Vertex: Upcoming Jailbreak tweak to bring the awesome iOS 8 Mission Control Concept to life

Few days back, we covered an iOS 8 concept, which imagined how the multitasking switcher and Control Center could be merged, with a simple swipe up from bottom gesture to access it.

If you’re like me who really liked the concept then I’ve some good news for you.

Couple of Cydia developers have announced on reddit that they are working on a jailbreak tweak called Vertex that will bring the concept to life.

Here’s the designer’s description of the concept:

- Flicking up from the bottom of the edge allows the multitasking app views to be tied directly to the gesture, which allows for direct manipulation and avoids having to wait for a passive animation to complete before interacting with them.

- The obvious potential drawback to this combined approach is that there is less room available for Control Center- I personally find that I use a couple features of Control Center, but almost never touch at least half of them (calculator, clock, airplane mode, bluetooth). I can’t be sure, but I suspect this is true for a large amount of other users as well, so my solution is to have 5 button ‘slots’ that can be customized with the 5 most used shortcut functions for that particular user.

Here’s a video demo of the concept:

Cydia developers have mentioned that they plan to tweak the design to give it a more iOS 7 look.

Vertex merges the Control Center and App Switcher, but we added a nice little iOS 7 touch to it, your wallpaper will be blurred in the background of the switcher, also we used smooth animations to make it fit even more with iOS 7. And at last, we used the stock icons, to make it look flat but gorgeous.

You can check out the demo of Vertex in action below:

If you want to beta test the tweak then you can contact developers on twitter @tmnlsthrn & @ianb821 or you can send us an email at vertex@tmno.co.

They haven’t mentioned when it will be released and how much it will cost assuming they do decide to charge for it. I can’t wait for it to hit Cydia. As always, we’ll let you know as soon as there are any further updates, so stay tuned here at iPhone Hacks or join our Facebook Fan page, follow us on Twitter, add us to your circles on Google+ or subscribe to our RSS feed.

[via reddit]

Posted by Gautam on Feb 25, 2014 - iphonehacks.com

Cylinder: A promising alternative to Barrel [Jailbreak Tweak]

One of my favorite jailbreak tweaks of all-time is Barrel, it’s one of the first jailbreak tweaks that I install after jailbreaking my iPhone.

In case you’re not aware, Barrel was released back in 2010, and brought 3D-cube effect to the iPhone while swiping through Home screen pages. Since then the developer has been adding new animations to keep it fresh.

There is a new jailbreak tweak called Cylinder that aims to give the $3.99 Barrel a run for its money. Developer Reed Weichler says that the reason for making Cylinder was because he wanted to add more effects, and he didn’t like Barrel’s cube effect.

At the moment, Cylinder is in beta, so the number of animations are quite limited, however the 3D-cube effect is better than Barrel’s 3D cube effect. It has a more noticeable 3D-effect.

3D cube (Inside)

3D cube (Outside)

The other interesting feature that Cylinder offers is the ability to stack animations, so you can configure a 3D cube (inside) animation with a Spin animation. If you plan to stack animations, then you need to select them carefully as some combinations of animations may not look good. You can configure the tweak via the Settings app.

Check out the demo video of the jailbreak tweak in action:

Cylinder is currently in beta, and available for free. You need to add the http://r333d.com/repo to install the tweak. It is compatible with iOS 7, and also compatible with Barrel.

You can also add your own effects to Cylinder. The effects are coded in Lua, a simple scripting language. To add your own script, copy the .hua scripts to /Library/Cylinder/ using scp/WinSCP/iFile/iFunBox/whatever.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Themes used:

• Screenshots: Soft Remix
• Video: Ayeris

Posted by iPhoneHacks on Feb 25, 2014 - iphonehacks.com

Jailbreak Tweak Roundup: vColor, LockToCell, SpotiSearch, AutoPause, IconLock7

Here we have 5 new tweaks that have recently hit Cydia. Whether you’re trying to customize color of the volume HUD or looking for an easier way to search through Spotify, we have your solution right here.

vColor – Free

First tweak we have up is vColor.  If you haven’t already changed up your volume HUD by installing a tweak like “StatusHUD” then you may want to customize the color to match the theme and vColor does just that. Change the background, volume bar, and text color to the color you wish.

LockToCell – Free

Usually when your swiping through your app switcher, you’ll notice the the icons don’t stay directly under their respective app cards. If this is something that bothers you then you need to check out LockToCell, because that’s exactly what it does.

SpotiSearch – $0.99

If you use Spotify on a regular basis then SpotiSearch is going to make your life a bit easier. Rather than having to go into the Spotify app in order to search, you can pull down the Spotlight and search Spotify directly with this tweak.

AutoPause – Free

This is a tweak that was requested on reddit by someone who would quietly listen to music at work and when his boss would come by, he would turn the volume all the way down. By the time his boss left, he had missed a lot of the song.  So a developer came through and created AutoPause, which automatically pauses your music if you turn the volume all the way down using the physical buttons (including headphones). Once you turn it back up, it automatically begins to play.

IconLock7 – Free

Nothing more frustrating then someone getting ahold of your phone and moving around the icons or deleting apps that you don’t want to be deleted. IconLock7 is going to prevent that from happening.  Now, if order to even get into wiggle mode, you will need to enter a password. The first time you try to get into wiggle mode after installing, you will be prompted to enter a password.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Let us know what you think about the tweaks in the comments below!

Posted by Cody on Feb 25, 2014 - iphonehacks.com

p0sixspwn Untether Jailbreak Cydia package for iOS 6.1.6 released

iH8sn0w, winocm, and SquiffyPwn have released an updated version of p0sixspwn package for iOS 6.1.6 on Cydia.

Apple has released iOS 6.1.6 for iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 4G to fix the critical SSL bug dubbed “Gotofail” in the security community.

They haven’t updated p0sixspwn, the standalone jailbreak tool, so you will first need to perform a tethered jailbreak using Redsn0w, and then install the latest version of the p0sixspwn package v1.4-1 from Cydia to convert the tethered jailbreak to an untethered jailbreak.

Here are the steps:

• Use Redsn0w to perform a tethered jailbreak on your iOS device running on iOS 6.1.6. If you need help check out our step-by-step guide.

• After your device is successfully jailbroken, launch Cydia and install p0sixspwn 1.4 package to convert the tethered jailbreak to an untethered jailbreak.

iH8sn0w has said that updating the standalone p0sixspwn jailbreak tool is not a priority so currently this is the only way to jailbreak your iPhone 3GS or iPod touch 4G running iOS 6.1.6.

As always, let me know how it goes in the comments.

Posted by Gautam on Feb 25, 2014 - iphonehacks.com

Apple has reversed a change it made to how users quit location-aware apps in iOS 7. In the new OS, Apple changed how location-aware applications work when they are force-quit by users. In iOS 7.0, users who force quit an app -- by double-tapping the home button and swiping up -- also disable all location-aware functions which previously would continue to run in the background.

One app in particular, Life360, uses background location abilities to allow family and friends to locate each other. In iOS 7, when a user force quits the app, all location-aware background services were disabled. This caused the company to have a sudden influx of negative reviews and disappointed customers. Some apps even saw 30-50 percent drops in users following the change, according to Life360 CEO Chris Hulls who spoke to MacRumors yesterday.

Now, in iOS 7.1 beta 5, released a week ago, the change has been reversed and Hulls attributes that to a letter that Life360 and a number of other developers sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook on February 1. In the beta, background location services remain running when an app is force quit, same as in iOS 6.

VentureBeat has the first several paragraphs of the letter:

Dear Apple iOS Development Team,

We are a group of Apple developers who rely on iOS geolocation services for core parts of our businesses. iOS 7 was hugely exciting to us, as new features such as Location Beacons, Background Networking, and Multi-Peer Connectivity give us the ability to do things we never thought were possible.

In previous versions of iOS, if a user killed an application in the app switcher, developers were still able to get geolocation in the background. With iOS 7, once a user kills an application, all processes are terminated until the user manually restarts the app. We appreciate the intent behind this change, which we realize was done to give users more control over what is running on their phones, but it has caused major unintended consequences. … Many developers who rely on background geolocation have seen their app ratings fall by over 3 stars.

Life360 is a free download on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tuesday February 11, 2014 9:57 am PST by Jordan Golson - macrumors.com

Grovemade Introduces Walnut and Maple iPhone Cases and Docks

Portland, Oregon-based Grovemade today launched a pair of new domestically-sourced woods for its line of iPhone cases and docks. New Walnut and Maple options are available, going along with the Bamboo cases that the company has been making for years.

Grovemade also introduced a new iPhone dock with a three-pound steel base to hold the dock in place and allow one-handed removal and docking of phones. The base is available in black or steel, with Maple, Walnut or Bamboo wooden tops. The company also introduced a Walnut edition of its iPad Air and iPad mini cases.

"The addition of these new domestic woods and the debut of our new website underscores Grovemade's commitment to innovation, providing our customers with our signature craftsmanship and belief in superior quality," says Ken Tomita, Grovemade's co-founder. "These new case, dock, and cover options are just the beginning of the new product lines to be released in the coming months."

The Grovemade Walnut and Maple iPhone 5/5s cases are available from the company's website for $99, with the Maple and Walnut iPhone docks also priced at $99. The new Walnut iPad Air and Mini cases are $129 and $109 respectively.

Buyers can use the discount code Walnut+Maple2014 to get 20% off the new collection at Grovemade's online store.

Tuesday February 25, 2014 7:59 am PST by Jordan Golson - macrumors.com

Apple Adds Streaming Television Channel 'TV4 Play' to Apple TV in Sweden

Apple today added a new TV4 Play channel to the Apple TV in Sweden, giving Swedish customers access to the TV 4 Play service that includes live broadcasting, original programming, and full episodes of TV4 Group shows. While content is available for free, premium subscribers have access to additional shows and movies.

With 'TV4 Play 'on Apple TV, full episodes of current TV4 Group shows are available to watch for up to 7 days after their original air date. 'TV4 Play Premium' subscribers in Sweden can access an extensive library of additional content with most current and previously aired episodes available for a longer time period.

Along with access to content, the channel offers a personalized list of favorite shows and a "resume play" option to allow a show to be paused and resumed at any time. While the number of HD shows are currently limited, TV4 Group expects to add additional HD shows in the coming months.

TV4 is a Swedish television network that broadcasts news, sports, sitcoms, films, documentaries, and more. TV4 Play is the video-on-demand service for the network and is also available via an iTunes app. [Direct Link]

In addition to the TV4 Play channel for Swedish users, there are several other country specific Apple TV channels, including Sky Sports in the U.K., Watchever in Germany, and CANALPLAY in France.

Tuesday February 25, 2014 9:25 am PST by Juli Clover - macrumors.com