iPhone Tweaks

Searching for text on the iPhone can involve a cut and paste into the web browser, which can be inconvenient. To achieve this in just one step, jailbreakers can install the Action Menu add-on PopSearch. For those without Action Menu, this tweak will automatically install when downloading the free PopSearch package from Cydia. So what does PopSearch bring to iOS?

Once installed, the menu item Search+ will appear in the action menu when text is selected in any app. Tapping Search+ immediately displays a list of options, including Google, Bing, Wikipedia, and Amazon. Once the desired search mode is selected, a web browser window pops up and displays results without ever leaving the current app.

Ever notice that interrupting the stock Music app in iOS resets playing tracks? After closing the app or respringing the device, Music restarts all tracks from the beginning. Now with the free jailbreak tweak BookSong, track positions can actually be bookmarked to resume later.

With no options or settings to configure, BookSong adds the ability to resume where you left off to the stock Music app. Once installed, when a track is interrupted, the exact position when play was stopped is saved.

The beta version of SwipeExpander provides an easy way to add powerful new shortcuts to the iOS keyboard for those with jailbroken devices. Not only can a swipe up or down on individual keys paste text, but 11 additional actions can be performed.

Once installed, the settings area consists of some aesthetic options and the keyboard customization section. Shortcut names can be displayed directly on the assigned keyboard keys if desired, with options for opacity, size and position. The real meat of the tweak is under Edit Keys.

Some jailbreak tweaks are devoted to the details, polishing the user experience even further than stock iOS. One such tweak is MarkAsRead7, which supports jailbroken devices running iOS 7.1.x. MarkAsRead7 has just one function, eliminating what has become a pet peeve for some Notification Center users.

Normally when clearing notifications from the Notification Center, icon badges for the associated app on the home screen are not cleared. For example, until a message is actually read in the Messages app, the icon badge remains. Once installed, MarkAsRead7 hides badges for these cleared notifications immediately.

When taking photos with the iPhone, there are actually several ways to release the iPhone camera shutter. The tweak TapToSnap adds yet another option to the list for those with jailbroken devices.

Once installed, TapToSnap makes fumbling for the iPhone shutter release button a thing of the past. Tapping anywhere on the live camera preview screen will capture a photo immediately. Of course, this means that refocusing on a specific location in the viewfinder will always snap a photo.