Jailbreak

Check out the most comprehensive jailbreaking coverage on the internet, including the latest news, apps, tweaks, and detailed tutorials about everything jailbreak.

‘StatusTab’ lets you access the status bar from within full screen apps

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated June 4, 2018

If you play a lot of games on your iPhone, then you're probably used to the idea of full screen apps negating the presence of the status bar. If you find that to be annoying, then a new jailbreak tweak entitled StatusTab may interest you. It allows you to sneak a quick peek at the status bar by swiping on the area where the status bar normally resides.

Needless to say, StatusTab is a simple tweak, but the simple tweaks usually end up being some of the best tweaks. Take a look inside, and judge for yourselves.

Write your own jailbreak tweaks on the fly with upcoming ‘Flex’ utility

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

John Coates, the developer behind the MissionBoard Pro jailbreak tweak, has posted a thread on Reddit about an upcoming jailbreak app called Flex. Flex is an exciting new app that allows users to make and share their own runtime patches, not just to iOS itself but to any app you have installed.

What can you do with Flex? From the looks of it, you can modify just about any app's behavior. In the preview screenshots, there are patches for unlimited skips in Pandora, removing the lock screen's camera grabber, nixing the ratings warning when downloading from the the App Store, and even cheating in games like Tiny Tower. Think of it as a Game Genie for iOS...

“Tap to unlock” from the lock screen instead of sliding with ‘tapUnlock’

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

tapUnlock is a new jailbreak tweak from the makers of MapsOpener and BrightVol. The tweak replaces the 'slide to unlock' bar with a 'tap to unlock' button. Personally I'm a fan of the classic slider, as it's part of how Apple introduced a new paradigm of capacitive screens to the mass market, and it's something I will always associate with the iPhone.

Unfortunately 'slide to unlock' isn't for everybody. If you know someone who has difficulty using the 'slide to unlock' gesture on the lock screen, maybe because of arthritis or another fine motor control difficulty, you'll get good mileage out of tapUnlock. Alternatively, you might just want it to have something different...

Robert Broglia releases ‘Snes9x EX+’ SNES emulator to Cydia

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

Robert Broglia, the developer behind the free Snes9x EX jailbreak app, and a number of other commercial '.emu' emulators for other consoles, just released Snes9x Ex+. Broglia's latest branch of his popular iOS Super Nintendo emulator is based off of Snes9x version 1.53, which is the most recent available build of the PC software.

The more recent v1.53 codebase should provide near-complete emulation for a number of games, especially those that make heavy use of mode7 scaling or the Super FX co-processor...

Listen to your iTunes library in 3D with ‘Music Collocator’

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Music Collocator is a jailbreak app recently added to Cydia which plays tracks from your library simultaneously using what the developer calls '3D sound'. In this case, 3D sound means the app plays tracks together, shifting the stereo volume based on where the song is 'located' in 3D.

Since Music Collocator pulls tracks from your iTunes library, you have access to your favorite playlists, artists, albums, and genres. Unfortunately you can't swap individual songs to Music Collocator arrangements à la carte. To get around this limitation, you'll have to set a custom playlist with each track setup you want, and that's not an ideal solution.

‘Better Switcher Position’ aims to create a better app switcher

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Better Switcher Position is a simple jailbreak tweak that switches the position of the rotation lock button and the music button found in the app switcher. The idea behind the tweaks is that it more closely aligns the volume control slider found in the app switcher, with the music button.

While the position of the app switcher buttons never really dawned on me before, I guess the developer of Better Switcher Position has a point. Take a look at our hands-on video inside to see what I mean.

DismissMyKeyboard allows you to quickly hide the iPhone’s keyboard

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

DismissMyKeyboard is a recently released jailbreak tweak for jailbroken iPhones that allows you to easily dismiss the software keyboard. While the iPad already benefits from such a feature due to the device's larger area of real estate, the iPhone's keyboard has no room for a dedicated dismiss keyboard button like you see on its larger brethren.

DismissMyKeyboard solves this issue by allowing you to perform a swipe gesture right on the keyboard in order to dismiss it. Take a look at our video walkthrough inside to see how it functions.

‘TorchNC’ and ‘InstaSnap’ spice up Notification Center on jailbroken iPhones

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Two new jailbreak tweaks have recently appeared in Cydia by the same developer, and they both happen to focus on Notification Center. Specifically, these tweaks aim to add handy shortcuts to the Notification Center pull-down pane.

The first tweak on the docket, TorchNC, adds a shortcut to activate the iPhone's LED flash. There are other tweaks and apps that perform flashlight functions, but I always find it useful to have it within Notification Center, or directly on the Lock screen.

The second tweak, like the first, is a shortcut for Notification Center. Instead of interacting with the iPhone's LED flash, InstaSnap is a tweak that allows you to quickly access the camera from within Instagram. Seeing as though this tweak doesn't require the iPhone only LED flash, it works with both the iPhone and iPod touch perfectly fine.

Take a look as we profile both InstaSnap and TorchNC in our walkthrough videos inside...

Infiniboard updated with Iconoclasm and OverBoard support

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

In what seems like the first bit of news from the jailbreak scene in quite a while, Chpwn announced today that an update for his popular Infiniboard tweak is now available in Cydia.

The utility, which allows you to add an unlimited amount of icons to each springboard page, now works with Sakurina's Iconoclasm and Ryan Petrich's OverBoard tweak...

Microsoft actually applauds Windows RT jailbreak

Cody Lee ∙ January 8, 2013

This is kind of interesting. Earlier this week, Microsoft's new Windows RT was jailbroken for the first time. The operating system was hacked to run unsigned, arm-based desktop applications using a memory exploit.

Surprisingly, the Redmond-based software company commented on the news yesterday, saying that it actually applauded the efforts of those involved in the jailbreak, and all of the work they did to document it...

Planetbeing says he has an iOS 6.0.2 untethered jailbreak now, but we must be patient

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

iOS hacker Planetbeing posted on Reddit earlier today about the status of the iPhone 5/iOS 6 untethered jailbreak. While there have been many messages regarding the viability of a jailbreak, the famous iOS hacker insists that it's only a matter of time before a jailbreak is a reality.

In other words, we need to be patient while the guys who have proven themselves time and time again put in work...

Pod2g calls for Apple to open up iOS for tweaks and themes

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Well known iOS hacker pod2g went on a bit of a rant on Twitter today regarding the current state of iOS. The security expert says that he's seeing a lot of his 'geek friends' migrate from iOS to Android, and he wants to see Apple open up its mobile platform to help stop the bleeding.

He points out that there are no technical issues preventing Apple from allowing developers to submit tweaks or themes — it would just need to enlarge its API/SDK. And it would be able to review them just like they do with App Store submissions before approving them for iOS...