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vColor: change the color of your volume HUD

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 28, 2014

The volume HUD has always held a weird place in the hearts of jailbreakers. It's been used to launch apps, it's been customized, it's been given music features. Now, it's being colored, again.

vColor is the latest volume HUD-based jailbreak tweak that allows you to change up its look. It lets you alter the background, depletion bar, volume number, and volume meter colors. vColor is from developer Javier Brito, and it's available for free right now on Cydia's BigBoss repo. Check inside as we step through vColor's functions on video.

ActiveAlarm: Open the Clock app directly to the alarm section

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 28, 2014

ActiveAlarm is a brand new jailbreak tweak that can be handy for those of you relying on your iPhone as an alarm clock. It's a tweak that allows you to assign an Activator gesture of your choice to the stock Clock app.

While it's true that Activator already contains an action for launching the stock Clock app, ActiveAlarm takes it one step further. ActiveAlarm will take users directly to the alarm clock section of the stock Clock app upon using the Activator gesture. Have a look at our video walkthrough inside as we show you how it works.

Classic Badges: use iOS 6 app badges on iOS 7

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 28, 2014

Do you hate the look of the app badges in iOS 7? Would you prefer to use the app badges present in iOS 6? If so, ClassicBadges is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to do just that.

While ClassicBadges is a standalone tweak, it does rely on some help from WinterBoard to get the font and spacing of the old-school inspired badges to look just right. As we always like to do, we've put the tweak through its paces in a hands-on video walkthrough. Check inside for all of the details.

Spin: add a twist to your Lock screen’s music interface

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 25, 2014

Spin is a just-released jailbreak tweak that adds a new look and feel to the Lock screen music controls and interface. Once you install the tweak, you'll need to head over to the stock Settings app to enable it and respring.

Whenever you play music and go to the Lock screen, you should notice a new remixed music interface. Check out our video walkthrough inside for a deeper look at Spin.

New upcoming tweak brings Mission Control concept to reality

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Vertex is an upcoming tweak currently in development that aims to bring Mission Control inspired functionality to iOS 7. The tweak, which is currently being talked about on /r/jailbreak, merges Control Center and the app switcher together, along with other iOS 7-centric touches splashed in.

There's still no timetable for Vertex's release, but we do have a video preview of the tweak created by developer Ian Burns. Check past the break for the video and more details concerning this awesome looking jailbreak release.

How to easily change the color of your iPhone keyboard

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Update: with the release of iOS 8, Apple now allows third-party keyboards in the App Store. If you're looking for a different keyboard for your iPhone or iPad, make sure to check out our list of iOS 8 keyboards.

I generally hate jailbreak releases that feature goofy names like ColorY0urBoard, but I decided to give the new jailbreak app a try despite my inclinations. To my surprise, ColorY0urBoard is actually not that bad of an app.

If you're searching for a way to easily customize the color of the stock keyboard within iOS, then ColorY0urBoard is a viable option. It's a standalone app release with an interface dedicated solely to changing the keyboard color. The app includes a color wheel, much like you'd find in image-editing applications, and it also features brightness and alpha sliders to perfect your customized look.

ColorY0urBoard isn't perfect, but it does a pretty good job of customizing the look of your keyboard. Have a glance at our video walkthrough inside for more details.

How to quickly launch apps using gestures

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 24, 2014

Gestr is a brand new jailbreak tweak that allows users to assign gestures to a specific app and launch the app using the assigned gesture. The tweak, which is available for $0.99 on Cydia's BigBoss repo, uses an Activator action to engage the screen used for inputing gestures.

In the end, Gestr probably isn't a tweak that will significantly speed up app launches on iOS, but it's undoubtedly a cool way to do so. Have a look inside for our video walkthrough, which showcases how it works.

SpotiSearch: search Spotify directly from Spotlight

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 24, 2014

I love Spotify and I don't think that's a secret. So can you imagine how happy I was when I stumbled upon this new jailbreak tweak in Cydia?

SpotiSearch is a brand new tweak that allows you to search the entire Spotify library using Spotlight search. That's right, you can search for your favorite artists, albums or songs directly from the same Spotlight search that you use to search your local iPhone.

I've taken SpotiSearch for a thorough test-drive on video. Join me inside, as I showcase how this awesome new jailbreak tweak works.

How to view animated GIFs in the stock Photos App

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 24, 2014

If you've ever saved an animated GIF to your iPhone's Photos app, you've probably realized that the animations don't play as normal. Instead, animated GIFs behave like static images within the Photos app, devoid of any of the animation that makes using GIFs so fun.

GIFViewer is a brand new jailbreak tweak that solves this problem. It, upon installation, allows you to view animated GIFs that are saved to the stock Photos app. Have a look at our video walkthrough inside for a demonstration of how it works.

BattSaver for iOS 7: manage your iPhone’s radios to increase battery life

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 23, 2014

BattSaver, a battery saving jailbreak app that we reviewed in-depth a couple of years ago, has been updated for iOS 7 compatibility. It's basically the same jailbreak release that we reviewed before, except this time around it works for iOS 7 and arm64 devices like the iPhone 5s.

As we explained in our initial review, BattSaver isn't necessarily performing any magic, it just manages the radios on your device in such a way so that you can save battery life. Many of the same strategies are incorporated in this updated version of BattSaver, including Normal and Aggressive battery saving strategies. Have a look inside for more details.

How to jailbreak iOS 7.0.6 using Evasi0n

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 21, 2014

iOS 7.0.6 was just released earlier today, and it contains a fairly serious SSL bug fix that everyone should upgrade to. Unfortunately, the latest build of Evasion7, build 1.0.5, is not yet compatible with iOS 7.0.6. But don't worry, we have you covered. We've uploaded a custom Hex-edited version of Evasi0n7 1.0.5 with the proper build numbers so that you can easily jailbreak iOS 7.0.6 after updating. Check out our full video tutorial after the jump for the proof.

Update: the evad3rs have released evasi0n7 1.0.6 with support for iOS 7.0.6, so the hex-edited file is no longer needed, you can download the proper Evasi0n 7 1.0.6 file from our downloads page. Note that the steps described in this post still work. Just make sure to download the latest official version of evasi0n7.

I love the 90’s: episodes of Doug, Ren & Stimpy and more go free on iTunes

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

As a kid who grew up in the 90's, I spent a lot of my free time watching cartoons on Nickelodeon. I'm not too familiar with the stuff that's on now, but I know there was some really good shows on back then like Doug, Rugrats and Hey Arnold!

So you can imagine how excited I was when I came across the Nickelodeon Animation Showcase promotion in iTunes this afternoon. Apparently, Apple has made a deal with the network to offer episodes from some of the 90's TV shows for free...