When the iPhone 5s first arrived in September, the feature that many were drawn to was the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, and although some were quick to dismiss the new implementation as a gimmick, it has very much established itself as a well-crafted security asset. Given that, for such a new feature, Touch ID is already very reliable, it stands to reason that we would want to use something similar for our password needs on a more universal scale, and thanks to a little jailbreak tweak called UnlockID, Mac users can call upon Touch ID for their desktop password-entering needs.
Reddit is a great place for folks to create and join various societies relating to a myriad of topics, and with jailbreaking being so incredibly popular - especially given the recent Evasi0n / P0sixspwn breaks for iOS 7 and iOS 6 respectively - the jailbreak subreddit is currently thriving. Obliging to a request from Redditors to reveal which jailbreak tweaks that he had installed on his own iPhone, Jay Freeman - better known as Saurik, creator of Cydia - reeled off a long list of some of the most popular and long-serving tweaks available. It's a very interesting insight, and although you might half expect, in the usual ironic manner, that Saurik's iPhone would contain very few Cydia-sourced alterations, in this case, the opposite is true.
Many of us would love to develop our own apps, tweaks and learn programming, but like our aspirations to master a new language, pick up a new instrument or go to Australia, issues such as time, money and work often prevent these things from happening. But a tweak called Flex has long since given those with little knowledge of code the ability to create their own patches, and with a thriving community having helped to make the sequel - aptly named Flex 2 - a reality, those of you looking to create your own iOS mods can continue to do so with ease.
Moments ago, it emerged that Apple had released a minor update for iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c users in the form of iOS 7.0.5. In the release notes, Apple made note of the point that the update amended some issues affecting folks in China, but it wasn't immediately apparent whether the jailbreak had been patched or not. Now, seasoned jailbreaker MuscleNerd has taken to Twitter and urged those eligible for the iOS 7.0.5 update to refrain from doing so.
As much as some of us really enjoy using iOS, those amongst us that are realists surely have to admit that it has its little foibles. Apple has gradually ironed some of them out over the years and, unfortunately, baked new ones into subsequent versions of iOS as well. You don't build something as complicated as a mobile operating system without having quirks.
Lock screens are a largely personal affair. What one person thinks is perfection personified, another may call ugly and overbearing. We're big fans of minimalistic lock screens here at Redmond Pie, but that doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of people out there that want every option known to man to be available as soon as they turn their screen on. Being able to tweak iOS to do just what you want is what jailbreaking is all about, after all.
Ever since the Evasi0n7 jailbreak recently came about courtesy of the Evad3rs team, we've seen swathes of great tweaks and apps emerge from the Cydia Store. Many of them have offered ways to truly manipulate the functionality of iOS in a number of ways, while others, like today's tweak, are a lot more aesthetically-focused. Eclipse, a new tweak by developer Guillermo Morán brings a "night mode" to the interface, so all of the bright, white color effects become a mixture of dark grays and blacks, nicely accented by an optional orange tint.
Zephyr was one of the most popular tweaks for iOS 6, and if you happened to use it yourself, you'll know exactly why. The ability to swipe between app windows with such fluidity felt like a feature that should always have been a part of the iOS experience, and since the iOS 7 jailbreak came about courtesy of Evasi0n, we've heard from a number of readers asking if Zephyr for iOS would be making a reappearance for the latest and greatest version of Apple's mobile operating system. Just recently, a new tweak entered the jailbreak scene called MultitaskingGestures, which, as the name implies, brings that Zephyr-esque experience to the new firmware.
We told you not that long ago that SwiftKey is potentially on its way to iOS via the SwiftKey Notes app, but if you're looking for a more system-wide approach to things then your only option is to spring for something that requires jailbreaking - at least until Apple sees the light and opens the door to truly customizable keyboards throughout iOS. With that unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future, you might want to check out PredictiveKeyboard.
History has shown us that the most popular Cydia tweaks are those that work seamlessly with iOS to enhance to overall experience for the user. CleverPin, a tweak developed by Filippo Bigarella, is certainly one of the must-have options for the security conscious and has been updated with full support for iOS 7.
