Apple made a bunch of improvements with iOS 7, many of which were aesthetic. But as well as performing some housekeeping on several pre-existing features and apps, the company also introduced one or two new faces. Among them was AirDrop, a convenient file transfer system taken from OS X, but like most new Cupertino implementations, it didn't arrive without limitations on what it was capable of. If you're jailbroken, though, you'll know that the proverbial ball and chain Apple puts on certain aspects of its mobile OS are being removed on a daily basis, and as its name implies, AnyDrop turns AirDrop into the feature it was always supposed to be.
One of the most exciting features Apple added with the iPhone 5s was the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, and despite a few teething issues, it seems to have gone down rather well with the iPhone-using faithful. Now a jailbreak tweak has emerged that brings a virtual fingerprint sensor to the lock screen, so if you don't happen to own an iPhone 5s but would like a similarly cool feature, then Bio is definitely a Cydia export that you'll want to check out.
Even though, at stock level, the general appearance of iOS isn't all that customizable, Apple's mobile operating system has long since supported personalized backgrounds. But while the introduction of dynamic wallpapers have added an extra dimension to proceedings, a new tweak in Cydia called springPage takes things a step further. As its name vaguely implies, springPage allows you to set your wallpaper on a per-page basis, so while the rigmarole of scrolling through pages of icons and folders can often be a tedious one, this tweak will let you inject a little variety.
Following the release of iOS 7 and the subsequent untethered jailbreak from the Evad3rs team, the Cydia community seems to be exuding an air of professionalism and creative thought, and having covered iOS tweaks for a number of years, I have been generally taken aback by the marked improvement in the quality and thoroughness of tweaks this time around. Rather than releasing tiny alterations that deal with one small feature or snag, developers have sought to completely modify the way entire apps and features behave for the better, and Aria, a new tweak over at the BigBoss repo, gives the Music app something of an overhaul.
As a user of all three of the major mobile platforms in almost equal measure, one element of Google's Android that I particularly enjoy is the fact that widgets are abundant. Neither Windows Phone nor iOS support custom widgets natively, but thanks to the jailbreak community, those on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch have been able to indulge in recent times. A very promising new tweak on the scene by the name of ProWidgets allows iOS device users to enrich the experience of using Apple's mobile OS with a bunch of great widgets, and not only are they functionally sound and infinitely useful, but also aesthetically in-keeping with the look and feel of iOS 7.
One new feature that Apple added with iOS 7 was the ability to enjoy dynamic wallpapers, yet like all previously-unseen implementations, Apple held back on a few experimental features when it came down to the final, end-user release. It's often the case that, rather than remove features entirely, Apple simply hides them, before phasing them out at a later date, but if you want to enjoy some of the wallpaper animations and effects that didn't quite make the cut, then HiddenWallpapers is the tweak for you. Check it out after the fold!
One of the trade-offs of remaining on a pre-iOS 7.1 release, which many have done in order to preserve their jailbreak, is that, of course, you don't get to enjoy the various new features that Apple has thrown in with the update. However, seasoned developer Ryan Petrich has sought to offer jailbreak fiends a taster of what's new by releasing an iOS 7.1-ified calendar tweak by the name of Gregorian.
Thanks to the closed-source nature of Apple's iOS, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users must make do with the stock keyboard, and although it has improved to a degree over the years, it is, without a doubt, still streets behind the likes of SwiftKey and Swype. The only way these more advanced keyboards have managed sneak onto stock iOS is through standalone apps like SwiftKey Note and Hipjot, but now, the developer of the latter has made the intuitive typing interface available to those running jailbroken devices.
I'm not sure whether it's down to the fact that Apple decided to make some significant visual alterations with iOS 7, or just the fact that the jailbreak community has continued to grow at an incredible rate, but there's definitely been a noticeable spike in the volume of new tweaks and themes added to Cydia following the universal Evasi0n jailbreak for iOS 7. Not that we're complaining, though, and having recently been impressed by the simplicity of Surenix's Ayeris theme for both iPhone and iPad, the Eli7e theme offers its own unique, polished take on how Apple's mobile OS should look. Check it out below!
A particularly captivating, futuristic iOS 8 concept, which we first caught a glimpse of late last month, sought to combine elements of the Control Center and new multitasking view of to create an entirely new, effortlessly functional interface. Some concepts are unattainable and / or just plain unrealistic, but, reading between the lines, this particular concept made perfect sense - combining two features into one for ease-of-access. Naturally, with the jailbreak scene currently thriving, one developer sought to turn this most plausible of designs into a genuine reality, and having announced the Vertex tweak only a couple of days back, it has been completed, packaged up, and is ready for prime time. Check it out below!
