iOS

TinyWidget14 puts the Lock Screen’s Now Playing widget on a diet

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 23, 2021

Most iPhone users are familiar with the Now Playing widget. It’s the thing that pops on your Lock Screen whenever you have any type of media playing in the background.

While it’s useful for granular playback controls, the Now Playing widget certainly takes up a lot of vertical screen real estate on the Lock Screen, which severely limits available space for missed notification banners. Fortunately, a new and free jailbreak tweak dubbed TinyWidget14 by iOS developer P2KDev puts the Now Playing widget on a diet.

Jailbreak tweaks of the week: DoABarrelWall, Meredith, & more…

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 21, 2021

Thanks to all the exciting tidbits of jailbreak-centric news recently, from the teasers of a working jailbreak on iOS 14 to the release of a kernel-level exploit called cicuta_verosa for iOS 14.3 and below, it seems almost as if the jailbreak community is having an epiphany.

In this roundup, we’ll go over all the latest jailbreak tweak releases and jailbreak-centric news from this past week, ranging from Monday, February 15th to Sunday, February 22nd. As usual, we’ll kick everything off by talking about our favorite releases first before finally moving on to an outline of everything else afterward.

Project Manticore: Another iOS 14.0-14.3-based jailbreak in the works?

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 19, 2021

A lot has been happening in the jailbreak community with regard to iOS & iPadOS 14 in just the past couple of weeks. Not only have we witnessed jailbreak teasers on iOS 14.0 and 14.3 devices, but a new kernel exploit for iOS & iPadOS 14.0-14.3 called cicuta_virosa recently dropped. This means that a public jailbreak release supporting all devices on the aforementioned firmware versions could be just around the corner.

Given everything that appears to be going on, it seemed like a good time to turn the spotlight toward a rather interesting development known as project Manticore. At face value, it appears to be an upcoming jailbreak tool based on the new cicuta_virosa kernel exploit for iOS & iPadOS 14.0-14.3.

Pattern_F_ teases “Pre-Jailbreak” for iOS 14.0-14.3 as CoolStar takes interest

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 19, 2021

Earlier in the month, security researcher @pattern_F_ from the Ant Security Lab Tweeted a demo video of what appeared to be a successful jailbreak attempt on an iPhone 11 running iOS 14.0. It was later revealed that the exploit used would potentially work on iOS & iPadOS firmware versions up to and including 14.3.

While it was unclear whether @pattern_F_ would release the aforementioned work to the general public, the news was quickly drowned out by the subsequent release of the cicuta_virosa kernel exploit for iOS & iPadOS 12.0-14.3 by @ModernPwner.

Instagram is working on a fix for link previews in iMessage

Evan Selleck ∙ February 18, 2021

If you use Instagram and share links in iMessage, you may have noticed an issue with previews. It's been a problem for a bit of time now, but the social network says a fix is in the works.

Apple Music now lets you swipe to quickly add songs to your listening queue

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 3, 2024

If you use the stock Music app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, you'll be glad to know that Apple now makes it much easier to quickly add the current song to your listening queue or library.

Apple seeds second betas of iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, tvOS 14.5, and watchOS 7.4 to developers

Evan Selleck ∙ Updated July 21, 2024

Just over a week after seeding the first betas of iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 to developers, the company moves on with the next version.

Fresh UI concept reimagines the iPhone’s Settings app

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 16, 2021

iOS is a far cry from being an ugly mobile operating system, but there’s certainly a bit of wiggle room for Apple to improve on it. Unfortunately, first party redesigns from Apple can be few and far in between.

Amid those circumstances, it’s not uncommon for third parties to develop concepts for jailbreak tweaks or themes that make an interface more aesthetically pleasing than it comes out of the box.

How to save your .shsh2 blobs online with TSS Saver

Joaquim Barbosa ∙ Updated March 8, 2021

If you want to use futurerestore to restore your Apple devices to unsigned firmwares, you will need to have .shsh2 blobs saved for the firmware you want to restore to. Jailbreakers often want to move to an unsigned firmware in order to use a jailbreak there, when newer signed firmwares do not have one. All jailbreakers should save blobs for all their devices periodically in order to have the option of using futurerestore in the future. This guide will go through how to use the online TSS Saver tool to get the .shsh2 blobs you need.

Trouble picking the perfect wallpaper for your pwned iPhone? DoABarrelWall can help

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated August 16, 2021

Selecting a wallpaper for your iPhone can be one of the most intimate manners of customization that you’ll get to experience, and that’s because it’s a personalized image that you’ll see every time you pick up your handset to start using it.

The primary concern with choosing a wallpaper, however, is that the quest to find the right one can be daunting. Whether you’re struggling to find one you like or you simply can’t make up your mind with regard to several that you like, choosing a wallpaper poses a unique set of challenges for the indecisive.

Tint your favorite apps with the new Meredith jailbreak tweak

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 16, 2021

One of the most obvious benefits to jailbreaking is that you can customize how your system looks and behaves without Apple look over your shoulder and limiting what you can and cannot do.

While installing themes would certainly be one of the easiest ways to make your handset look different than it does out of the box, the addition of aesthetically-driven jailbreak tweaks like the newly released Meredith by iOS developer Luki120 can help push your user experience on to the next level.

RingerActions lets jailbreakers customize what happens upon toggling the ringer/silent switch

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 16, 2021

The iPhone’s ringer/silent switch is traditionally used for the purposes implied by its rather conspicuous name — it either enables the ringer for incoming notifications or it silences notification sounds on demand.

With the introduction of a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called RingerActions by iOS developer Chr1s, users now have the ability to map alternative actions to the ringer/silent switch’s conditional state.