With iOS 9 coming out later this year, there will once again be a number of articles proclaiming that jailbreaking is now unnecessary because so many of the most popular tweaks have been added as native features. While jailbreaking may not be as popular as it was in the iOS 4 days, there are still a lot of great reasons to give it a try.
I recently downgraded from iOS 9 to jailbreak my phone again. Here are just a few reasons I recommend you consider jumping off of the beta bandwagon.
Protean – $1.99
The iPhone status bar has undergone very few changes since the first model shipped in 2007. New icons have been added, and they’ve all been redesigned at least once, but there hasn’t been a meaningful reexamination of what actually goes in the status bar.
One example that I often use to highlight this problem is the alarm icon. I use my iPhone as my daily alarm clock. I’ve got alarms set for every day of the week. I know this, and I don’t need to see a constant reminder in my status bar that I have active alarms. Currently, there’s no way to get rid of that.
Bluetooth is another example. I leave mine turned on all the time. When I get in my car, it automatically connects, and I don’t have to futz around with anything. I don’t need to see an icon in my status bar reminding me that Bluetooth is running. And if you use the Apple Watch, it’s a requirement to stay connected so you’re likely never disabling it. I can check Control Center if I really need to know, which I never have.
On the other hand, there are icons that I would love to see in my status bar, but Apple has decided against adding. New emails, Twitter notifications, missed calls, voicemails, unread text messages, and more are all pertinent information that I would love to be able to see at a glance, but as things are now, I have to back out to the home screen and look for badges on app icons or use Notification Center. Neither are universally visible at a glance.
Protean is a tweak that’s designed to solve all of these problems. It’s a highly-customizable status bar modification that lets you remove, rearrange, redesign, or replace your status bar icons. The feature set is way too long to get into in this one post, but here’s a quick overview of what you can do:
- Hide useless status bar icons like your carrier name, alarm, or others that you don’t want to see
- Rearrange the entire status bar to put the icons in any order and pin them to the left or right side of the bar (or even the center)
- Show an icon (with support for custom icons you can add yourself) in the status bar when specific apps have unread notifications; you can select a different icon for every app
- Customize system icons (like Bluetooth, location, Wi-Fi, and more) and replace them with any other icon you want
- Show a custom icon in your status bar when specific Bluetooth devices are connected (like a Hyundai logo when my Sonata connects); I find this much better than a constant Bluetooth icon
Protean supports all of the countless icon packs previously designed for a similar tweak called OpenNotifier that no longer appears to be in development.
Polus – $.99
Polus is a Control Center customizer that lets you put just about anything in the slide-up control panel. You can create shortcuts to your favorite apps, toggles for system features like hotspot and vibration, and more. It also allows you to tweak the design of Control Center’s icons to fit your own taste.
TypeStatus – Free
iMessage conversations currently include a typing indicator view when one of your contacts starts replying to a message, but you can only see that when you’re actually in the thread view. TypeStatus is a free tweak that puts an icon in your status bar to show when someone is typing.
There are two different options for how this icon can be displayed. One is just a small speech bubble that appears alongside other icons. The other (my personal choice) takes over your whole status bar for a customizable period of time (say, five seconds) and shows you the full name of the person typing, then restores your regular status bar.
The tweak can also show a similar notification when you get a read receipt.
ReachApp – Free (beta available from developer repo)
ReachApp is a clever tweak that brings split-screen multitasking to iOS 8.4, but unlike Apple’s implementation in iOS 9, it’s not limited to the iPad. With this app, triggering Reachability moves your current app halfway down the screen, then populates the top half with a customizable list of your favorite apps, recent apps, and (optionally) a list of every app on your device.
Tapping one of these icons then puts that app on the top half of your screen. A handle between the two apps lets you resize them to fit your needs.
The tweak is still very much in beta right now, and a lot of apps have trouble running in this mode, but it’s very interesting to play around with and will certainly be a compelling tweak when it’s finished.
MusicMod – Free
MusicMod’s name pretty much gives away what it does. With this tweak, you can make a number of changes to the stock Music application on iOS 8.4. The changes include disabling certain parts of the interface (like the “Recently Added” section in the playlist tab), disabling parts of Apple Music (like Connect, or Radio) while still keeping the ability to use search to find any music through the service.
You can also tweak the Now Playing screen to remove the status bar (which is poorly placed directly on top of the album artwork), get rid of the blurred artwork that appears behind the music controls, and more.
One feature that’s still marked as being in beta also adds support for turning the Music app into landscape mode.
Asphaleia 2 – $1.99
While a lot of apps have been updated with support for Touch ID, some people may be looking to lock others (such as stock apps) behind their fingerprint. Asphaleia lets you do just that, along with protecting functions like powering down the phone with a Touch ID lock. You can also lock down Spotlight, multitasking, Control Center, and more.
Flex 2 – $3.99
Flex 2 doesn’t actually do anything on its own. Instead, it serves as a platform for creating, sharing, and downloading patches created by other users. It’s not quite like Cydia in that there are no standalone tweaks here. Flex just lets you make changes to apps currently installed on your device by changing values and settings that are normally inaccessible to users.
For example, you can add contact photos to the Messages app on devices other than the iPhone 6 Plus. You can get rid of the nearly useless search bar in the Messages app as well. A whole collection of patches for Facebook let you hide annoying parts of the UI, disable video autoplay, use the app in landscape, and much more.
Patches like this exist for just about every popular app that’s available. The Flex app automatically sorts patches by application so you can quickly find what you’re looking for.
Apps like Flex are where jailbreaking really has a chance to shine by enabling users to more directly customize individual apps. These patches may not make any huge changes to the system or add big new functionality, but by fixing annoyances in the apps you use every day, you can make your phone much more enjoyable.
RecentFacebook – Free
This makes Facebook default to the Most Recent feed rather than the curated news feed the app currently uses. That feed gets moved to the More tab. This is another one of those little things that make using Facebook that much easier.
CallBar – $3.99
When you get an incoming phone or FaceTime call, the Phone app takes over your entire screen and makes you decide whether you want to take the call or not before allowing you to continue with whatever you were doing.
CallBar changes the incoming call behavior and shows a notification banner for incoming calls. It’s not just a regular banner, though. The CallBar is larger than your usual notification to accommodate buttons for accepting and declining. Once you’ve picked up a call, you can access all of the same features that the regular call screen presents (mute, merge calls, keypad, and so on), but without losing your place in your current app.
CallBar can also act as a full Phone app replacement. You can use a customizable gesture (or, optionally, tap the Phone app icon) to pull up a similar banner that contains all of the phone app’s functions: favorite contacts, recent calls, contacts, a full keypad, and voicemail access. My only qualm with this part of the tweak is that it doesn’t provide visual voicemail access, and the developers have said they have no intention of adding that.
Regardless, CallBar is a pretty solid tweak with some great functionality.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkY6NRpv81s]
Cask – Free (available from developer repo)
Cask is a tweak from famed developer Ryan Petrich that brings Google Plus-inspired scrolling animations to table views throughout iOS. It’s a bit buggy on iOS 8.4 right now (the info page specifically says it hasn’t been updated for that OS yet), but it works well enough that you shouldn’t have any major problems.
You can choose from a small selection of effects, including fading, growing, and sliding in from the right, for the cells of each table as you scroll. You can also customize the timing to decide how long the animation should take to complete.
NoSlowAnimations – Free
While Apple has greatly improved animation speeds in iOS since version 7 was first released in beta, there’s always more room for improvement. NoSlowAnimations lets users change the duration of most system animations to speed things up a bit.
Rather than making you choose a specific time for each animation to last, NoSlowAnimations lets you scale all of the animations at once using a slider in the Settings app. Setting the slider to .70, for example, will cause animations to take only 70% of the usual time.
SearchSettings – Free (available from developer repo)
Another great (and simple) Ryan Petrich tweak, SearchSettings puts a search bar at the top of the Settings app so you can quickly find what you’re looking for. Since this feature appears in iOS 9, downgrading your phone solely to install this tweak doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s a good one to keep on hand if you go back for other tweaks.
ShowCase – Free
ShowCase has been around for years and is a feature recently built into iOS 9 as part of the new keyboard. It shows lowercase letters on the keyboard when your shift key is off and capitals when the shift key is on. This one is a big help to me, as my thumb is almost always hovering over the shift key and preventing me from seeing whether it’s on or off.
Like SearchSettings, this one’s not worth downgrading and jailbreaking for by itself, but it makes a great companion to many of the others on the list.
Everything Else
This is just a small sampling of what’s currently available for iOS 8.4. Many new tweaks are being released every week (sometimes dozens per week). As Apple continues to add new features and apps to iOS, developers will continue finding new ways to take advantage of them.
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I actually Jailbroke my iPhone for the first time yesterday. I have not installed any tweaks though… I simply wanted to be able to install GBA4iOS… We used to be able to install without Jailbreak, but Apple patched that method. Sorry Apple! I want to play Pokemon on my iPhone! Lol
Anyway you could show me how you did it? Thanks in advance!
Since that app’s open source, you should actually be able to built it in Xcode from the source and install it on your own device using Xcode 7 and iOS 9 when they come out later this year.
I hadn’t considered that Mike! Holy moly! I’m so excited! Because, there is really nothing else that I personally want from jailbreaking. I’ve just started dabbling in iOS development, so that shouldn’t be too difficult to do when they release! Thanks Mike!
I’m excited about it, too, Jesse! I tried with GBA4iOS last week but it relies on CocoaPods, which I didn’t have installed, so I just didn’t bother with it lol.
You could’ve downloaded GBA4IOS 2.1 using vshare without having to jailbreak your device or pay $8 or $9 and got it from iemulators.com and you get to download other apps as well ad free for a year or so.
I recomment installing f.lux app if you jailbroke your iPhone. Also on your Mac.
Same here, but with the need for a decent NES emulator with MFI Gamepad support (nestopia) for my iPhone 5. I was close to jailbreak for only that stupid emulator but then saw Mikes hint to the upcoming Xcode 7 “trick”, so I’ll wait for that :) Thanx Mike!
I have always wanted to try Jailbreaking my iPhone 6. I tried the beta but the bugs were deal breakers. Could you possibly point me in the right direction on how to do it and would it be buggy? I know how to back up 8.4 in case I don’t like it. I just want the tweaks!
There are two options right now Taig and Pangu. Both are viable options to jailbreak your phone. You basically plug and play! It takes no time and you are jailbroken. Keep in mind an OTA update will make jailbreak not work. Read iDownloadblog for a full article on how to jailbreak. Though it is pretty simple😀.
TY Joan!
Or just head over to http://reddit.com/r/jailbreak for really good information on how to proceed with jailbreaking
If you have a windows computer Taig, if not Pangu for Mac. IMHO any OS you download on any platform or device is buggy especially iOS without a jailbreak. But to answer you question it all depends on the tweaks you install whether or not they’re compitable with certain tweaks or if they’re updated to work with iOS 8.4. Most are up to date to work with 8.4 but some aren’t. There are tweaks such as crash reporter that’ll help you figure out what app is causing your device to crash and icleaner to clean the cache and unused dependencies sort of like disk cleaner on a windows computer. Furthermore, tweaks you cannot download will notify you when you click to download. But in the end it all depends on what you want to do with your device.
I do like the sound Protean and TypeStatus but I’m not jailbreaking so I’ll just be SOL on that.
Nothing you’ve mentioned is important enough to render your iPhone less secure. Have fun.
How is it less secure?
You’re giving the people behind the jailbreak as well as any app developer access to your phone and the info stored within.
That’s not quite accurate, Samuel. Yes, jailbreak tweaks generally have more reach than standard App Store apps (that’s the point, after all) but there are very few (if any, I can’t name one at all) documented cases where a tweak from one of the main community repositories did anything nefarious.
Well since I’m not an idiot who installs random packages from pirate repos and I only put trusted software on my phone, I don’t think I’ll have too much trouble.
Thanks for the insult!
The only way this is an insult to you… Is if you are an idiot who installs random packages from pirate repos. Since, you’ve been asking for assistance and resources on jailbreaking… I think it is safe to say that you haven’t jailbroken your device yet. Hence, he wasn’t referring to you.
One of my customers couldn’t get Exchange Active Sync to work with one of the mail servers that I manage. As it turned out, he had an iPad that was jailbroke. That was the cause of his problem. Once he went back to a non-jailbroke state, all was well. You’re breaking a lot more than you think you are, and you’re making your iPhone less secure. It doesn’t matter if you “trust” the software. What matters is that you’ve torn down the safeguards that Apple has in place. What’s more, you’re encouraging people to do the same. Will you take responsibility when they complain about someone hacking their phones?
So a non-power user reads this and says “hmmmm that sounds interesting. I’m going to jailbreak my phone too.” They do so, then, because they aren’t pros at this shit, they install some shady software.
To your view, they’re idiots rather than just misinformed. Got it.
Tony I was replying to Howie, not you :P
Howie, Cydia is configured by default with only trusted repositories and anyone adding additional repos is going to see countless warnings online telling them to be careful what they add. Ultimately anyone who jumps into this without fully understanding what they’re doing is at fault for whatever happens. It’s common sense to know you don’t just start hacking around with stuff you don’t understand.
@samuelsnay Yes. We are talking about somebody who accidentally deletes their text messages or uninstalls their Facebook app. They are actively modifying their device.
Anyone who purchases a computer of any kind and chooses to perform an unauthorized modification of the device’s operating system without fully understanding the repercussions of their actions is an idiot.
It would be the same thing as a guy with no knowledge of electrical wiring systems choosing to rewire his house. That would be idiotic. And when he gets electrocuted or his house catches on fire (whichever happens first), nobody is going to say “Oh… He was just misinformed”.
^ What he said. The only people who have anything to worry about are people who jumped into jailbreaking without learning how to manage software properly. It’s the same as people with Windows computers. There are many savvy Windows users who have rarely (if ever) get viruses on their computer. Then there are the people who have no idea what they’re doing…
Exactly. I’ve been jailbreaking on and off since the days of iOS 2 and I have never in my life experienced a single security breach as a result. Don’t install shady stuff from non-standard sources, change your SSH password immediately (as the installation tutorial in Cydia tells you).
From there you just have to be careful who has physical access to your phone, which—let’s face it—is something you should be doing whether you’re jailbroken or not.
LockInfo alone is worth the price of Jailbreaking and if Apple were to add that functionality to the OS itself, I might not JB at all. This is THE tipping-point tweak for me, everything else is gravy.
I used to use LockInfo all the time. Loved that tweak. Haven’t really gotten into the newer versions. I gave it a try a few times recently but I just wasn’t feeling it.
I’d definitely want to jailbreak my phone. How would Hacking Team put their awesome software on it if I don’t?
The solution is not to install Hacking Team’s software. They can’t install it remotely. They never could. It’s up to you or someone with physical access to your phone to do it, and if someone else has physical access to your phone, they could just jailbreak it themselves. No need to be scared.
I’m using most of these. CirDock is a great addition as well.
Okay so as a noob to this world, I have some questions.
1) If I decide to jailbreak my iPhone, do I lose the photos currently stored on it?
2) Will all of my current apps still work?
3) Can I still access the App Store and iTunes from my jailbroken iPhone?
4) How do I restore my iPhone to normal should I change my mind?
1) If everything goes well… No. But, you should back them up to be safe.
2) Yes
3) Yes
4) Perform standard restore on device (there are plenty of articles online to help)
1) Nope, you won’t lose anything from jailbreaking if you’re already on 8.4. If you’re on 9.0 and you downgrade, you’ll be unable to use your 9.0 backup because of limits Apple builds into iTunes.
2) All of your current apps should work. It’s rare for a jailbreak to cause a problem. I have only 1 beta app that currently doesn’t work and that’s because the developers specifically check to see if the phone is jailbroken and then set the app to not work. That’s a really bad practice, honestly, but since the app is still in beta I beleive they’ll probably change that before it launches. Otherwise, no issues here.
3) Yeah, the App Store, iCloud, all that stuff still works as expected.
4) Just plug it into iTunes and do a regular firmware restore. It’ll wipe the phone, reinstall stock iOS, and then you can restore your backup to get back your data. Restoring the backup won’t restore your jailbreak and you’ll be back to normal.
Just remember to always be careful of what you install from Cydia if you jailbreak. The stuff that’s there by default is fine, but if you start added repos yourself from untrusted sources (like app piracy sites), you may end up with some nasty malware. Not all repos are bad though. Stuff from trusted developers like Ryan Petrich are great sources for cool stuff you can’t get elsewhere. When in doubt, the best bet is to Google around or ask on Twitter to see if something’s safe or not.
Well, I JUST got a new TestFlight build of that one app I mentioned. The jailbreak check has been removed from it so I guess that point is moot now. All of my apps work just fine haha.
1) No
2) Yes unless their developer doesn’t allow jailbroken phones which is unlikely
3) yes
4) Itunes
I am currently beta testing iOS 9 on my iPad Air
I would like to downgrade back to iOS 8.4
Can this be done, if yes, how?
Thank you
Yes, a regular old restore in iTunes will do the trick, but unfortunately a restriction in iTunes doesn’t let you use a backup from 9.0 on 8.4, so any data not stored in iCloud will be lost.
As soon as someone develops a new way to bypass jailbreak detection from mobile iron I would jailbreak again too!
If you’re really that bothered by an alarm and bluetooth icon in the status bar at the top of your phone then you probably need to look into getting therapy and learning how to let go and worry so much about needing to control every minor thing in your life.
Seriously? An alarm clock icon? This is enough to set someone off to become a hacker? That’s just really sad.
Chill out man. Just because you don’t care doesn’t mean everyone has to not care. You’re the one getting upset over a blog post. Maybe you need to look into getting therapy and learning how to let people do what they want with their devices and not worry so much about needing to control what I do and don’t write.
I mean, it’s like you didn’t read past the first paragraph.
Your first paragraph complains about what icons are in the status bar, what more does there need to be? If your lose it over what icons are displayed in the status bar and have an uncontrollable urge that isn’t satisfied until you are able to fully customize an aspect that minute in an electronic device you own then yes, that is not healthy and you should seek help. Also, it sounds like an iPhone isn’t a device for you.
Sorry if hearing this hurts and offends you, but its really sad that there appear to be so many people out there that have this uncontrollable urge to tinker and change every minute detail of every device they own and won’t be satisfied until they do. You’d be much happier if you would just relax not worry so much about minor details like this.
“You’d be much happier if you would just relax not worry so much about minor details like this.”
So will you, Phillip Price.
Philip, please take a nap. You’re very cranky and seem to be under the impression that people should not be allowed to have opinions or decided what to do with things they unless you say so.
Yes, my first paragraph mentions that annoyance. The entire following article outlines many more. If you don’t read past the first paragraph, why on earth should I expect you to make an educated comment about anything the post says?
If you don’t like the idea of jailbreaking, I’ve got a great idea for you: don’t do it. But another cool thing you can try not doing is bellyaching about blog posts because someone doesn’t like something you don’t care about and they have the means to change it, a fact with which you are—for some inexplicable reason—not okay.
I’m not sure where you get the idea that I’m somehow “unhappy” just because some things bugged me so I fixed them. That’s just… dumb.
Phillip Price, this is a very strange interpretation of this article.
Most jailbreakers first started jailbreaking during the earlier iterations of iOS, at which time jailbreaking provided some basic functionalities that were missing from the device. Jailbreaking allowed users to send picture messages and receive better notifications (similar to the current notifications on iOS) among other things.
Once the device is jailbroken, the user is open to a wide array of customization and tweaks that are unavailable to typical iOS users. It is not unreasonable for Mike to desire this level of customization when it has been available to him for quite some time. The software engineers at Apple read articles like these as part of their research for what new features to implement. Mike was merely suggesting his favorite jailbreak tweaks that would make him willing to forgo jailbreaking his iPhone in the future.
However, I have a question for you, Phillip. Have you ever customized your phone in any way? Have you changed the background? Have you changed any of the text/ringtones? Have you changed any notification settings? Have you tried any of the new custom keyboards? Better yet… Have you ever downloaded ANY apps at all!?
Unless you use your phone in its default configuration with NO changes or modifications to the settings, then you are being a complete hypocrite. Mike is simply voicing his love of software that supplements his preferences for the OS. Weird… That sounds like… Apps! Apps do the same thing! They are a supplement to the OS because it doesn’t do everything that you want it to do out of the box.
But, nobody tells you that you need therapy because you download apps. Jailbreakers simply do what you do by installing apps, but they’ve taken the game and gone pro. Instead of flinging illogical condemnations at people on a blog, perhaps you should seriously take a look at where the need to make this comment came from. I don’t know you. But, I hope that this kind of ludicrous behavior is out of character for you.
Cheers!
Can I jailbreak my ipad 3 running 8.4? I want to set up the pad for different users. What is the best way to do it?
You sure can. If you’re on Windows the taig jailbreak will work for you: taig.com/
If you’re on a Mac, this one should work: http://ghost.25pp.com/soft/ppjailbreak2.dmg
Unfortunately I don’t personally know of any tweaks that let you setup multiple users on the iPad (I don’t own an iPad), but I believe there’s at least one out there that’ll do the trick.
It’s called Guest Mode
Great read.
The iOS status bar is extremely frustrating and the main reason I jailbreak. Before jailbreaking I would use appoinmtents or reminders so I wouldn’t have to stare a pointless clock icon. I always wondered why the little clock icon hands didn’t show the next alarm time. Where’s an AirPlay icon?How many times have I blasted music in another room. Same goes for Bluetooth being on most of the time but most importantly, icons for other apps in the status bar. At the very least, a red dot like the Apple Watch to let users know there are missed notifications.
I also like TinyBar which shrinks the notification bar to fit in the status bar instead of blocking everything you’re trying to do.
Lastly, why is Control Center still not customizable? I want to record a voice memo, set a timer to a default time, maybe turn a default alarm on and off all with one tap.
At least things have gotten better but I would have left iOS long ago without a jailbreak.
TinyBar is a great one. I used that for a long time. A fun fact about that tweak: I actually published a pretty popular concept describing/illustrating that exact feature under the name SmallBar in 2012, about six months before DietBulletin (TinyBar’s predecessor) was released. I don’t know if it was just a coincidence or if DB was inspired by my concept, but I’m pretty happy about it either way lol. There’s really no need for notification banners to take up so much room!
Control Center absolutely should be customizable. Who uses Airplane Mode often enough to need it there? Maybe someone, but not me. I’d much prefer a hotspot toggle. I was hoping iOS 9 would bring that but I guess we’ll have to wait a little longer.
I remember DietBulletin and could swear I even remember reading about your idea of smaller status bar and that a developer had made it. The intrusive notification banner wouldn’t even be so bad if the home button dismissed it but you have to wait or swipe up.
I’m surprised that ShareSheets are customizable but the Control Center isn’t. Apple could be done them the same way. The worst thing about the Airplane Mode icon is that it’s the first thing thieves turn on if they get their hands on your phone. Your choice is disable Control Center on the lock screen entirely or never get your phone back.
I don’t know what I’d want before but as I mentioned, quick default timer, quick default alarm toggle… it’s not a bad place to have a frequent contact but most importantly not everyone uses the default calculator and camera.
I can’t wait until iOS X 2018. I’m assuming that Apple stops all OS versions at X.
That Airplane Mode toggle is the #1 reason I disable Control Center on my lock screen. I filed radars during iOS 7’s beta pointing out that it could be used by thieves to avoid Find My iPhone, but Apple didn’t change a thing.
Thankfully there are tweaks that let you disable certain buttons on the lock screen.
I jailbreak mainly for the status bar icons for messages and emails and for a tiny notification bar. I want to know I have notifications, I just don’t want to see them.
Not to get completely off topic here, but Apple and the Telcos have had no problem doing business with thieves for many years and even though iOS is now technically locked to your iCloud account, it doesn’t mean you won’t have to buy a new phone when a thief steals yours. The Airplane Mode icon on the lockscreen just doesn’t make any sense at all. Back in the day, PocketPC/WinMo had your contact info on the lock screen. It’s almost like Apple still doesn’t want your phone to be returned.
Other than the possible security issues, even just jail breaking, not installing anything, slows down the system a ton in my experience. Also, I do not personally like to spend the listed price for apps. I buy my iTunes credit at 20% or more off, and I wait for apps to be on sale. Not owning the iOS device I do use is also an issue.
Actually, my jailbroken iPhone 6 with quite a few tweaks installed is running just as fast and smooth as it did when I put a fresh install of 8.4 on it. It’s much faster than 9.0 beta. If you install a LOT of stuff, eventually that will slow it down, but you have to really work to get to that point in my experience (I have before when I went nuts with the tweaks a few years ago).
I agree, I have a iPhone 6 and 6 Plus 8.4 jailbroken, I don’t have any issue with speed and I run about 5 apps at a time. But if you do have that problem especially on older devicels you can fix that by going under settings in accessibility turning on reduce motion and install the tweak noslowanimations or speedintensifier.
Agreed. The only things that I’ve installed are iOS4GBA, Cylinder, and UntetheredHeySiri. My phone is running as fast as ever!
Additionally, my battery life seems to be better than it’s ever been! But, that’s probably just a side-effect from the clean install of the OS that I did prior to jailbreaking…
I jailbreakedbmy iPad Air 2 to use whatsapp….
Don’t you think it is just a wee bit irresponsible to recommend jailbreaking without mentioning the associated risks for the average user? I mean live and let live but at least mention the huge security hole that intentionally breaking signing on a device is. http://viptest.9to5mac.com/2015/07/14/truth-faq-hackingteam-iphone-ipad-surveillance/
Not irresponsible at all. If people want to jailbreak after reading this article, I expect them to Google instructions on how to do so, and in the process discover all of the rules for how to do so safely. It’s honestly not my responsibility to remind someone every time something could potentially cause a security risk for them.
Installing third-party keyboards could, in theory, send all of the text they type back to the developers. Apps that utilize in-app browsers could be sending passwords entered through the app back to the creators. Apps with contacts permission could be sending all of your friends’ information to a server for some illegitimate purpose. Anything COULD be a security risk, even on the App Store.
This isn’t an article about how to jailbreak, or the risks associated with doing so (which, if you know what you’re doing, are nearly moot anyway). It’s an opinion piece on which tweaks have kept me jailbreaking my phone even while many people are saying there’s no need to do so anymore.
Boring question – I just want to know how to run Popcorn-time.se on my NON jailbroken iphone 6
I successfully downloaded the app, but it doesn’t want to open.
None of these apps are in the least bit compelling to me. It’s no wonder jail breaking is so much less common than it used to be.
I agree. Jailbreaking is not nearly as essential for many users as it used to be. I’ve only got 3 tweaks installed and I really don’t care about two of them. If I could install a decent GBA emulator on my iPhone without jailbreaking, I wouldn’t even bother!
And as Mike pointed out in response to the first comment on this article… That will be the case with iOS 9 once Xcode 7 is released. So, I’ll be reverting to standard OS once that happens! =)
Well, there are lots of other tweaks out there that I don’t use. If you look around the web at different reviews and announcements, maybe you’ll find something that does interest you. Or maybe not, it’s all a matter of taste.
As iOS because more feature packed the desire to Jailbreak becomes less and less. Protean is a fantastic mod though I’m surprised Apple haven’t poached the devs to implement even half of its capabilities into the OS.
I’d also like f.lux on my phone. I’ve used it on my laptop for a while but then I lie in bed with the light off and find myself staring at a blue glowing screen. Kinda negates all the positive from the laptop.
I’m actually really surprised that Protean hasn’t been made native. Shouldn’t be hard to let developers add a new notification type (“Status bar icon”) to their app, and allow users to toggle it through the notification settings.
I think Apple probably realizes the bar is too crowded for that right now but they don’t want to have to rethink things. If they did, it would sort of be another admission that Android did something else right, which I’m sure they don’t want to make. Unfortunately it’s the users who miss out because of that.
WhatsApp Web Enabler is big for me. Stupid that it doesn’t work without a jailbreak!
Just one of the mentioned tweaks is a little useful in my point of view. Btw, the status bar tweak is so ugly. So, my words for JailBreak still are: no no no.
The signal indicators in the screenshots are actually from a theme I didn’t list in the article. Protean is responsible only for the arrangement.
Is it a good idea to recommend doing something the technically voids your warranty. Sure there is always restoring it but it that should fail for any reason they you are SOL!!!
It’s their own choice to do whatever they want. I’m just presenting my own personal reasons for doing it.
I worked at the Genius Bar for years. Your warranty is not voided in any way! Stop disseminating false information! Apple will not perform software repairs on your device while unauthorized software is installed, because they cannot guarantee that the unauthorized software didn’t cause the issue.
But, they will still perform hardware repairs (e.g. fix a cracked screen, etc) when it is jailbroken.
As you said, you can always restore the original software. If that fails, then you simply get an error message via iTunes. At that point, (as long as your device is still within the warranty period) Apple will replace the device under an “error code / will not restore” category within their system. Just tell them that it errored out while performing a restore. That’s all they need to know anyway.
where do I jail break from?
link please
I tried jailbreaking a couple of years ago but ultimately went back to stock iOS because I was a little paranoid about what might happen to my iPhone in terms of stability. My paranoia is long gone, especially seeing how the last few versions of iOS have had some pretty damning bugs. That said, I do agree that iOS is still way behind in customization and that jailbreaking offers some great ways to tailor one’s phone to his or her liking. I use my phone for business and for personal use, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “I wish I could do (this) on my phone.” I used an Android tablet for a few months last year and loved how I could make it work the way I needed it to. In addition, Apple seriously needs to redo the implementation of widgets and the Notification Center, both of which offer a cluttered view of information. I imagine that jailbreaking allows people to change both of those to make them much more user-friendly. I may decide to try jailbreaking again before iOS 9 comes out, just to see what tweaks are out there. That’s the thing: people jailbreak not necessarily for apps, it for tweaks that make their phones more useful. At least, that’s why I would do it.
If people want to jailbreak and are aware of what they’re doing, let them do it. We shouldn’t be critical of such a practice if the intentions are good.
Well I bit the bullet and Jailbroke my 6. I absolutely love that I can finally make it my own. Aqua board has to be one of the most beautiful things Ive seen. I am however having a few glitches but Ive installed quite a few tweaks so no idea how to figure out the issue. Cant pair my phone to my car anymore,some apps won’t open at all but just a game so far nothing crucial. All in all Im hooked. BTW I tried getting the source for SearchSettings and the warnings scared me off.
Honestly the main reason why i jailbreak my device is to minimise the usage of my Home Button to almost never use it at all. There are jailbreak tweaks for gestures actions to go back to home screen. And i could instantly lock my my device in a single swipe down from my Homescreen (minimise usage of power button). I couple it with a few other CC (Control Center) tweaks for instantly remove all recent apps or only keep apps that i always use on my Whitelist. And not forgetting speedy animations. My device is as smooth as stock IOS minus the excessive usage of Home Button. *Happy Face*
Hey Mike, do you know if the apple watch works with the iOS 8.4 jailbrake??