iPadOS

Apple unsigns iOS 14.2, 14.2.1, and 12.4.9, thwarting downgrades

Anthony Bouchard ∙ January 7, 2021

After officially launching iOS 14.3 to the public last month with new features and improvements, Apple has closed the signing window for iOS & iPadOS 14.2 & 14.2.1, a move that prevents affected iPhone and iPad owners from restoring their handset’s firmware version to anything but the current iOS & iPadOS 14.3 release.

In addition to iOS & iPadOS 14.2 & 14.2.1, the company has officially started unsigning iOS 12.4.9, which prevents older handsets that are incapable of being upgraded to iOS or iPadOS 13 from downgrading from the newer iOS 12.5 release.

Give your older iPhone a bevy of modern handset features with Little12

Anthony Bouchard ∙ January 6, 2021

When Apple launched the iPhone X back in 2018, we knew the company was transitioning into a new hardware era. It wasn’t long before Apple ditched Home Button-equipped handsets altogether, paving the way for a more advanced gesture-driven user experience that could be enjoyed on a larger edge-to-edge display.

For those who still have an older Home Button-equipped iPhone, the user experience isn’t quite as robust as it would be on a notched handset by comparison. For that reason, iOS developer Ryan Nair launched Little12, a free jailbreak tweak that back-ports several of the gestures and features from notched devices (and then some) to non-notched devices.

ButterflyEffect adds animated butterflies to the Home & Lock Screens

Anthony Bouchard ∙ January 6, 2021

Do you enjoy butterflies? If you answered ‘yes’ to that question, then you might find yourself intrigued by a new, free, and rather conspicuously-named jailbreak tweak dubbed ButterflyEffect by iOS developer Pixelomer.

At first glance, ButterflyEffect causes animated butterfly-themed sprites to flutter over the top of your Home Screen and Lock Screen wallpapers. These animations traverse your screen from the bottom to the top and move slowly enough to be noticed, yet fast enough not to get in the way of your wallpaper viewing pleasure.

TimerIcon gives the Clock app an animated timer countdown icon

Anthony Bouchard ∙ January 4, 2021

It was only yesterday that we showed you a jailbreak tweak dubbed Gears, which animated the Settings app icon on the Home Screen such that the gears depicted inside the icon actually rotated, much like one used by the OTA software update mechanism from the days of iOS 7.

Today, we look at an entirely different type of animated Home Screen icon – one that impacts the likes of the Clock app to depict the current state of any active timers you might have counting down in the background. Such an icon is brought to us by way of a new jailbreak tweak called TimerIcon by iOS developer Idefix0202.

Customize your jailbroken iPhone’s locking animation with AnimeMyScreen Pro

Anthony Bouchard ∙ January 4, 2021

Many jailbreakers are deeply familiar with the concept of customizing their handset’s user interface and its animations. While there’s certainly no shortage of jailbreak tweaks available for facilitating this task, we’re excited to show you one of the latest releases dubbed AnimeMyScreen Pro by iOS developer Antony M.

You may recall a similarly named jailbreak tweak called AnimeMyBadges that was released approximately one month ago, and while that tweak focused primarily on the animations of notification badges, AnimeMyScreen Pro is instead used to customize the animation you’d see when locking your handset.

Jailbreak tweaks of the week: Restriction, SmartVolumeControl3, and more…

Anthony Bouchard ∙ January 3, 2021

The jailbreak community is in an interesting position right now. As we await an updated jailbreak solution for all the latest firmware versions on the latest Apple handsets, we still continue to witness new and exciting add-ons for current jailbroken devices.

This piece will discuss all the latest jailbreak tweak releases and news from Monday, December 28th to Sunday, January 3rd. As always, we’ll begin by talking about our favorite releases first and then wrap everything up with an outline of everything else at the end.

Gears animates the Home Screen’s Settings icon on jailbroken handsets

Anthony Bouchard ∙ January 3, 2021

When glancing at my iPhone’s Home Screen, two of the icons I often pay the most attention to are those belonging to the Calendar and Clock apps since they offer something more than just a static visual, including a live date display and a live time display.

I’ve often caught myself wondering why Apple doesn’t animate more of the Home Screen’s app icons, as this would offer a slew of eye-catching aesthetics that would compel users to spend more time appreciating the time and effort invested in making the interface look presentable.

Checkra1n v0.12.2 fixes A10/A10X device crash on iOS 14.3, enables USB on Apple TV 4K

Anthony Bouchard ∙ December 31, 2020

While many of us are gathering with small circles of close friends and family to usher in the incoming 2021 year this New Year’s Eve, the checkra1n team appears to have different plans.

Earlier this evening, the checkra1n team took to Twitter to announce that the checkra1n jailbreak tool has been updated to version 0.12.2 with a small number of changes, although notable ones nevertheless.

Restriction brings guest and user accounts to jailbroken iPhones

Anthony Bouchard ∙ December 30, 2020

The iOS and iPadOS platforms offer one heck of a user experience, so long as the device is intended for just one user. One thing that’s obviously missing, however, is a guest mode or multi-user experience, much like the ones you’d come to expect on any Mac or Windows PC.

The concept of a guest mode-style user experience for iPhones and iPads isn’t new, and has manifested itself in the form of various jailbreak tweak releases over the years, but one of the latest attempts to create this type of user experience stems from a new release dubbed Restriction by iOS developers SouthernGirlWhoCode and MeBlackHatof the TitanD3v team.

SmartVolumeControl3 provides alternative volume HUD interfaces & customizable behavior

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated October 18, 2021

As many veteran iPhone and iPad owners may remember, last year’s iOS & iPadOS 13 release introduced an overhauled volume HUD interface that removed the repulsive mid-screen monstrosity that we were plagued with for countless years. The newer volume HUD materializes off to the side of the display, precluding it from getting in the way as you try to read, watch a video, or peek at photos.

But let’s say that even the newer iOS & iPadOS 13 volume HUD doesn’t do it for you… what then? If you’re not jailbroken, then we can’t offer much of a remedy, but if you are, then we think you’ll probably enjoy a newly released jailbreak tweak dubbed SmartVolumeControl3 by iOS developer midkin due to the myriad of alternative volume HUD interfaces it brings to the table.

Jailbreak tweaks of the week: AnimeMyBadges Pro, Begone, Juin, & more…

Anthony Bouchard ∙ December 27, 2020

It’s now Sunday, and with the Christmas weekend nearing its end, it’s that time again for us to share our weekly jailbreak tweak roundup here at iDownloadBlog.

In this piece, we’ll be talking about all the latest jailbreak tweaks and pertinent jailbreak-related news in one easy-to-digest piece. It will focus on the developments that we’ve shown you between Monday, December 21st and Sunday, December 27th. As usual, we’ll kick things off with tributes to our favorite works, and then we’ll wrap things up with an outline of everything else afterward.

Animate your Home Screen’s notification badges with AnimeMyBadges Pro

Anthony Bouchard ∙ December 25, 2020

Jailbreakers may recall earlier this month when we showed you a new jailbreak tweak dubbed AnimeMyBadges by iOS developer Antony M that provided a rather interesting breathing animation for your Home Screen’s notification badges. It was simple, short, and sweet, but if you were looking for a different notification badge animation, then you would have found yourself out of luck.

That changed this week with the release of AnimeMyBadges Pro, a paid upgrade from the aforementioned free release that offers nearly a dozen different badge animation styles to choose from.