Reachability

ReachPlayer fills the Reachability interface’s void with Now Playing info

Anthony Bouchard / June 8, 2021

Apple knows that its largest handsets can be unwieldy for one-handed usage, and that’s the primary reason why all modern iPhones come equipped with an accessibility feature dubbed Reachability.

I take advantage of Reachability somewhat frequently on my massive 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max, and while doing so, I often think to myself about just how much potential screen real estate is being wasted at the top of the display. After all, Apple could at least show device information of some sort in the unused Reachability space so that it isn’t occupied by a whole lot of nothing.

ReachSpring lets jailbreakers respring with the native Reachability gesture

Anthony Bouchard / January 12, 2021

Jailbreakers know just how valuable the ability to respring their device can be, as it’s often used for saving settings that have been applied to third-party jailbreak tweaks, or for installing or uninstalling those very same extensions. With that in mind, it can be incredibly useful to be able to respring on a whim.

While most jailbreak tweaks offer some type of respring shortcut in their preference pane, not all of them do, and a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called ReachSpring by iOS developer Luki120 ensures that an honest respring is never more than a simple gesture away.

ReachOptions lets users access powerful options via the Reachability gesture

Anthony Bouchard / August 8, 2020

Having quicker access to convenient actions is every iPhone owner’s dream functionality that Apple generally fails to deliver with each annual software update. Fortunately, the jailbreak community is often quick to develop resolutions that meet users’ demanding needs.

ReachOptions is a newly released and free jailbreak tweak by iOS developer ajaidan0 that lets users access a bevy of handy options by invoking the Reachability gesture on their iPhone, as shown in the screenshot example above.

ReachInfo adds something useful to the wasted space of Reachability

Anthony Bouchard / July 30, 2020

Reachability is an often-under-appreciated feature of iOS that makes it so much easier for iPhone users to touch interface elements normally residing at the top of the display – especially when only using one hand. For the most part, it does a good job of this.

Unfortunately, Reachability also tends to leave a lot of unused space at the top of the iPhone’s display when it moves the interface down to make it more reachable with one hand, an issue that a newly released and free jailbreak tweak dubbed ReachInfo by iOS developer 1di4r tries to fix.

This tweak lets users reassign the Reachability gesture to other actions

Anthony Bouchard / July 23, 2020

Although I don’t use my iPhone’s Reachability interface that often, I do think that the gesture for invoking it is particularly clever on notched devices. Unfortunately, since I don’t really use Reachability that much, I find that the gesture goes to waste more than being useful.

If, like me, you rarely use the Reachability interface and would rather use the convenient Home Bar-based gesture for something more useful, then you’ll probably like a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called CantReachMe by iOS developer woodfairy. With it, you can map the native Reachability gesture to a new action of your choosing.

This tweak adds a Music widget to iOS’ Reachability interface

Anthony Bouchard / May 13, 2020

Earlier in the week, we showed you an add-on for jailbroken handsets called WeatherModule that could add an informative weather display to your Reachability interface via the Carbonite jailbreak tweak. But if you’re not crazy about checking the weather every five minutes, then you were probably wondering what other options might be available to you.

Yet another newly released add-on called MusicModule is now available for free compliments of iOS developer Antique. Just as the name implies, this add-on adds a functional music control widget to your Reachability interface with the help of Carbonite’s existing framework.

WeatherModule brings weather details to the Reachability interface

Anthony Bouchard / May 11, 2020

It was just a few months back that we showed you a particularly interesting jailbreak tweak called Carbonite by iOS developer Antique that could be used to enrich iOS’ typically boring Reachability interface with a useful suite of shortcuts and controls. It was pretty slick right out of the box, but with the help of add-ons, it could be made even slicker.

Fast-forward to now, and Antique has officially released a new extension for Carbonite dubbed WeatherModule. Just as its name implies, WeatherModule brings local weather information to the Reachability interface via Carbonite for fast and easy reference at your leisure.

Ability offers various methods for customizing iOS’ Reachability interface

Anthony Bouchard / March 12, 2020

Your iPhone includes a native feature known as Reachability that makes it easier to operate your device with just one hand. It works by sliding the handset’s interface down to thumb level, making it so that you can tap objects that would typically reside at the very top of your screen.

As useful as Reachability can be, Apple assumes one size fits all and that their out-of-the-box experience will be right for everyone. Fortunately, jailbreakers can now take advantage of a newly released jailbreak tweak called Ability by iOS developer Ethan Whited to tailor the native Reachability interface to your needs.

ReachCC13 opens Control Center with iOS’ native Reachability gesture

Anthony Bouchard / February 21, 2020

Control Center is an incredibly convenient section of iOS that provides instantaneous access to your favorite toggles and shortcuts, but if you have a larger iPhone such as the XS Max or 11 Pro Max, then you might have trouble getting to the interface with just one hand given how the gesture to open Control Center involves the very top-right corner of the display.

Here to solve the aforementioned problem is a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called ReachCC13 by iOS developer Kritanta. Just as the name implies, this tweak modifies the behavior of the iPhone’s native Reachability gesture to launch Control Center when invoked instead.

OneHandWizard 2 makes one-handed usage of massive iPhones easier

Anthony Bouchard / February 21, 2020

There’s no doubting the fact that smartphones are receiving larger displays by popular demand, and while this can be considered a benefit from the standpoint of media consumption, it also tends to be a shortcoming by way of one-handed usage.

Apple tries to make things on handsets with large displays easier to reach with just one hand through a native Accessibility feature called Reachability, but using it can be cumbersome, and it tends to lack much-needed functionality. For those who demand more out of their one-handed smartphone usage, it’s tough to go wrong with a jailbreak tweak called OneHandWizard 2 by iOS developer sharedRoutine.

Carbonite enriches the Reachability interface with new functionality

Anthony Bouchard / February 3, 2020

Reachability is a feature Apple put into iOS to make using taller iPhones easier with just one hand, especially for the small-handed folk out there. But if you have the ability to reach that high up with just your thumb when using your iPhone one-handed or you want to make better use of the space when using two hands, then you might view the Reachability interface as a complete and utter waste of space.

If you identify as the latter category, then you’ll probably come to appreciate that of a newly released jailbreak tweak dubbed Carbonite by iOS developer Antique. This tweak aims to make the Reachability interface more useful by filling it with toggles and shortcuts that can make your life easier in day-to-day usage.

StayLowCC makes it easier to use Control Center with one hand

Anthony Bouchard / January 13, 2020

I use Control Center almost every day, and in some cases, the shortcuts near the top of my iPhone’s display can be challenging to reach with just one hand. Given the circumstances, I’m particularly excited to talk about a newly released jailbreak tweak called StayLowCC by iOS developer ubik.

Just as the name implies, StayLowCC moves Control Center’s toggle suite as far down on your display as possible. An example of this is depicted in the screenshot embedded above.