Text editing was always somewhat of a cumbersome experience on the iOS platform, and although it was drastically improved starting with the release of iOS 13, some would inexplicably argue that Apple could have went about it differently to provide a more user-friendly result.
Whenever I’m in a rush to charge my iPhone’s battery up, it’s not uncommon for me to frequently check the charge level as it sits on my wireless charger. I would assume this curiously-driven urge stems from the fact that the iPhone doesn’t make any effort to let me know when it’s fully charged.
If you’re in the same or a similar boat, then you might have something to gain from trying a new and free jailbreak tweak dubbed Total Charge Tones by iOS developer ljinc.
Every Sunday, we come at you with a roundup of all the latest jailbreak tweak releases and jailbreak news from the previous work week. This Sunday will be no different.
In this piece, we'll showcase all the latest jailbreak tweaks and news from the period starting Monday, January 25th and ending Sunday, January 31st. As always, we'll kick things off by discussing our favorite releases before finally wrapping things up with an outline of everything else at the end.
In case you haven’t already heard, Apple recently seeded iOS 14.5 beta to developers with a new feature that permits mask-donning users to more easily unlock their iPhone with Face ID, granted they’re wearing an unlocked Apple Watch. Without this feature, anyone wearing a mask would fail the native Face ID authentication method, compelling users to manually enter their passcode to unlock their device or to approve Apple Pay transactions or App Store purchases.
Given the gravity of just how frustrating it can be to be unable to use Face ID when governments around the world impose mask mandates while in public in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, it should come as no surprise that this feature received tons of praise from would-be users. On the other hand, jailbreakers would be stuck with older versions of iOS that don’t natively support the new authentication feature; at least, until now that is…
Whether you invest in stocks or you simply have a fascination with monitoring stock value trends over time, a newly released and free jailbreak tweak dubbed StonksBar by iOS developer CokePokes might be of interest to you.
StonksBar ensures that your favorite stock’s value is always in view by implementing a Status Bar-centric display that appears just beneath the time on notched handsets including the iPhone X and later.
Many iPhone users rely on their handset to wake them up each and every morning with its built-in alarm feature, myself included.
While I certainly appreciate just how easy it is to set up alarms in the iPhone’s native Clock app, I also recognize that there are a few different ways Apple could make it better. One of those would be to add a countdown timer to the native alarm interface.
The concept of an always-on display certainly isn’t new to the smartphone space, but it’s something that Apple has yet to offer for its iPhone lineup despite adopting truly jaw-dropping OLED displays starting with the iPhone X in 2018.
For jailbreakers, an always-on display has always been achievable thanks to popular tweaks like AOD, Glow, and Tritium, but with many of these releases demanding money out of users’ wallets, some have been reluctant to try them.
It’s no secret that in addition to being a venerable smartphone, the iPhone is still one of the world’s best portable music players. Still, that doesn’t give Apple a free pass for the somewhat stagnant music interface experience that we’ve all been using for the past several years.
Those in the market for an augmented Now Playing user experience might be interested in picking up a newly released jailbreak tweak called MusicGesture by iOS developer Antony_M. This tweak not only provides jailbreakers with a new way to interact with the Now Playing media controls, but it also allows for configuration of the Now Playing interface in ways that Apple would never permit on a stock handset.
Whenever you switch the iPhone’s ringer/silent switch between the ringer and silent positions, iOS automatically shows a small pop-up at the top of the display to let you know the status of the switch.
We really like this subtle feature, and that’s one of the reasons why we’ve often wondered why Apple doesn’t do the same for Do Not Disturb mode. After all, if you’re unaware when Do Not Disturb gets turned on, you could miss important notifications. With that in mind, you’d think Apple would want users to be more aware of when it gets switched on or off – automatically or not.
One of the more popular jailbreak tweak categories we’ve witnessed over the past couple of years would be those that create clipboard managers for the iPhone and iPad platforms. As it would seem, Apple’s simple cut/copy and paste solution isn’t suitable enough for serious multitaskers who cut or copy several things at a time before pasting them into another interface.
Of all the recent clipboard manager tweak releases that I remember, Copypasta by iOS developer Nepeta left an impression on me because of its ease of usability, aesthetically pleasing interface, and lack of a price tag. The tweak was originally designed for jailbroken iOS 11 and 12 devices, but it never received an update for iOS 13; that is, until now.
Although the iPhone’s native notification system is faily stout in its present form, that’s not to say that it couldn’t benefit from a tiny bit of imagination. Perhaps that’s one reason why we see so many different jailbreak tweaks that change the aesthetics of iOS’ notification banners.
One of the latest of such releases is a new jailbreak tweak dubbed Yokumiru by iOS developer Plat_Ykor, which can augment incoming notification banners with slick animations, apply specialized badges to those that contain a user-designated keyword, or conceal the contents of those notification entirely until you’re ready to view them.
By default, the checkra1n jailbreak installs Cydia as the defacto package manager, and Cydia Substrate or Substitute can be used for tweak injection. But if you’re accustomed to the Chimera or Odyssey jailbreaks, then you might prefer to use Sileo for package management and libhooker for tweak injection instead, yet checkra1n’s jailbreak method offers many benefits over relying on certificates or signed apps.
If you’re wondering whether it’s possible to install Sileo and libhooker on your checkra1n device, then the astounding answer would be yes! A script called Odysseyra1n installs the entire bootstrap on your checkra1n device, allowing you to have an Odyssey-like experience on your checkra1n jailbreak.