iPhone Tweaks

Anyone with a jailbroken iPhone running iOS 7.0.x is missing out on the refinements Apple delivered with iOS 7.1. The latest version of iOS not only patches the vulnerabilities exploited by the evasi0n jailbreak, it also adds circular buttons and sliders to certain iOS screens. While jailbreak fans might be stuck at 7.0.x they can now install the iOS 7.1 power off slider with the tweak BetterPowerDown.

BetterPowerDown updates the slider that appears when powering off the iPhone to match iOS 7.1. But this feature is only the beginning. Reverting the look backwards to iOS 6 is also possible, matching a variety of classic tweaks that are now available on Cydia. Although the tweak costs $0.99, it also includes the functionality of another tweak known as RePower.

Apple's iMessage includes a nice feature that lets you know when someone has read your message and when they are typing a response (provided they have turned on "Send Read Receipts" in Settings -> Messages). If you want to see this information, however, you have to remain in the message app so you can see "read" or the animation notifying you that the recipient is typing a response. Now there is a jailbreak tweak called TypeStatus that will notify you when you are outside of the message app.

Once you have TypeStatus installed you will be notified by an overlay of your status bar when someone has read or is responding to one of your messages. The overlay will show the recipients name and either "Typing" or "Read." Go to Settings -> TypeStatus to customize the tweak's behavior. You can activate notifications

The front iSight camera on the iPhone can come in handy for self portraits, FaceTime and framing some shots from unconventional angles. One stock feature of the front camera is that live previews are always mirrored, while the image recorded to the Camera Roll is not. For those who would prefer to reverse the mirror effect, there's a jailbreak tweak for that.

Front Cam Un-Mirror will add a toggle to the top of the Camera app. Located in the upper left corner, the default setting is Mirrored, while tapping the button enters Un-Mirrored mode. Once installed, the tweak has no settings to configure or options to select, it simply becomes available in the iOS 7 Camera app.

The iOS 7 app switcher has its pros and cons. While app cards do a nice job at previewing each piece of software, quitting out of many apps can be tedious. There are many shortcuts to avoid this available to those with jailbroken iOS devices, and now Clear Background Apps has joined the fray.

Clear Background Apps is a stand-alone tweak with no settings to configure or application to run. Simply install from Cydia and a circular "clean sweep" button will be added to the iOS 7 app switcher. As you might have guessed, tapping this circular button clears away all of the app cards in the app switcher at once.

Modifying the look of icon badges is a simple way to customize the iOS home screen. Now thanks to the jailbreak tweak MagicBadges, iOS 7 users can enjoy a fresh badge design by configuring a few options. Once installed, applying changes to icon badge numbers system-wide just requires a quick respring.

Aside from a toggle to disable the tweak entirely, the magic in MagicBadges happens under Settings -> MagicBadges -> General. Here iPhone users will find a live preview of what the badges will look like after changes are applied. Altering settings updates the preview immediately.