Dandelion is a new jailbreak tweak available on the BigBoss repo, which promises to bring automatically adjusting brightness to your device on a per-app basis. This means that in theory, you should be able to configure your brightness to a specific level while in app, and have the brightness always adjust to that set level when the app is launched.
Unfortunately, in my experience with the tweak, the results weren't quite that simple.
Like every other facet of iOS, Notification Center received a significant visual overhaul in iOS 7 when compared to iOS 6 and below. Gone are the opaque linen textures in favor of a simple and clean semi-transparent overlay.
If you're running a jailbroken iOS 6 installation, then it's possible to gain some of Notification Center's new visual cues. SevenCenter is a new jailbreak tweak that brings the iOS 7 Notification Center experience to iOS 6, and iOS 5 devices. Have a look inside to see what I mean.
Google has begun work on an iOS version of its mobile augmented-reality game Ingress, according to a new report from AllThingsD. The game launched into closed beta last year, and has so far seen about one million Android activations.
If you've never heard of the title, it's essentially a 'social game' set around a live story that Google updates every week with new clues. Players score points by collaborating with strangers to find clues and claim local landmarks for their team...
One of this week’s App Store Editor’s Choice is a video app that lets you record, enhance, and share your life with friends and family with the help of real-time video capturing set to your own personal soundtrack.
Spark Camera lets you record snippets of a moment in time, then record another moment at a later time, and stitches them together so that you can create your own mini montage video to share with friends and family…
Late last month, Facebook-owned Instagram finally received its somewhat dull iOS 7-inspired update. I say dull because the redesign feels a tad rushed out and a bit rough around the edges. More importantly, not many people have noticed that yesterday's minor maintenance update has killed off the tremendously useful video auto-play toggle.
Although iTunes release notes for Instagram 4.2.2 innocently list only "bug fixes and performance improvements," in reality the new build has stealthily removed the useful Instagram > Settings > Auto-Play Videos switch.
This may not seem like a big deal, but consider for a moment the fact that the vast majority of iPhoneography fans turn to Instagram to enjoy beautiful photos.
Conversely, not many people give a heck about video on Instagram. Instagram disappointedly has never provided an option to block all video content from a user's feed so you don't need me to tell you that enforcing auto-play on videos isn't really helping anyone but Instagram itself...
SideSettings is a recently released tweak that lets you open up the settings for any app as a sidebar. Instead of having to exit the app, go to the Settings app, and access the app’s preferences, SideSettings immediately takes you to the settings of whatever app you have open using a simple swipe gesture.
Of course, all apps don’t have preferences to configure. In cases such as these, SideSettings will open up the stock Settings app instead.
I really enjoy SideSettings based on its originality alone. It’s a must see tweak that you have to witness on video to appreciate its ingenuity. Have a look at our full video walkthrough inside.
I've always hated how Google's official YouTube apps on iOS, Android and other mobile platforms don't allow for offline caching of videos. Sometimes I want to save a particularly funny clip or a music video to my device to show it to friends without having to waste my cellular data. YouTube doesn't allow this.
Worse, Google's been clamping down on third-party apps that cache YouTube videos, such as MCTube for iPhone, for example. The reason: the Internet giant wants to serve ads no matter what.
Playing back cached videos defeats that purpose. Recently, the company hinted it's willing to reconsider its stance: mobile users will be able to save videos for later after all, but with some strings attached...
I know what you're thinking. "But Jeff, we don't need any more walkthroughs of Lock screen launchers, we've already been inundated with them."
To be honest, I thought the same thing.
We went through a period where it seemed like there was Lock screen launcher, after Lock screen launcher, after Lock screen launcher. And it's not that any of the releases were bad, the niche just got a little too crowded.
Well, you'll be happy to know that Simple Mode, although it falls firmly within the genre, adds an original flavor to the typical Lock screen launcher. Simple Mode will actually learn your app usage patterns, and adjust the apps available on your Lock screen automatically.
Arco is a recently release jailbreak collaboration between Jack Willis and Sentry. The release, which falls under the A3tweaks umbrella, places a visual music timeline indicator in your device's status bar.
The design of Arco is very much akin to the download animation that happens in the App Store in iOS 7. In iOS 7 there's a round circle indicator that wraps around a button, which is indicative of the download progress. In the case of Arco, the "progress" is in relation to a currently playing song.
Although it's a solid tweak, the best thing about Arco isn't about design or functionality. The great thing about Arco is where the money goes when you purchase a copy. A3tweaks has generously decided to forward all proceeds to Kyle Matthews' Because of Ezra charity, which helps to fund research for neuroblastoma, a terrible form of pediatric cancer.
Netflix last week refreshed its iOS app with much-needed AirPlay support allowing subscribers to beam TV shows and movies to their living room television set through the Apple TV set-top box.
Unfortunately, the updated application has also introduced a nasty bug preventing the app to connect to the big screen via Apple's HDMI AV adapter.
Disgruntled users took to Twitter and some even accused Apple and Netflix of joining forces to intentionally cripple the feature, presumably in order to push folks into buying an Apple TV to take advantage of AirPlay. This is unfounded talk as Netflix on Monday promised a fix for the issue it claims is affecting a "small percentage" of customers...
Security Research Labs, a group of Berlin-based security researchers, have uncovered a bug in the new iPhone that it claims will enable hackers to overcome a safeguard allowing users to remotely wipe stolen or lost phones.
More specifically, the team has discovered a method for bypassing the handset's security features. It starts with activating Airplane mode, which gives potential criminals time to create fake fingerprints and reset passwords....
Amazon is readying an Apple TV competitor, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The set-top box will offer access to the company's Instant Video and other streaming services.
Reportedly codenamed "Cinnamon," the device is said to be very similar in design and functionality to a Roku box. And Amazon is believed to be looking to launch it sometime before the holidays...