Why I jailbroke my iPhone

About a week ago, a jailbreak was publicly released for iOS 9 devices. I'm a big fan of jailbroken iPhones so I was quick to try it out on my phone. However, over the past couple of years fewer and fewer people are finding the need to jailbreak their iPhones as iOS got better.

I'm not here to say that everyone should jailbreak their phones, but below are some improvements I've made to my iPhone - thanks to the jailbreak - that may catch your interest.

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Yema Theme Review for iPhone

Yema directly translates to: "mum" in Arabic, and it's the name of Ysfzone's latest theme in Cydia. According to the Moroccan designer, the theme is dedicated to his mother; I'm sure the consistent metallic design won't disappoint her.

Yema is shiny and beautiful, it gives your iPhone a design it deserves. The theme doesn't just change the icons, below are the features of Yema:

• 200+ icons
• App Masks
• 2 Jellylock and Classicdock themes
• BiteSMS theme
• Control Center theme
• Iconomatic Theme
• Themed Messages UI

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Pluck 2 Review for iPhone

The iPhone has long lacked a quick method to change between music without having to open the Music app. Sure you can skip between music one by one till you eventually reach the required song, but for those of you with a jailbroken iPhone then you're in for a treat.

Developer ravirajm has been in the game for a long time now with his tweaks: Pluck (iOS 6), Pluck 2 & Pluck 2 CCToggles (both iOS 7).

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Gyro (Slide) Review- An Interactive DreamBoard Theme for iPhone

Gryo (Slide) is an interactive DreamBoard theme that is available for iPhone. The theme offers a unique experience to users and changes the way you see and use your phone. This review includes a video showing off Gyro (Slide) and emphasizes on its unique points.

The theme requires users to install the beta version of DreamBoard to ensure iOS 7 compatibility. To install the beta version you'll need to add the following source to Cydia:

http://wynd07.appspot.com/r7/

Once added you can simply install DreamBoard from that source. After installing DreamBoard you can purchase Gyro successfully from Cydia.

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WiPi- Quickly switch between Wifi networks on iPhone

Among the many new features introduced in iOS 7, the new Control Center was one of the most useful upgrades. Users no longer need to open the settings app to make very small changes such as toggling bluetooth or increasing the brightness. However, one thing which Apple missed out on is the ability to scan and connect to WiFi whenever the user demands it without having to open the settings app.

Currently, a user is offered to allow the iPhone to ask to join networks. But the popup doesn't always come at the right time. Additionally, it's better to keep that toggle turned off to help save battery.

Jailbroken iPhone users are offered a solution by @Bensge, one of the developers who worked on  Velox. Bensge released a tweak called WiPi some time ago in Cydia, before the introduction of iOS 7. WiPi has been updated to take advantage of the Control Center.

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Eclipse- Night Mode on iPhone

Perhaps one of my biggest requests for iOS 8 is a Night Mode feature. Many users, myself included, use their iPhones at night for a few hours before sleeping. The problem with this is that even when the brightness of the iPhone is set to the lowest, it still burns my eyes. I'm not the only one facing this issue, and this is what encouraged Guillermo Morán (fr0st) to develop Eclipse.

Eclipse is a Cydia tweak that provides system wide night mode on iOS. It replaces the bright white backgrounds in iOS with much darker ones. The user can choose between 8 themes, I use 'Night'. You can also set a color for buttons and for the statusbar since they may look awkward if left unchanged.

Below is a side by side comparison showing Eclipse in action:

Eclipse disabled	Ecplise enabled

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Looka- Flat Minimalistic Theme for iPhone

iOS 7 brought forward an overdue flat redesign to the iPhone. The software looks amazing and is certainly a pleasure to use for most people. However, one complaint that many users have is the new icons. Fortunately for jailbroken iPhones, you can get many amazing themes to replace these icons.

One theme I would like to share with you is Looka by Luka Kajtes. The theme simplifies the icons and makes them a lot more consistent. Perhaps too consistent for some people, but I personally liked them.

Unlike most typical themes, Looka doesn't just change the icons of your iPhone. It also provides 8 icon masks such as circular icons and square icons. One problem with masking icons using Looka is the folders don't get masked too, perhaps the folders won't look good masked, but it leads to inconsistency across the devices. Anyway, I have provided screenshots for all the different icon masks below to save you time from having to respring between different masks.

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How to help stop capturing portrait video on iPhone

Capturing video in portrait could be quite annoying. For some, this is because when playing the video it's more convenient in landscape and it shows more horizontal area. For others this could be because landscape video is more suitable for editing the video using apps such as iMovie, or uploading videos to YouTube.

The issue with vertical videos is quite big actually, there's an App Store app called Horizon ($1.99) that forces video to be captured horizontally.

However, if you would rather shoot with the default camera app, then you should be interested in a free Cydia tweak called VerticalVideoSyndrome which helps solve this issue.

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Create Notes anywhere on your iPhone using NoteCreator

Notes are useful as they help you jot a few ideas on the go before they disappear in your memory. The Notes app on iOS 7 is simple, clean and provides a distraction free experience to take down notes. However, it involves a few steps to use as you have to unlock your phone, open the Notes app and add a new note.

You can improve this experience by reducing the steps required to take notes. This will require a jailbroken iPhone and a Cydia tweak called NoteCreator.

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GameBoy Advance emulator now available on iOS 7, doesn't require a jailbreak

For some people, GameBoy is nothing but a gaming device. For others, it was a childhood. Either way, I'm sure most iPhone users would love a bit of Gameboy fun on their modern smart phone.

GBA4iOS is a popular emulator that has been completely redesigned to support iOS 7. An important update that has been made after the previous version is support for downloading games for your virtual GameBoy through the app itself.

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How to hack Flappy Bird on iPhone

Flappy Bird is the most frustrating and annoying game you've ever played on your iPhone. The developer claims his game has hit 50M downloads and generates $50k per day in ad revenue. And while developer Dong Nguyen is celebrating his success, some people can't even get past 10 pipes before their bird crashes into one of the pipes.

Fortunately, you can now celebrate a successful high score too, without the need to spend hours of your life mastering the game and avoiding to smash your iPhone. How? By a simple hack. All you need is a jailbroken iPhone and iFile (free). If Flappy Bird is running in the multitask then be sure to close it from there before starting this tutorial.

Below is a step by step tutorial to hack Flappy Bird!

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Lock apps on iOS 7 for free using iAppLock

A long time ago, I shared a Cydia tweak that lets you passcode lock applications on your iPhone's homescreen. While you can still get that tweak if you're running an ancient version of iOS, time has moved on, and you probably did too. So today I'm sharing a more modern free tweak that's designed exclusively for iOS 7, with support of older versions of iOS coming soon.

Released this week is a tweak called iAppLock. As the name suggests, it lets you lock apps. The app is really basic right now. However, a pro version is also in the making, which will obviously be paid but will also offer more features too. 

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Fix Cydia status bar glitch on iOS 7

If you have a jailbroken iPhone, then one of the things you may have noticed is the status bar is always showing in the default apps that came with your iPhone (e.g. Safari, Videos, Photos). It simply never goes away.

The instructions are really simple.

Open Cydia, and tap on Manage. Then select Sources.

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