iOS Articles Subscribe to this category

All iOS articles can be found here. If you can’t find a topic in here, use the Search box!

Enable Facebook Chat Heads & Stickers On Your iPhone In A Couple Taps

by on
Leave a comment
Facebook-Cydia.jpg
Only a few days have passed since Facebook released version 6.0 of its iOS client, but a lot of the features offered by the update have already gained popularity among the masses. Chat heads are the biggest addition to the app in its latest update, with the equally interesting chat stickers garnering plenty of attention as well. Unfortunately, both these features are not yet available to everyone using an iOS device. According to Facebook’s App Store page, the social networking giant plans to roll out these features to all users gradually. For now, a lot of people have been able to use chat heads and stickers on their iPhones, but iPad owners have generally not been so lucky. Even on smaller devices, a considerable number of users are awaiting the features. There is a rather difficult way to enable chat heads on any iDevice, while getting stickers requires even more effort. If you have a jailbroken device though, you don’t have to do much to get chat heads and stickers working for your account right away. Read More

Abstergo Lets You Clear Individual iOS Notifications Or Turn Them Into Reminders

by on
Leave a comment
Abstergo iOS
It’s been around for more than a year, but some of you might still be using Lorem - the Cydia tweak that lets iOS users clear a single notification from a group within the Notification Center. A lot of tweaks dealing with notifications have been released since Lorem, and Abstergo combines the features offered by these newer ones with the functionality offered by Lorem. With Abstergo, you can get Remind Me Later options for any notification (just like with AnyReminder), and the tweak is also capable of letting you clear notifications from the lock screen or the NC just the way you want. You can use Abstergo to clear all notifications with one gesture, create reminders out of notifications without even unlocking your device, and convert texts into reminders from the stock Messages app. Read More

Connect Camera Flash Of Multiple iDevices To Get The Perfect Lighting In Photos

by on
Leave a comment
External-Flash-for-iPhone
Smartphone cameras can make anyone feel like a photographer to some extent. It doesn't hurt to try and think like a professional photographer even if you are going to shoot a photo using your iPhone. There are some things, however, that just can’t be accomplished outside a studio. With an iPhone, you get a camera flash, but that doesn't give you full control over the lighting conditions of your surroundings. You can use tweaks like PhotoTorch to control the intensity of the camera LED, but there’s a limit to what a single flash can accomplish. In situations where you need more light than a single iDevice can provide, External Flash can come to your rescue. This great app allows users to access the camera flash of up to 16 iOS devices! You can ask your friends to let you access their device’s flash, and then shoot photos as the app simultaneously turns on the LEDs of all the connected iPhones. Read More

Osito Brings Google Now-Like Traffic, Weather & Event Alerts To iPhone

by on
Leave a comment
Osito-iOS-Schedule.jpg
When it was initially released, Sherpa gained a lot of acclaim as many iOS users felt that the app brings the best bits of Google Now to iOS. As great as the app was, it was still in its beta until now. Things have finally changed though, and Sherpa has shed its beta tag. Not only that; the team behind the service has also decided to rebrand it to Osito. For those who didn't use the app previously, Osito analyzes your activities, location and calendar entries to come up with highly personalized notifications that can help you in a number of situations. The best thing about Osito is that you don’t have to configure the app to send you notifications; it does all the work automatically, and makes sure you are never late for an appointment or in danger of missing a flight. Read More

just.me For iPhone Combines Messaging, Email & Social File Sharing

by on
Leave a comment
just.me-iOS-Message.jpg
With so much saturation in the App Store, very few apps can become instant hits these days. just.me has had some time to reel in a decent number of users since the app’s beta came out a few months ago, and it has been in the news for even longer due to the fact that some big names have been backing the project. Now that the app stable version has finally been released, we are pleased to see that it doesn't disappoint. just.me is basically an instant messaging app, but one of the great things about it is that the app works even if your contacts aren't on just.me, as such people receive messages via email or SMS. just.me also incorporates cloud storage, where you can keep any text snippet or media file stored as long as you want. The privacy is completely in the user’s hands, which makes it possible to use just.me even as a social sharing network. Read More

OpenSignal For iPhone Maps Nearby WiFi Hotspots & Ranks Cellular Networks By Coverage

by on
Leave a comment
OpenSignal-iOS-Home.jpg
Despite the availability of network monitoring apps for iOS, the platform has never had something as comprehensive as Android’s OpenSignal. The previously covered Signals 2 works only on jailbroken devices, and doesn't deal with Wi-Fi networks at all. OpenSignal, on the other hand, offers a  speed test, and has the capability of mapping out signal strength for both cellular and Wi-Fi networks. After a long wait, now you can have all these amazingly useful features on your iPhone, as the developers of OpenSignal have just released an iOS variant in the App Store. The app lets iDevice owners sniff out Wi-Fi networks in their vicinity, and also helps them in deciding which cellular network provides the best coverage in their area. Read More

Yahoo! Weather For iPhone Wows With Gorgeous UI, Maps & Detailed Stats

by on
1
Yahoo!-Weather-iOS-ft
The stock Weather app in iOS gets all its data from Yahoo!, but the app’s interface and features are Apple’s doing. While that partnership is still going strong, Yahoo! has just decided to show what a really good weather app can look like on the OS. Yahoo! Weather is anything but just another app released in a crowded genre of the App Store. It has an interface to die for, and is no slouch in terms of features either. The app has unique backgrounds for most locations you add to it, and also makes it possible to view a detailed weather map of any area you want. The app supports a few basic gestures to keep accessing its features as easy as possible. Read More

Hands-On With Twitter #Music For Web & iOS [Review]

by on
1
Twitter-#Music-review-featured-image
Twitter’s much anticipated music app is now live, featuring both a web interface and an iOS app. The web interface is slowly being made available to Twitter users in the US, UK, and Australia. As expected, Twitter has also launched an iOS app for its music service called Twitter #music. You can expect hashtags to play an important part in this app. It connects with your Twitter account and gives you suggestions for music based on the artists that you follow, what’s currently trending, and what the people you follow are listening to. You can listen to the iTunes preview of different tracks right inside the app, and the tracks can be bought on iTunes. You will be able to connect your Spotify and Rdio accounts with Twitter #music and listen to full tracks. You can also tweet the tracks you’re listening to; the #nowplaying hashtag is added to those tweet automatically. Read More

Share Articles From Pocket For Android & iOS Via “Send to Friend”

by on
Leave a comment
Pocket-iOS-Send-To-Friend.jpg
To celebrate a year since Read It Later was rebranded to Pocket, the service’s iOS and Android clients have just been updated with a useful new feature. Although the apps are meant to let users keep webpages bookmarked for their personal use, Pocket seems to be going a bit more social now. The newly added ‘Send To Friend’ option allows iOS and Android users to share any article with their friends pretty easily. You can even opt to have the app scan your phone’s address book to make finding contacts easier. The recipient of shared stories doesn’t even have to be a Pocket user to benefit from Send To Friend, since the app sends articles to others via email. To add to the feature’s usefulness, Pocket users get a notification whenever an item is shared with them by another user of the service. Read More

How To Get Facebook Chat Heads Feature On Your iPhone Right Now

by on
Leave a comment
Facebook Chat Heads iOS
Like many other users, I am still getting used to the revamped Facebook app for iOS, but the update is pretty good overall. The interface is much cleaner now, and gives the app a very uncluttered feel. Apart from UI changes, the app also offers two new options related to chat - Chat Heads and Stickers. Seeing as how attractive a feature Chat Heads is, we wouldn't be surprised if Facebookers stopped using Facebook's Messenger app a great deal until it gets these features as well. Although many have received Facebook’s latest iOS update in its entirety, not everyone has been lucky enough to gain access to Chat Heads and Stickers just yet. Facebook has decided to roll out these features gradually over the course of a few weeks. If you are one of those annoyed Facebookers who are in the waiting list, there is a way of enabling the features on your account right now. You don’t need to have a jailbroken device, but some basic knowledge of the iOS file system is sure to help. Read More

LinkedIn For iPhone & Android Gets A New UI & Customizable Navigation Menu

by on
Leave a comment
LinkedIn-iOS-Updates.jpg
LinkedIn’s Windows Phone update, which we covered yesterday, was pretty big, but it wasn't much compared to the complete revamp the social network’s iOS and Android clients have received today. The app’s interface has been overhauled to address a lot of aesthetic and usability issues. Not a lot of people have been huge fans of LinkedIn's mobile clients, but you should give the updated version a chance since it doesn’t look anything like its previous iterations. In addition to all the UI changes, the app has also gained the capability to let users like and comment on posts without ever leaving the main feed. You can also follow Influencers from within the app. The option to add sections of your choice to the navigation pane has been added to the mix as well. Read More

View App Store Links In An Overlaid Screen Right Within iOS Apps

by on
Leave a comment
QuickStore-iOS-Popup.jpg
Some might say that iOS’ ability to take you straight to the App Store whenever you tap an app’s link within a browser is an intelligent feature, but a lot of users are sure to disagree. Of course, most users click an app’s link with the intention of downloading it, in which case the feature is pretty useful, but there are times when you merely want to find out the name of the app your friend has sent you in an email/SMS, or just read up on some of its details. QuickStore is a new Cydia tweak that makes sure jailbreak users get the best of both worlds in this regard. It doesn't disable the links; however, you won’t be taken to the App Store either when you click them. With this tweak, it becomes possible to view any App Store page within an app or browser on your iPhone. You can even initiate a download from the popup window with a single tap before returning to the previous app. Read More

Get Android Jelly Bean-Style Lock Screen On iPhone With JellyLock

by on
Leave a comment
JellyLock-iOS-LS.jpg
Imitation really is the best form of flattery, a lot of iOS users were quite flattered a few days back when Espier Screen Locker was released to replicate the iPhone lock screen on Android devices. Of course, we have seen similar apps and tweaks for iOS as well, like the previously covered ICSLock Pro. ICS is not the Android's latest version though, and all the newest devices come with Jelly Bean. So, it was just a matter of time before someone ported a few features of JB to jailbroken iOS devices. JellyLock is a new Cydia tweak that lets you enjoy a Jelly Bean-style lock screen on your iDevice. Those of you who aren't aware of the features of the JB lock screen can read our detailed post on the subject. Basically, you get to have a new kind of camera grabber and unlock slider on the lock screen that's in form of a ring. In addition, users can also place up to three app shortcuts of their choice alongside the camera shortcut - a feature found in several custom Jelly Bean-based Android ROMs. Read More

Facebook For iOS Updated To v6.0: Chat Heads, Stickers & UI Improvements Galore!

by on
2
Facebook-for-iPhone-iPad-Chat-Heads-update
Mark Zuckerberg and his band of world-class engineers have made a habit of regularly iterating on Facebook’s design and features every few months even though, to the average user, the website works just the way they like. Each time, after some initial backlash from its enormous user-base, people just settle down with the updates, that is until the company decides that the current state of affairs isn’t good enough and changes everything all over again. This, I believe, is one of the biggest reasons behind Facebook’s success – revising design and features regularly keeps the service “fresh”. Read More

Quickly Ask Siri Predefined Questions Using Gestures With Ask Assistant

by on
Leave a comment
Ask-Assistant-iOS.jpg
While the jailbreak store has a lot of tweaks meant specifically to enhance or augment Siri, we doubt if any developer has previously come up with the idea of using everyone’s favorite personal assistant in conjunction with Activator. MyAssistant does have support for gestures to some extent, but the idea behind Ask Assistant is completely different from that. This tweak lets you define five questions, and then you can program Activator to launch Siri with the answers to these questions. For example, to view weather through Siri, just define that question in the tweak’s menu. Now you can invoke Siri simply by performing an Activator gesture of your choice, without even long-pressing the Home button and trying to make Siri understand what you are saying. Read More

Add Torch Mode & Flash Intensity Control To iPhone Camera App With PhotoTorch

by on
1
PhotoTorch iOS
iPhone’s camera has a always been among its strong selling points but in recent months, it has been upstaged a bit by devices like the Nokia Lumia 920, the HTC One, and even the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4. One issue that has often been raised by critics of iDevices is their inability to use the camera flash optimally while taking pictures in a low-light environment. More often than not, photos shot in the dark appear overexposed or at times out-of-focus. Also, since flash comes into action only at the instant of snapping the photo, you are likely to end up orienting the device wrong before capturing the photo. PhotoTorch is a tweak that solves this issue by giving the control of the iPhone camera flash into the hands of users. You might have come across different ways of using your iPhone’s camera LED as a flashlight. PhotoTorch does roughly the same thing, but it adds this control within the stock Camera app, and also lets you adjust the intensity of the flash before you shoot a photo. Read More

Secretary For iPhone Narrates Alerts When Headphones Are Plugged In

by on
Leave a comment
Secretary iOS
We often hear people say that the iTunes App Store boasts close to 800,000 apps, but the implications of this statement are rarely mentioned. The presence of so many different apps means that we now have apps for all occasions, pretty much every kind of users, and a variety of purposes. As dangerous as it can be, a lot of people just can’t help but whip their phone out every time a new notification shows up while they are driving. Thankfully, there are apps that can help you multitask in a safer manner. DriveSafe.ly reads out updates from various sources, while a similar Cydia tweak exists for adding this functionality to the stock Messages app as well. Secretary is a new Cydia release that takes the features offered by VSNotifications to the next level. With this tweak, you get a spoken summary of any items that need your attention, and also get incoming text messages read out to you. Read More

Swipe To Switch Between Messaging Threads In iOS With MessageSwiper

by on
Leave a comment
MessageSwiper
Those of you who like sticking to stock iOS apps unless there is a supremely better third-party alternative available are sure to have been tempted to ditch the Messages app in favor of biteSMS or GO SMS. Having said that, a lot of tweaks in the Cydia store let you improve the stock SMS app on your iPhone. With ImmediateSend and Messages, you can revamp the app and give it a completely new look. Not every tweak has to be as feature-rich as MessageSwiper in order to be useful though. MessageSwiper has just one purpose, but the feature it is offering is sure to come in handy in a lot of situations and for a variety of users. The tweak lets you navigate to different messaging conversation simply by swiping across the screen. This basically means you aren't forced to go to the Messages app’s main screen, from any conversation screen, and can continue going through your texts in a very convenient manner. Read More

Customize iOS Lock Screen Slider & Disable “Slide To Reply / View”

by on
2
SliderCustomizer-iOS.jpg
Although there have been some really comprehensive Cydia tweaks (like SliderWidth and SlideToMod) for letting users change the basic properties of the iOS lock screen, there are a few features that are just so deeply ingrained into iPhone’s operating system that no one has ever given much thought to customizing them. You can easily change the interface of your device’s lock screen if you are a Winterboard user. Other elements can be customized using some tweaks available in the jailbreak store. There is one thing, however, that has annoyed a lot of users, with no way of bypassing it, until yesterday. Whenever you get a new notification on the iPhone lock screen, using the unlock slider immediately opens the app to which the notification belongs. Some of you might like this feature, but a lot of users aren't too fond of this feature, and instead make the device sleep and then wake it up again in order to bypass it. Though that in itself is an inconvenience. SliderCustomizer is a new tweak that not only addresses this issue, but also offers some pretty decent customization options for the iOS lock screen. Read More

Grabby Adds Four Camera Grabber-Like Custom App Shortcuts To iOS Lock Screen

by on
2
Grabby iOS
No matter how many apps you have installed on your iPhone, the Spotlight search area can always help you in getting to the desired app without much fuss. iOS also has folders and a dock to help users keep their SpringBoard organized. Despite all that, it has to be admitted that the most easily accessible part of iOS is its lock screen. Since your device’s camera is often needed in a hurry, the presence of camera grabber on the lock screen in quite important. Won’t it be nice though, if there was some equally secure way of launching other apps from the lock screen as well? In the past, we have seen tweaks like AnyLock, which allows users to place widgets and app shortcuts on the lock screen. Another similar tweak goes by the name of LockLauncher. The newly released Grabby, however, takes a much less-exotic approach to attain the same end result. With Grabby, users can get four grabbers on the lock screen, and set each of them to launch the apps of their choice. Read More