Tips

If your iPhone 5 battery is acting up, it might be covered under warranty. For those who prefer to go it alone, iFixit covers the steps on how to replace the battery yourself. Not only are iPhone 5 batteries available for $10 online, the repair can take as little as 15 minutes if you're already comfortable working with your iOS hardware.

A few tools are necessary, including an iPhone penalobe screwdriver, Phillips #00 screwdriver, plastic opening tools and a small suction cup. Of course, iFixit sells a Pro Tech Toolkit designed to help the intrepid do-it-yourself fan to open and repair a multitude of modern electronic devices. These items can also be purchased individually to help safely gain access to the insides of your iPhone 5.

Code for an Android-like voice dictation feature has been discovered in iOS 7 by Hamza Sood. While iOS 6 currently features the ability to use voice commands to write text, the process requires that data be sent to Apple's servers so the speech can be converted. This can result in Siri-like mistakes, long loading times, and other internet related problems such as data consumption. The new string of code discovered in both iOS 7 betas shows Apple is testing the possibility of introducing an offline version of dictation.

This means all iOS devices could potentially feature the ability to locally process and convert speech, allowing for faster voice dictation of emails, text messages and notes. 9to5Mac has learned some internal Apple devices already have this service up and running.

Quick Response (QR) codes are supported by many iPhone apps, but iOS has no built-in ability to read or generate the codes. The jailbreak tweak NativeQR seeks to change all that, by adding native QR code support to iOS. After installation, the stock Camera app will include an option to Enable QR in the same menu as HDR and Panorama.

Turning this on makes it possible to scan and recognize a QR code directly with the camera, no third-party app required. As soon as a QR code enters the field of view and is recognized, the link appears and an option to copy the text is presented. If you're not interested in the QR code just tap Cancel. No special action besides focusing on the QR code with the camera is required.

iPhone owners no longer have to be jealous of the fancy Android unlock. Adding a pattern unlock to the iOS lock screen is only a jailbreak tweak away. PatternUnlock brings this fully customizable experience to the iPhone, replacing the default boring passcode lock. For those who haven't seen the Android version, it allows users to access their devices by simply drawing a pattern to connect points in a grid.

Unlike Stride, which makes it possible to draw a free-form unlock pattern, PatternUnlock offers a grid of nine points to connect. Once installed, PatternUnlock provides a variety of settings just like the default passcode lock on the iPhone. The feature can be disabled completely, but when activated it will bypass the normal passcode.

Keyboard enhancements are no stranger to the iPhone. Besides cosmetic changes to the iOS keyboard, many jailbreak tweaks are aimed at simplifying and speeding up touch screen text entry. AltKeyboard and SwipeSelection are two popular examples. Now The Quick Brown Fox has arrived on Cydia, promising to further improve typing.

Once installed, there are three features of The Quick Brown Fox that can be configured on your iOS device. The first is Auto Twins, which automatically pairs certain characters. For example, typing a parentheses "(" will output "()" every time. While this can be useful, the cursor must be moved to the middle of the pair before adding text between the parentheses. With SwipeSelection installed this is easier to do.