With cameras in smartphones having improved greatly over the past few years, vendors have been finding it increasingly difficult to impress the shot-taking ability of each new release. However, the iPhone 5 released back in 2012 tried to enhance things with a new rear-facing camera that performed better in low-light conditions, and as we continue to seek ways to enjoy clearer snaps in dark places, a new app by the name of Night Vision will help those on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to capture video and take photographs after the sun has gone down.
Jailbreaking an iOS device has always been about the freedoms that it brings to users. Freedom to install apps and extensions that haven't been vetted and sanctioned for sale in the official App Store. Over time, the freedom to customize the look and feel of the firmware’s user-interface elements has also become extremely popular, with some users opting for minor amendments while others revel in full system artwork replacements. The new Messages Customiser package is one of customization, is a lot more subtle than a full replacement and relates directly to the native Messages app in iOS 7.
Apple's Touch ID sensor on the 64-bit iPhone 5s seems to be what is currently hot at the moment among Cydia developers, with a number of them taking the opportunity to release tweaks that rely on biometric authentication to perform specific tasks. Ryan Petrich, of Activator fame, is the latest to adopt current trends with the release of his BioLockdown package, available to download now.
Modding the iPhone and iPad is part of the charm of jailbreaking. In fact, it's arguably the biggest reason that people take to jailbreaking their iOS devices, and with people apparently desperate to stamp their individuality on their personal technology, Apple's devices seem to attract some of the most creative people around.
Jailbreaking. We love it, if only because it allows us access to features that Apple, for one reason or another, has refused to give us. At first it was being able to have Notification Center on the lock screen before iOS 7 brought it to the masses. We also had jailbreak tweaks that let us launch the Camera app from the lock screen before it appeared in an official release of iOS. Now, we've got another feature that Apple hasn't brought to iOS, and it's great.
The addition of a gyroscope sensor into the iPhone is one example of the device’s evolution, but the release of the iPhone 5s and Apple's Touch ID sensor is probably one of the most exciting developments that we have seen for a while. As you might expect, the jailbreak community is extremely keen to take advantage of that hardware, with Elias Limneos earlier teasing a new Touch ID compatible tweak and now making it available for all to grab from Cydia.
FakeCarrier, a third-party tweak for jailbroken devices, may be one of the simpler offerings on Cydia but it has definitely proved its value over the years. Jailbreaking and liberating an iOS device is predominantly about stepping away from Apple's walled garden and making changes to how the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch looks and feels. FakeCarrier has long been the package of choice for jailbroken users who wish to remove the branded network name from their status bar in favor of something a little more unique. Like most other popular tweaks, it has now received an iOS 7 overhaul to make it compatible with the latest Evasi0n release and modern A7 64-bit devices.
Battery saving and power monitoring tweaks have historically proven to be extremely popular with Cydia users, which is why the newly released BatterySafe extension is likely to grab itself a plethora of downloads.
One of the latest packages to land in Cydia is Virtual Home; an extensions that uses the iPhone 5s Touch ID sensor for more than just authentication and device unlocking.
Now that the Evasi0n7 jailbreak is starting to mature and Saurik's Cydia Substrate (formally known as MobileSubstrate) has been updated to support the latest version of iOS, we're starting to see everyone's favorite tweaks and apps get updates that make them compatible with everything that has gone on over the last week or two. Some we've been waiting for more than others, and now three of the most requested updates have arrived.
