iOS

Flashy lets jailbreakers customize their iPhone’s screenshot flash

Anthony Bouchard ∙ September 25, 2020

It has become quite the norm to snap a screenshot whenever you feel like sending someone a representation of your iPhone or iPad’s display, but one thing that hasn’t changed even slightly over the years is the bright white screen flash effect that was designed to simulate that of an actual camera flash.

If you’re interested in customizing the screenshot flash in any way, shape, or form, then you might take a liking to a newly released and free jailbreak tweak dubbed Flashy by iOS developer CydiaGeek. In a nutshell, this tweak lets you customize the screenshot flash’s color and make other minor adjustments to the screenshot flash behavior.

Apple releases iOS 14.0.1 with bug fixes for default app settings and more

Evan Selleck ∙ September 24, 2020

While Apple is already beta testing iOS 14.2, the company has today released a minor update to fix lingering issues with the recently launched iOS 14.

ZecOps teases security vulnerability for iOS 14, raising hopes for a jailbreak

Anthony Bouchard ∙ September 23, 2020

iOS and iPadOS 14 have only been out for one week, but that hasn’t stopped jailbreak hopefuls for questioning when a universal jailbreak might launch with support for the two. Although the checkra1n team recently announced iOS and iPadOS 14 support for A9 and A9X devices with expected support for A10 and A10X in coming weeks, any and all newer devices are left out in the cold in this regard.

While no jailbreak team has outright stated that they would be taking on the burden of developing a universal iOS and iPadOS 14 jailbreak, some good news is that @ZecOps could be preparing to release a kernel-level local privilege escalation (LPE) that supports iOS and iPadOS 14. The announcement was shared via Twitter just this Wednesday afternoon:

FAQ: iOS 14 checkra1n jailbreak

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated May 11, 2021

The checkra1n jailbreak recently picked up support for iOS 14 on devices equipped with Apple’s A8-A9X processors, but as many noticed on the night this happened, the checkra1n team also elucidated on how it would take more time to add support for A10 and A10X devices and that they weren’t even sure if they would be able to add support for A11-equipped devices like the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X.

Given the rather unexpected and uncertain circumstances, we’re sure there are a lot of questions about the checkra1n jailbreak and when or if it will receive updates to support newer devices. With that in mind, we wanted to take a moment to deliver an FAQ-style post that would discuss many of the most common questions and the best answers for those questions that we have at the time of this writing.

Here is everything new and improved in Apple’s Messages app on iOS 14 and iPadOS 14

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 23, 2020

The Messages app in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 brings more than a dozen new features and enhancements, allowing you to stay connected to your favorite conversations, keep track of group chats, bring specific items to someone's attention with Slack-like mentions and much more. Here is everything new and improved in Messages on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Velaris is the Home Screen user experience that all jailbreakers deserve

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated May 10, 2022

Apple’s new iOS 14 update is jam-packed with enticing new features that offer a strong argument for upgrading from a jailbroken iOS 13 device. But as veteran jailbreakers will say, it’s generally better to stick with the jailbroken device, even if the firmware isn’t the ‘latest and greatest.’

A newly released jailbreak tweak called Velaris by iOS developer Ben Giannis provides an stout example of why that’s the case. As depicted in the screenshot examples above, Velaris upgrades the iPhone’s Home Screen interface by incorporating alarm, calendar, and weather information in an aesthetically-pleasing manner — in fact, it looks so good that some might even prefer it over iOS 14’s new Home Screen widgets.

Downgrades from iOS 14 no longer possible as Apple stops signing iOS 13.7

Anthony Bouchard ∙ September 22, 2020

Apple officially released iOS and iPadOS 14 last Wednesday, bringing dozens of exciting new and notable features to iPhones and iPads alike. Now, one week after the aforementioned launch, Apple has stopped signing both iOS and iPadOS 13.7.

This is a particularly significant change because iOS and iPadOS 13.7 were the final versions of the 13-centric family to be released before last week’s public iOS and iPadOS 14 launch. That said, Apple has effectively broken the ability to downgrade iOS or iPadOS 14 back to iOS or iPadOS 13.

Iconify makes missed notifications more discernible from the Home Screen

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated May 2, 2023

If you somehow manage to overlook the plethora of notification banners that stack up on top of one another on the Lock Screen, then you’ll be met later on with a myriad of red notification badges from the moment you authenticate and arrive at the Home Screen. But whoever said iOS’ notification experience needed to be so bland? Ah yes… Apple did.

Spori makes it easier to use Siri to dictate music playback in Spotify

Anthony Bouchard ∙ September 22, 2020

If you’re jailbroken on iOS 13 and use Spotify as your primary music streaming app, then chances are you might find yourself wishing that Siri worked as smoothly with Spotify as it did with Apple Music. Fortunately, a free jailbreak tweak called Spori by iOS developer udevs can make that happen.

Siri can already play tracks via the Spotify Music app if you specifically articulate that you’d like to play that song in Spotify, but who wants to waste their time adding those extra words to each and every Siri command? I, for one, certainly don't.

Checkra1n jailbreak picks up support for iOS 14 on A8-A9X devices

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated October 12, 2020

Not even one week after Apple officially released iOS and iPadOS 14 to the general public, the checkra1n team has released checkra1n version 0.11.0 with support for Apple’s latest and greatest mobile operating system (albeit with a catch).

The checkra1n Twitter page shared the announcement late Monday night, followed closely by commentary from Todesco himself:

Zefy makes Spotify behave more like a default media player on jailbroken iPhones

Anthony Bouchard ∙ September 21, 2020

Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming services available for the iOS & iPadOS platforms apart from Apple's own Apple Music streaming service. But if anything’s painfully obvious, it’s the fact that Apple nerfs the functionality of third-party apps and services that compete with its own by limiting what they can do on their platform; this effectively makes Apple’s own services look better by comparison, and intentionally so.

If you’re an avid Spotify user and you also have a jailbroken iPhone or iPad at your disposal, then you could probably benefit from the likes of a newly released jailbreak tweak dubbed Zefy by iOS developer udevs. This tweak implements a few handy workarounds for iOS to make Spotify feel more like a native music player than just a third-party alternative to Apple’s.

How to use compact calls on iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 11, 2023

By default, incoming phone and FaceTime calls appear as a compact banner at the top of the screen of your unlocked iPhone. It doesn't take up the whole screen.

However, if you or someone with access to your iPhone switched it back to a full-screen interface, then you can easily revert to the default, compact style. In this tutorial, we'll show you how.