Learn how to use, hack and mod the Apple iPhone, iPad & iPod touch
Face Detection is a feature of the iPhone that adapts the focus & exposure automatically when a face is present in the shot. This feature is only active when taking a picture but this hack allows it to work actively when shooting video. This is really nice as the environment can change quickly during a video and typically you want the video focused on faces if they are part of the shot. This hack is available in Cydia for free. [Read more...]
AppCap is a hack that allows you to set parameters on the day, time, amount of time and the number of times you can launch an application. When I heard about this hack, I knew I would have to check it out. We have four boys and our oldest, who is six, is extremely iPhone savvy… like father, like son. He does really well following the guidelines we put on his phone and it has a password that we have to enter before he is able to use it but an extra precaution couldn’t hurt right. Or, not going to lie, I might use this app to keep myself off Facebook!! [Read more...]
I discovered this hack on accident… kind of. NCSettings is a toggle hack and I already have SBSettings installed (another toggle hack). I wasn’t really looking to replace it, however I was looking for an easier way to toggle my mute on/off. Why you ask… because my mute switch is broken. Sad day. I blame it on children. The need to turn the mute switch on and off a million times a day apparently was not tested thoroughly. Apple really should have tested the mute switch on mothers of young children. ANYWAY… my mute switch is broken and I was getting seriously sick of moving my Accessibility AssistiveTouch button around constantly so that I could tap on things. And then Evasi0n was released and there were tears of joy (ok, there were not really tears of joy but I was happy). [Read more...]
Hi! Welcome to Friday Favs… this is where I will talk about some of my favorite mods and hacks from the week. Since the Evasi0n jailbreak was just released on Monday, this post is going to be primarily made up of the must-have mods and hacks I install as soon as I jailbreak my iDevice (in this case my iPhone). [Read more...]
This is a simple app that just changes the “loading…” text under an icon to the percentage number during installation. This app adds no icon and can be turned on and off in the Settings app. [Read more...]
One of the first applications I install after jailbreaking my iPhone is SBSettings, an application that allows you to quickly toggle settings on your device. It allows me to do some of my favorite hacks (see screenshots below) and it also allows me to quickly adjust my brightness, toggle my WiFi and Respring my device… things I do fairly often. Plus, I’m an old school jailbreaker and it has sentimental value. :) [Read more...]
Google has finally released Chrome, their own browser for the iPhone and iPad. It works pretty well and is a great alternative to Safari. One thing that browsers other than Safari cannot do is open files from other apps. For example, if you’re in the Mail app and someone sends you a link, tapping on it will take you to Safari. If you wanted to opened it in Chrome you would have to copy the link, open Chrome and paste it there. Same goes for any other app that has links. [Read more...]
The Chronic Dev team has released Absinthe 2.0 which will jailbreak most devices on firmware 5.1.1. I’ll provide a list below of compatible devices. First, I’m going to jailbreak my new iPad (3). It’s current firmware is 5.1 so I am upgrading to 5.1.1. Before jailbreaking I recommend backing up your device. I use iCloud to backup but you can also connect to iTunes and under devices, right click the device and choose backup. It had been suggested to wipe/restore your device before running this jailbreak to save time. It may take up to 30 minutes if you don’t. I have so much on my device that it would take longer than that to restore so I’m trying it with all my apps, pictures and settings. [Read more...]
I love hacks like SBSettings that allow me to put the current date in my statusbar all the time. But, if you’re looking for a little more info, check out this hack. It adds a full calendar into your Notification Center. There are no settings for the hack but to turn it on and off. You can swipe left and right on the calendar to see other months. This app is free and can be downloaded in the Cydia App. [Read more...]
This is an application that should have originally came with the App Store. This application sends you a push notification every time one of your installed apps has an update. You can configure the app under your Settings app to check hourly, daily, weekly or monthly for new updates. There’s also an ignore list so you can disable notifications for certain application updates. I use the ignore list for Apple apps that recently updated for iOS 5.1 that I do not want to update because I’m still on 5.0.1. This application is $1.49 in the Cydia Store. [Read more...]
MusicBanners is a nice addition to the stock iOS Notification Center. This hack notifies you when a new music track is playing. It will show up in all the normal places regular notifications appear such as the banner at the top, the lock screen or the pull down notification center. The hack also works with Pandora and possibly other music apps but it’s originally made for the iOS Music app (formerly the iPod app) but when you open the notification it will always open the music app. Hopefully a future update can fix this but it’s still a great hack. This app is free in the Cydia Store. [Read more...]
This free little hack is exactly what the name suggests. It simply removes the little button on your lockscreen that turns your iPad into a picture frame. If you’re using the iPad as a kiosk or for other reasons and you want to remove this button, this is the solution. Here’s a before and after screenshot. [Read more...]
Recently, someone figured out that if they changed just one little number in the code for the iPhone Facebook app, the iPad app would be revealed when installed on the iPad. You needed to be jailbroken so you could access the Facebook app files to change the code that marks the app for the iPhone or iPad. The app was a little buggy but the layout was pretty good. Nothing to blow your mind but better than the tiny little iPhone app. UPDATE: There is a hack in Cydia called FaceForward that re-enables the hack and doesn’t require the step by step hacks below! [Read more...]
This app is still in Beta but if you want to check it out, it’s now available in Cydia. If you’re not familiar with Swype, it’s an alternative to traditional touchscreen typing. Instead of tapping each key, you start with the first letter of the word you’re typing and then drag it to each letter and lift off on the last letter. Check it out in the video below and if you try it out, let us know what you think. [Read more...]
Jailbreakme.com is back! Just visit the website in Safari on your device and tap install. It installs just like an app from the app store! This hack uses an exploit in the way iOS handles PDF files. It even works on the iPad 2 and Verizion iPhone. Note: this will not work on devices running the iOS 5 Betas. Here’s a video of how to do it and how easy it is. [Read more...]
