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Jailbreak tweaks of the week: Auto SilentMe, NFCWriter, QuietWhilePlaying, & more…
The jailbreak community has been somewhat of a roller coaster ride for the last several weeks, slowing down and speeding up from time to time.
In this roundup, we talk about all the jailbreak tweaks that launched throughout the past week, starting with our favorites and then moving on the rest afterwards.
Apply new cosmetics to Control Center with CCSmooth10
One of the benefits of having a jailbreak is being able to give your iPhone a new look and feel that's different from every other average Joe on the block. A new free jailbreak tweak dubbed CCSmooth10 by CydiaGeek takes aim at the Control Center interface with this concept in mind.
This tweak comes with a host of options that can make Control Center look totally different than it does out of the box. Its effects are purely cosmetic rather than functional, but to say you can get some awesome effects out of the tweak is an understatement.
BetterPhotoCrop keeps the Notification Center grabber from appearing as you crop images
I use the image-cropping tools from my iPhone's Photos app on a daily basis, and I've noticed that I accidentally invoke the Notification Center grabber quite a lot while cropping when I attempt to drag down from the top of the image.
BetterPhotoCrop by iOS developer Andreas Henriksson is a new free jailbreak tweak that moves the cropping interface down enough to prevent the Notification Center grabber from being invoked when you drag down from the top of an image to crop it.
AlternateControls 2 brings an Android-style bottom navigation bar to iOS
Available on a wide variety of Android handsets is the bottom navigation bar, and with a jailbreak tweak called AlternateControls 2 by iOS developer Ian Burns, you can bring this functionality to your iPhone as well.
Once installed, the button to the far left will act as a back button, letting you move backwards between interfaces you’ve visited previously, while the center button acts as a virtual Home button and the button to the far right acts as an App Switcher shortcut.
QuietWhilePlaying prevents notifications from interrupting your music playback
If you have a pet peeve for incoming notifications interrupting your music when you’re trying to sit back and enjoy a song, then installing a new free jailbreak tweak called QuietWhilePlaying (iOS 10) by iOS developer ijapija00 should be next on your to-do list.
This tweak silences the alert sounds and vibrations associated with incoming notifications, no matter which app they're coming from, whenever you’re actively listening to media.
Ambiance lets your Phillips HUE bulbs take full advantage of your jailbroken iPhone
Every so often, a jailbreak tweak emerges that lets you do something out of the ordinary with your iPhone, and a new release called Ambiance by iOS developer Ziph0n is a testament to such tweaks.
Ambience links your jailbroken iPhone and Phillips HUE smart light bulbs together in new and exciting ways, immersing your entire room with color effects based on what you’re doing on your device at a given time.
Apple confirms 3D Touch app switching was intentionally removed from iOS 11
The convenient 3D Touch power-user gesture for quickly opening iOS's app switcher has disappeared from iOS 11 beta. According to Apple Engineering's response to a Radar that developer Bryan Irace recently filed regarding its removal, the gesture was pulled intentionally from iOS 11 beta and might not be coming back in subsequent betas.
On iOS 10 and older, you can view your recently used apps by pressing the left side of the screen with 3D Touch. You can also use 3D Touch to quickly switch to a previous app by pressing the left edge of the screen hard, then swipe right.
Neither gesture works in iOS 11 beta.
When asked about the removal, Irace received the following reply from Apple Engineering:
Please know that this feature was intentionally removed.
The wording confirms it's not a bug—Apple did remove this power-user gesture on purpose.
Here's the screenshot of Apple's response to Irace's Radar.
I have a problem with the wording of the statement.
For starers, it doesn't make it 100 percent clear whether or not they intentionally removed the gesture from iOS 11 beta only for it to return in subsequent betas. We were, of course, hoping it was merely a bug. But the fact that it isn't listed as a known issue in the release notes accompanying the iOS 11 installer is rather telling.
This could be related to iPhone 8.
With major design changes coming to the next iPhone in the form of a nearly full-screen face with a seamless OLED display, the feature's removal might quite possibly indicate a brand new way of accessing iOS's app switcher on iPhone 8.
I wish Apple made it an optional setting rather than remove it completely. That way, people who still wanted it could keep it. On the other hand, Apple has stats on iOS features people use and perhaps numbers for the app switching 3D Touch thing were dismal, who knows?
The fact is, it doesn't make much sense if you use your Plus iPhone model right-handed. Besides, I know many people who accidentally activate it all the time and get annoyed.
Could it have been deprecated by iPhone 8, because it was too easy to trigger accidentally without a bezel around the display? Will iPhone 8's rumored function area at the bottom doubles as an app switcher of sorts? Last but not least, has Apple decided to remove the gesture because very few people were using it or were unaware it existed in the first place?
Tell us what you think in the comments section!
NFCWriter tweak unlocks your iPhone NFC capabilities
At the beginning of May, iOS developer Limneos started tinkering with the iPhone’s NFC chip to allow it talk to third-party NFC tags and accessories that Apple has never allowed its system to talk to before.
At the time, it was just a work in progress and a proof of concept, but Limneos has officially released a new jailbreak tweak in Cydia dubbed NFCWriter that unlocks the full potential of your NFC chip for everyone. It's the first time that the chip has been hacked to this extent, and it opens a whole new realm of possibilities.
Lysithea X brings iOS 11-esque Lock screen music controls to iOS 10
In case you haven’t seen it yet, iOS 11 comes with a redesigned Now Playing Lock screen interface. It’s sleeker and takes up less space so you can manage your music playback and see missed notifications in the same place more easily.
Now, a new jailbreak tweak called Lysithea X by iOS developer ijapija00 brings this iOS 11 Now Playing Lock screen interface to jailbroken iOS 10 devices.
SwitcherControls merges the App Switcher and Control Center interfaces into one
If you want a more powerful App Switcher, then perhaps a good place to start is with a new jailbreak tweak called SwitcherControls by iOS developer DGh0st.
Immediately reminiscent of the multi-center feature from a prior jailbreak tweak release known as Auxo 3, SwitcherControls combines both the App Switcher and Control Center interfaces into one, yielding what you see above.
How to stop iCloud Photo Library from eating into your iPhone’s cellular data plan
iCloud Photo Library is an optional feature on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac that uploads every photo and video you take or import to iCloud and keeps everything synchronized across all your Apple gear. I've been using it for years and it really “just works”.
On iOS 10 and earlier, Photos syncs with iCloud each time your device connects to Wi-Fi and the battery is charged. On iOS 11 and later, Photos can also use your iPhone's cellular data connection to sync and update the image library.
Do you take many photos on the go? Are you on a metered rather than an unlimited plan? Then you don't need me to tell you that you must ensure you're not wasting huge amounts of cellular data to this feature.
Here's how to stop the Photos app from eating into your iPhone's cellular data plan.
Before we get to it, keep in mind the following:
iOS 10 and earlier—Your Photos library syncs with iCloud each time your device connects to Wi-Fi and the battery is charged. iOS 11 or later—You decide if Photos syncs with iCloud via cellular or Wi-Fi only.In other words, you should double-check that cellular updates for iCloud Photo Library are turned off only if you're on iOS 11 or later. Folks on older iOS editions needn't do that because Photos syncs with iCloud only when their iPhone is connected to power and Wi-Fi.
How to stop iCloud Photo Library on iPhone from using cellular data12-megapixel images and 4K videos captured on your iPhone take up quite a bit of storage space. For most people, there's no point allowing iOS to gobble up cellular data just to keep the image library synchronized with iCloud at all times.
Thankfully, you can prevent this from happening, and here's how:
1) Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or cellular iPad.
2) Tap Photos in the list.
3) Tap Cellular Data.
4) Slide the button labeled Cellular Data to the OFF position.
This device will no longer use your carrier's cellular data for updating the Photos library. Any changes to your image library will automatically upload to iCloud as soon as the device connects to power and Wi-Fi.
TIP: If you really need Photos to be in perfect sync with iCloud at all times, even on the go, via cellular and Wi-Fi, be sure to slide the toggle labeled Unlimited Updates to the ON position.
The feature's description says “unlimited updates may cause you to excess your quota“.
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