iPhone Tweaks

Cropping a screen capture on the iPhone normally requires several steps to get the desired image. After all, every time you snap a screenshot by pressing the power and home buttons the entire screen area is captured to the Camera Roll. The jailbreak tweak ScreenshotPlus changes how this works, so you can pre-crop any screen capture before saving.

Once installed, ScreenshotPlus only has one setting to configure. This option toggles whether or not the tweak displays the dimensions in pixels of the cropped screen shot selector box. In order to use ScreenshotPlus, an Activator gesture must be assigned to "screenshot mode". Once configured, enter screenshot mode by performing the selected gesture.

The date picker wheels in iOS may look pretty, but when it comes to setting an alarm in the Clock app they can really slow things down. Scrolling to the correct hour and minute, then picking AM or PM is not the simplest or easiest way to set an alarm. PadClock changes all of this for those with jailbroken devices.

Once installed, the tweak has no options to configure. PadClock does just one thing that will save anyone who frequently uses iPhone alarms a bunch of time. Instead of date picker wheels, when entering the alarm time a numerical keypad is provided. The time is directly entered using the keypad, then the AM, PM or 24 button is selected.

Even Apple fans must admit there are some handy features included in Android. For example, there are several gestures that can be used to quickly call or email a contact on an Android phone. With iOS, iPhone users must open the Contacts app, tap the contact name, then select the phone number, email or Send Message button to communicate.

When it comes to efficiency, the jailbreak tweak QuickGestures eliminates these extra steps, adding a more Android-like feel to the Contacts app. There are three gestures that can be assigned to contact names: swipe right, swipe left and long press. Each of these can be assigned to a different action.

Looking for a way to improve typing on the iOS virtual keyboard? We've seen how the must-have jailbreak tweak SwipeSelection makes it easier to move the cursor when entering text. Now there's a new tweak in town that further improves the iPhone keyboard, known as AltKeyboard.

Those with jailbroken iPhones running iOS 6 or later can install AltKeyboard from Cydia to quickly type non-alphabetic characters or numbers, without tapping the "123" button. This means no more switching back and forth between keyboards just to enter a single number or question mark. AltKeyboard makes it possible to swipe up on the keys, which will type the alternate character pictured at the top of the key.

Wouldn't it be great if your front-facing camera on the iPhone had a flash? Granted, it's probably not something that's needed very often, but having the option is a plus. Now there's another way to add a front flash, with the appropriately named jailbreak tweak FrontFlash. After all, why should only the rear facing camera benefit from a flash in low light?

Once installed, FrontFlash provides two options in settings, one to enable the tweak while shooting video and the other to enable during still photos. Let's face it, the front camera on the iPhone still leaves something to be desired when it comes to low light situations. In fact, most of the energy towards developing a quality image has gone into the rear facing camera overall.