iPhone

Stay up-to-date on the latest iPhone news and learn new tips and tricks with our comprehensive tutorials. From software updates to new features, we’ve got you covered.

This tweak changes the Emoji keyboard’s scrubber animation

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 29, 2019

If you do a lot of texting from your iOS device(s), then chances are you send an Emoji every now and again. Apple’s Emoji keyboard is already nicely polished out of the box, but now you can make it even cooler with a custom animation by way of a new free jailbreak tweak called Organic Emoji Scrubber by iOS developer Orangebananaspy.

According to the developer, the new tweak adds an “organic” animation to the Emoji scrubber in the keyboard interface. Rather than attempting to explain what the amination looks like with words, we’ve embedded some animated GIF examples below so that you can see for yourself:

The best swipe keyboards for iPhone and iPad

Sandy Writtenhouse ∙ March 28, 2019

Keyboards that offer a swipe feature are handy, helpful, and let you type faster than ever. Instead of hitting each key separately, you simply use your finger to swipe through the letters to create your words. These types of keyboards are great if you haven’t yet mastered the two-thumb typing.

If you’re in the market for a new keyboard and are interested in swiping, these are the best swipe keyboards for iPhone and iPad.

Another privacy-related Apple ad focuses on Safari’s anti-tracking measures

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 28, 2019

Apple today shared a new privacy-focused video through its official YouTube channel that highlights the intelligent tracking prevention feature in the Safari browser.

How to stop audio messages from disappearing on iPhone and iPad

Sandy Writtenhouse ∙ Updated March 22, 2023

Audio messages in the Messages app are cool little ways of communicating without text. You can tell someone you love them, send them a song clip, or just ask what’s up, all with your own voice.

The thing about audio messages, however, is that they don’t hang around forever. By default, they expire after two minutes of sending or listening to them, not to be heard again. This might be fine for some but not for others.

If you fall into the “others” category and want to hang onto those clips, here’s how to stop audio messages from expiring in the Messages app on iPhone and iPad.

Vibrato brings customizable haptic feedback to your jailbroken iPhone

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 28, 2019

Many Android handsets offer an ounce of haptic feedback when you perform certain actions on the device, but haptic feedback is somewhat minimal on the iOS platform – mostly limited to when using 3D Touch.

If you have a jailbroken iPhone and are looking to receive more haptic feedback from various actions, then you might enjoy a new jailbreak tweak dubbed Vibrato by iOS developer Synnyg. This tweak can enable haptic feedback for nearly anything that you do.

Amour 2 lets you customize your locking and unlocking animations

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 28, 2019

If you’ve just jailbroken your iOS 12 device with unc0ver and you’re looking for new and exciting ways to customize the user experience, then you might take an interest in a newly-released jailbreak tweak called Amour 2 by iOS developers Luke Muris and Geometric Software.

With Amour 2, you can make your handset stand out from everyone else’s by customizing the handset’s locking and unlocking animations. The concept isn’t particularly new, but the apparent popularity of the original Amour tweak helped motivate the developer to release to the latest version.

watchOS 5.2 brings ECG app to more regions, adds support for AirPods 2

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 27, 2019

Apple on Wednesday released watchOS 5.2 to the public as expected, an update for the Apple Watch that adds support for Apple’s brand-new second-generation AirPods, among other things.

The update also brings the ECG app and irregular rhythm notification to Hong Kong and 19 European countries. It also offers support for the AirPods 2nd generation and real-time text (RTT) for phone calls.

Hands-on with the upcoming Apple TV channels in the overhauled TV app

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 27, 2019

Apple today seeded first developer betas of iOS 12.3 and tvOS 12.3 featuring a revamped experience within the TV app and all-new Apple TV channels discussed at Monday's presser.

How to change the skip seconds for Podcasts and Books on iPhone and iPad

Sandy Writtenhouse ∙ Updated March 31, 2023

If you use your iPhone or iPad to listen to podcasts in the Podcasts app or audiobooks in the Books app, then you probably know about the skip feature. You can skip back a few seconds to catch something you missed or skip forward to move past something you have already heard.

The thing about this skip feature is you may not want it as low as 10 seconds because it might not be enough, and you have to keep tapping. At the same time, you may not want it to be as high as 60 seconds because you might skip way too much.

Here’s how to change the skip seconds for Podcasts and Books on iOS.

SmartLight lets you toggle the iPhone’s flashlight with hardware buttons

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 27, 2019

I use my iPhone’s rear-facing LED flash as a flashlight all the time for various tasks, but I’ll be the first to admit that Apple could and should come up with a more intuitive way of toggling it on or off. In some cases, using a software button to toggle the flashlight just isn’t good enough, such as when you have wet or dirty hands.

Here to the rescue is a new free jailbreak tweak called SmartLight by iOS developer smokin1337, which spearheads a solution to these kinds of scenarios by letting users toggle the rear-facing flashlight on or off with the device’s hardware buttons instead.

Add an application drawer to your jailbroken iPhone with Vesta

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 27, 2019

If you’ve ever used an Android handset before, then you might be familiar with the App Drawer where you can access any of your installed apps from one place. iOS has never sported an App Drawer-like feature out of the box, and this prompted iOS developer SparkDev to create a new jailbreak tweak called Vesta to bring one to the iOS platform.

Vesta is easily invoked with any of the built-in gestures or with Activator, and as depicted in the screenshot examples above, the Vesta interface is divided into two sections – one that displays some of your recently-used apps, and another that displays all your handset’s installed apps in one convenient place with no Home screen pages or folders to get in your way.

NoIdleTimer negates the Lock screen’s lockout timer if your device is charging or playing music

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 27, 2019

Apple designed your iOS device’s Lock screen to go back to sleep after a predefined timeout period, and while this can be useful for battery savings in certain circumstances, there are some instances where this might be irrelevant or where you may favor performance over battery life.

For that reason, iOS developer Nepeta came out with a new free jailbreak tweak called NoIdleTimer that lets you disable the Lock screen’s automatic lockout period so long as certain conditions are met.