iPhone Jailbreaking

In case you missed the memo, iOS 6.1.2 does not patch the evasi0n jailbreak. Apple released iOS 6.1.2 on Tuesday to fix a Microsoft Exchange bug and some battery life issues. Evad3rs team member planetbeing tweeted that it was safe to download the new firmware, and iOS 6.1.2 has been added to the evasi0n website as a supported version.

Users are now free to download evasi0n on any device running iOS 6.1.2, but there is no need for iOS 6 users to upgrade unless your device is affected by the Microsoft Exchange bug. New jailbreakers can read our step-by-step evasi0n guide to help jailbreak any iOS device, including the iPhone 5 and iPad mini.

Are you spending too much time on your iPhone? Or are you addicted to a certain app? A new jailbreak tweak can help! Give yourself an app intervention by downloading AppCap. The jailbreak tweak allows you to limit your app usage by time of day, day of the week, or by frequency. Too bad it doesn't have a built-in breathalyzer to keep you from making stupid posts on Facebook and Twitter while drunk. That would probably me more helpful!

The tweak is free to download from the ModMyi repo in Cydia. Once installed, users can navigate to their Settings panel to set restrictions on how many times they can use an app. You can restrict your app usage by numbers of launches (up to 6), or by time of day to keep yourself from playing Angry Birds while at work. You can also avoid costly data overages by setting an app to only work when you're on Wi-Fi connection. There are two options on how to limit yourself; you can set up a pop-up reminder or have AppCap disable the launch altogether. Of course you can cheat by just turning AppCap off, but it might stop you from checking FlipBoard every 20-seconds.

Apple has released iOS 6.1.1 to fix a bug only affecting iPhone 4S devices. The iOS 6.1.1 changelog simply reads: "This update fixes an issue that could impact cellular performance and reliability for iPhone 4S". The over the air update was only sent to iPhone 4S owners. The update comes after European carriers such as Vodafone, had to warn users not to update to iOS 6.1 because of "difficulty in connecting to the network to make or receive calls or texts or to connect to the Internet."

The good news is Apple did not patch the untethered evasi0n jailbreak in iOS 6.1.1. Planetbeing, one of the hackers who helped release evasi0n, tweeted that the jailbreak still works on iPhone 4S devices running iOS 6.1.1. Planetbeing added that the evad3ers will be releasing an updated version of the jailbreak which recognizes iOS 6.1.1 is supported.

Jailbreaking your iOS device allows you to modify your lock screen, home screen and even the appearance of your apps and how they are arranged. WinterBoard is a popular tool that allows you to alter the look of your device by downloading themes to your iPhone from Cydia. There are themes to change everything, including your lock screen slider, your iPhone keypad and even your Wi-Fi icon. WinterBoard offers so many more possibilities than just downloading drab wallpapers.

CustomSiriBackground lets you spice up Siri's boring look by giving her the background of your choice. There are also several WinterBoard themes which can change Siri's icon into something more fun. My favorite is Siri9000, which transforms Siri into HAL 9000 from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. You can even change the Siri start up sound into a few Hal quotes with a little advanced jailbreaking know-how.

My personal favorite jailbreak tweak of 2012 was SwipeSelection, and it's compatible with the evasi0n iOS 6 jailbreak. SwipeSelection is one of those tweaks you have to use to truly appreciate. It's a simple tweak that makes texting, taking notes and writing emails on your iPhone or iPad a lot much easier.

SwipeSelection allows users to drag one or two fingers across the keyboard of an iOS device to move the typing cursor. This makes editing text much easier by eliminating the need to tap the display of your device to delete or change letters. You can use one finger for a more precise cursor drag, or two fingers to move faster across the screen. You can also easily delete or copy entire sentences by holding the shift key and dragging your finger over the text you want to highlight. This is all demonstrated in the original concept video from Daniel Hooper posted below.