Tips

Now that Google Maps for iOS has arrived, developers have started working on tweaks to make the app even better for those with jailbroken iPhones. We recently looked at MapsOpener, which makes Google Maps the default mapping application, circumventing Apple's stock maps app entirely. Now you can improve Google Maps by enabling a secret topography mode.

The Google Maps sidebar has several options, including Traffic, Public transit and Satellite modes. For some reason, Google decided to disable Topography mode when it launched Google Maps for iOS. Luckily, the only thing you need to activate the topographic maps on your jailbroken iPhone is a tweak by developer Ryan Petrich.

Many Apple Maps users breathed a sigh of relief when Google finally launched their own stand-alone Google Maps app for iOS. The problem is that even with Google Maps installed, iOS 6 will always default to the stock maps application when a link is clicked or other navigational features are needed. It's no surprise that developer HASHBANG Productions has released a solution for jailbroken devices.

The Cydia tweak is called MapsOpener, and once installed the tweak will open all maps links accessed within a browser in Google Maps instead of the Apple version. iOS currently has no built-in settings that allow the user to choose which apps they prefer to use as a default. This leaves iPhone owners using stock apps for several functions where other alternatives are available.

Sharing photos from your iOS device over email is great, until you run into the built-in limitation that prevents selecting over 5 photos. This means that if you have a large number of photos to send via email, the iPhone will force you to send them in several emails with 5 attachments each.

Thanks to developer Mohamed Alaoui Mrani, iOS users can download Instamail Photos from the App Store and send unlimited photos in one message. The app is currently on sale, priced at $0.99 for a limited time. Of course, you can't go sending too many photos in a single email, because most service providers limit the size of email messages.

Google Search is getting rave reviews, and side-by-side comparisons have shown Google's voice assistant is much faster and sometimes more accurate than Apple's Siri. Jalbreakers who would like to kick Siri to the curb can do so by downloading the NowNow jailbreak utility from the BigBoss repo in Cydia. NowNow allows you to replace Siri by launching the Google Search app with an Activator function. To do so, just download the utility, locate the NowNow option under Settings and tap Activation Methods. You can then select the function you would like to use to activate the Google Search app. To replace Siri select "Short Hold" under the Home Button options. Holding the Home Button will now bring up the Google Search app instead of the Siri screen.

Need to find out if an iPhone is officially unlocked for use on multiple cellular carriers? Now you can find the answer to this question and more using a simple website. All you need is the unique IMEI number assigned to your device.

To get your IMEI number navigate to Settings -> General -> About and scroll down to IMEI. The IMEI is a unique 15-digit number. Now go to the website IMEI.info, enter this number and click the CHECK button.