Tips

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.

The speakerphone on the iPhone 5 may have improved volume over previous models, but in some situations it's still not enough sound when you're trying to hear someone's voice. Luckily for those with a jailbroken iPhone 5 running iOS 6, there's a tweak called Volume Amplifier that boosts speaker or headphone volume beyond the normal 100 percent when calling.

Once installed, simply keep pressing the volume up button beyond the normal maximum and the sound will be increased up to 200 percent. Volume Amplifier has no settings to configure and will not install an application icon on the home screen. The tweak works by directly manipulating the audio stream to increase the sound level noticeably.

Reading notifications directly on the iOS home screen just got easier thanks to the jailbreak tweak Badger. Outstanding badges on app icons might lead you to open notification center, or open the app to see what's up. Badger circumvents all of these roundabout methods, making it possible to read and delete app alerts immediately on the home screen.

Once installed, Badger can be customized from Settings -> Badger. Default settings mean that swiping up on an app icon with a badge will reveal the latest notifications, much like opening an iOS folder. From there, you can swipe to delete or tap the alert text to read the full notification.

When it comes to different themes on the iPhone the sky is the limit. All you need is a jailbroken device and a willingness to install WinterBoard. Although some say the tweak saps their battery life, there are a variety of high-quality themes available, all of which can be removed if they cause a problem. LS Squares is an interesting theme that modifies the iOS lock screen with a look similar to Windows Metro tiles.

The theme works particularly well with some other tweaks to help refine the appearance. First of all, LS Squares requires some more advanced setup to select which city's weather is displayed, the language and default units for temperature. When downloaded from Cydia, LS Squares is set to display weather information from Los Angeles. Changing this requires editing a text file on your iPhone.