iOS

InstaLauncher 2 makes it easy to access any app from anywhere

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated February 16, 2022

The iPhone’s Home screen is simple and effortless to navigate by nature, but if you have a lot of apps installed, then it can quickly start to seem like you’re playing a game of ‘I Spy’ every time you attempt to locate certain apps. That’s one reason why we’re fans of the plethora of third-party application launchers that the jailbreak community has brought to the table over the years.

One of the more popular options that comes to mind was InstaLauncher by iOS developer Jonathan Winger Lang, and as of this week, InstaLauncher 2 is now available with full support for iOS 10 and later (including iOS 13).

This new tweak lets jailbreakers colorize iOS’ scrollbars

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 6, 2020

A component of iOS that you probably see rather frequently when you use the Settings app or other scrollable interfaces is the scrollbar that appears at the right side of the display to give you an idea of where you are on the page.

The scrollbar does a great job of being both a reference point and a means of scrolling up or down a page much more quickly, but it’s lacking something: customization. That’s where a newly released jailbreak tweak called Color My Scrolls by iOS developer TheLazyITGuy comes into play.

How to control your iPad pointer with a physical keyboard

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 3, 2024

Learn how you can control your iPad pointer with the keyboard keys or number pad via a cool new accessibility feature called Mouse Keys.

This tweak adds useful widgets to your Settings app in iOS 13

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 5, 2020

Looking for a quick and exciting way to spice up your iPhone’s boring Settings app? If you like where this is going so far, then you’re probably going to enjoy a newly released and free jailbreak tweak dubbed SettingsWidgets by iOS developer shepgoba.

Just as the tweak’s name implies, SettingsWidgets brings a few useful widgets to the Settings app’s user interface, giving you a quick glance at some of your handset’s pertinent information, such as battery information, storage space usage, and Wi-Fi statistics, among other things.

Jailbreakers can hide their iPhone’s notch with eggNotch

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 5, 2020

Love it or hate it, the iconic notch has become a common addition to the majority of Apple’s present-day smartphones starting with the iPhone X in 2017. Unfortunately, it’s part of the handset’s hardware, which means all you can do is attempt to hide the notch with a wallpaper that incorporates a black background where the notch would ordinarily appear.

But even the aforementioned wallpaper ‘hack’ only works to your benefit in certain interfaces, like the Home screen and Lock screen. It falls short in application interfaces where the wallpaper isn’t visible, and that’s a shortcoming that a newly released and free jailbreak tweak dubbed eggNotch by iOS developer Egg aka CRKatri doesn’t have.

Zebra package manager updated to v1.1 with long list of improvements

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 4, 2020

Those taking advantage of the Zebra package manager instead of Cydia or Sileo on their jailbroken handset will do good to launch the app and refresh their sources.

A fresh update to Zebra was released Monday afternoon that officially brings the zippy package manager up to version 1.1. Citing the project’s official change log on GitHub, this release incorporates a lengthy list of improvements. Brace yourselves:

Jailbreak tweaks of the week: DockX, Groups, Quart, Scorpion, and more…

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 3, 2020

Got a jailbroken iPhone or iPad, but aren’t entirely sure how to get the most out of it? If this sounds anything like you, then you’ve come to the right place.

In this roundup, we’ll showcase all the latest jailbreak tweaks released from Monday, April 27th to Sunday, May 3rd. As usual, we’ll kick things off by discussing our favorite releases first and then wrap things up with an outline of the rest afterward.

Another kernel-level jailbreak detection bypass released, better than the last?

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 3, 2020

It was only a few days ago that a kernel-level jailbreak detection bypass had been released to the general public. Dubbed FlyJB by @XsF1re, the project was quickly taken down after the developer lost confidence in his work. But much of his efforts remained open source, permitting future projects to draw inspiration from it.

Now, a second kernel-level jailbreak detection bypass called KernBypass by has been released, this time by Twitter user @akusio_RR. The project credits @XsF1re for vnodebypass, hacker Jake James for jelbrekLib, and @0x7ff for maphys. But what does all this mean?

Quart is a new notification interface that will make non-jailbreakers jealous

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 3, 2020

When compared with other smartphone operating systems, there’s no question that iOS leaves a lot to be desired in the notification department. Fortunately, those with jailbroken handsets no longer have to settle with what Apple provides out of the box.

Quart is a newly released jailbreak tweak by iOS developer LaughingQuoll and designer timeloop that replaces the lackluster native notification system on your pwned iPhone with one that will get you riled up every time you receive a text message or any other sort of notification.

DarkSwitch commands iOS’ dark/light modes based on display brightness

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated August 9, 2021

One of my favorite features to ship with iOS 13 is native dark mode support. Not only is it something that I’ve wanted to have for several years, but it plays so nicely with the OLED display that comes standard in Apple’s flagship handsets for both enhanced aesthetics and lengthened battery life.

One way that I think dark mode could be improved, however, is with some kind of tool that automatically switches between dark and light mode depending on display brightness, as it would improve interface visibility in certain situations. Fortunately, that’s precisely the functionality that a free jailbreak tweak called DarkSwitch by iOS developer udevs appears to provide for users.

Upgrade your iPhone’s native keyboard with DockX

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 2, 2020

Apple took great care to ensure that iOS would have one of the most enjoyable typing experiences in the modern smartphone market. While it certainly is one of the best, it can still be argued that the iOS keyboard could be better with a few minor improvements.

One such example is the likes of a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called DockX by iOS developer udevs, a simple add-on that brings a full-fledged pasteboard shortcut dock to the bottom of the iPhone’s native keyboard interface.

Dusky enables use of iOS’ Reduce Transparency mode on a per-interface basis

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 2, 2020

Any stock installation of iOS or iPadOS includes a native Accessibility option called Reduce Transparency that, as the name suggests, reduces transparency in several interfaces found throughout the platform. Some of these interfaces include Today widgets, notification banners, and the Now Playing media player, to name a few.

Some people like using the Reduce Transparency option for the aesthetics alone; unfortunately, toggling this option applies to every aspect of iOS, which may not be preferred in all instances. Those looking for more fine-grained control over this feature may want to turn their attention to a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called Dusky by iOS developer P2KDev.