Messages

AKMessages can make using the stock Messages app faster

Wouldn’t it be nice if the keyboard interface opened automatically when tapping on a conversation thread in the stock Messages app? The developer of AKMessages must have thought so, because that’s the exact premise behind his new jailbreak tweak.

Like TypeTab, another tweak that we recently reviewed, AKMessages reduces the amount of friction in your day-to-day app activities. Have a look at our video walkthrough to see how it eliminates the need for you to perform a tap before you start typing within the Messages app.

How to access the Couria beta for jailbroken iPhones

Yesterday, we brought you a preview of the upcoming quick reply and quick compose tweak, Couria. Today, we're showing you how you can go hands on with the tweak.

Couria is now available on a special beta repo by its developer, QusicS. If you've been desperate for a good quick compose solution and an enhanced quick reply interface, then you may want to take it for a test drive.

Hands-on with Couria, an upcoming quick reply and quick compose tweak for iOS 8

Couria is a quick reply and quick compose tweak for iOS that originally debuted back in the iOS 7 days. Today, the Messaging landscape for jailbroken devices is significantly different, with a key major player, biteSMS, now defunct.

With this in mind, a few tweaks that are currently in the works are hoping to reinvigorate the Messaging app tweak genre. One of them, Couria, plays heavily on the infrastructure already put in place by Apple, piggybacking on the native quick reply feature in iOS 8.

Couria quick reply tweak is coming to iOS 8

With biteSMS' demise, there has been a distinct need for messaging tweaks, specifically quick reply and quick compose tweaks. Couria, a quick reply and quick compose tweak that first debuted on iOS 7, is a tweak that looks to fill the need.

Today, its developer, Qusic, teased the progress he's been making on Twitter. Here's a look at what you should expect.

HiddenConvos: a sleek way to hide conversations in the Messages app

Normally I would shoot a video to highlight a jailbreak tweak, but seeing as I'd probably have to blur out most of the video, I decided to go about it the old fashioned way. I hope that I can accurately portray just how awesome HiddenConvos is without the assistance of video, because it's really that good.

HiddenConvos is a tweak that allows you to quickly hide conversations in the Messages app using a simple left-swipe gesture. Once you left-swipe on a conversation, tap the Hide button to hide the conversation from view and suppress its notifications.

ReturnToSender: press the return key to send texts in the Messages app

Are you ever annoyed by the presence of the "return" key in the Messages app? Yes, sometimes it's nice to be able to quickly insert line breaks in messages by means of this key, but it's usually a rare need, and as such, some find such a key to be unnecessary.

Instead, wouldn't it be cool if you could replace the return key with a send button? That's the premise behind a beta tweak called ReturnToSender.

How to use Facebook stickers in iMessage conversations

One of the things that I learned while visiting Korea last year is that Koreans love using an app called KakaoTalk. Kakao is a messaging app that pretty much everyone in Korea uses. It's an app that's instantly recognizable due to the bright, colorful, animated stickers that litter the conversations of passersby.

I've always thought that it would be cool if iMessage users could use animated stickers within the Messages app, and now it's a reality thanks to a new jailbreak tweak called StickerMe. StickerMe takes the stickers available within the Facebook Messenger app, and brings them to an iMessage conversation near you.

Brevity 2: send a quick canned message directly from the stock Messages app

Brevity 2 is the sequel to a tweak of the same name—Brevity—which allowed iOS 7 users to send a quick canned message via the stock Messages app. The sequel to Brevity is pretty much a 1:1 translation of the original for newly jailbroken iOS 8 devices.

If you're looking to add a simple canned message that you can quickly access from the stock Messages app, then Brevity 2 should meet your needs.

Prettier Banners adds contacts photos to Messages notifications

I miss BiteSMS for so many reasons, and one of them is that the tweak adds the photo of your contacts in Messages notifications, assuming you do have a photo for that contact to begin with of course.

Prettier Banners is a new tweak that will certainly fill that void, at least until BiteSMS gets an update. Developed by Mohamed Marbouh, Prettier Banners will replace the Messages app icon with the photo of your contact when receiving a text message notification.

Judge green-lights lawsuit against Apple over text message delivery issue

Federal judge Lucy Koh has green-lighted a lawsuit against Apple over its long-standing iMessage issue that causes some former iPhone users to not receive their text messages, reports Reuters. The lawsuit was filed in May by San Jose, California resident Adrienne Moore.

Moore says Apple didn't properly warn her that she'd quit receiving text messages after switching from an iPhone to a Galaxy S5. There's no word yet on what kind of damages Moore is asking for, but she is seeking class action status, which would allow others to join the suit.