store that, when coupled with a jailbreak theme, allowed you to either create your own custom Lock screen themes, or download hundreds of free themes, with a few quick taps?

Well, such an app exists. And if you haven't seen it yet, this post is going to make your day...

How to quickly navigate through the iOS Calendar app

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 22, 2022

Last week we showed you how to delete individual digits from the iOS Calculator app by swiping. It wasn't a major revelation, by any means, but a lot of folks seem to have found it useful.

In the same fashion, we have another trick to show you today. And if you've ever thought to yourself that it takes too long to navigate through the iOS Calendar app, you'll want to see this...

How to get the new LastPic tweak to work with biteSMS

Cody Lee ∙ April 4, 2013

Last month, Filippo Bigarella released a handy little tweak called LastPic. For those who missed it, LastPic lets you quickly add the last photo you took to an iMessage conversation, similar to the Tweetbot function.

Unfortunately, the tweak is only compatible with the iMessage app. But luckily we've discovered a simple hack that allows you to use it with the popular jailbreak app biteSMS. And yes, we've got a tutorial for you...

How to re-enable background audio playback for Safari videos in iOS 6

Cody Lee ∙ March 30, 2013

Remember the good old days, in iOS 5, when you could listen to a video's audio in the background on your device while multitasking? All you had to do was double tap the Home button, swipe to the left to reveal the iPod controls, and press Play.

But for some reason, Apple disabled this feature in iOS 6, leaving us without a native way to do things like listen to YouTube videos in Safari while texting or browsing Twitter. But the good news is, we've come across a fairly easy way to get it back...

How to embed Vine clips in web pages

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Twitter's Vine is fine for random sharing of six-second videos and today they issued an interesting new update promising to make embedding own or someone else's clips easy as a pie. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

The new version won't let you just grab an embed code in-app. For reasons beyond our comprehension, the software sends you to a special web page where the embed code can be created.

It's not the end of the world, but the solution is cumbersome and inelegant, though it works. To start injecting those beautiful Vines into your blog posts, web pages, email newsletters or pretty much into any other other type of HTML content, just follow our quick guide and you should be fine...

How to enable Apple two-step verification

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 8, 2016

Back in 2013, a Strategy Analytics report came out that showed iCloud as the top cloud media service in the US. People use it to store things like music and videos, but they also use it to store more personal stuff like contacts, photos and other data.

So you can see why users were relieved to hear that Apple beefed up its account security by adding a two-step verification option. And for those having trouble getting it setup, we've put together this easy-to-follow tutorial.

iDownloadBlog challenges you to join our March Madness pool

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Again we hit the hallowed time during the year when the world exalts American college basketball players as if they were gods. Millions of dollars in lost productivity across the US puts a further damper on the economy as we all turn from work to watch basketball.

At iDownloadBlog we relish the opportunity to participate in this worldwide assault on productivity – not that we will stop bringing you the best Apple news for a month. Join us beyond the fold to learn how to monitor the action from your favorite iOS devices and sign up for the iDownloadBlog tourny pool...

How to bring your Google Reader feeds over to Flipboard

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 14, 2013

Some of us are adamant that a bright future lies ahead of RSS. Though the majority of my news discovery happens on Twitter and Facebook these days, I still rely on RSS feeds every now and then. In fact, you could say I am a regular Google Reader user.

But with the impending shutdown of the service, loyal fans like myself have no other choice but find a new home for their feeds.

Cody has put together a useful list of the ten most popular Reader alternatives and there's also that upcoming Digg Reader app. People who happen to manage their news sources in the excellent Flipboard app can bring their Google Reader feeds quite easily, here's how...

How to fix Cydia error “wow, you exceeded the number of package names this APT is capable of”

Sébastien Page ∙ March 5, 2013

Ever since the evasi0n jailbreak came out, we've been inundated with the same support request about a Cydia error that displays the following message: wow, you exceeded the number of package names this APT is capable of. The message also shows a couple more lines of errors but the first one really is the source of the problem.

In this post, we'll explain what "the number of package names this APT is capable of" means, and most importantly, we'll provide you with a quick and simple fix for it...

A simple Lock screen that displays the local weather forecast

Jim Gresham ∙ February 25, 2013

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

Mike Schnier ∙ February 21, 2013

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

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated January 28, 2017

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...