If you jailbreak iOS, it’s a great way to open your iPhone up to get access to all sorts of features and software that Apple would rather you didn’t. With a bit of technical jiggery-pokery you get access to Cydia, founded by 27-year-old Jay Freeman in 2009.
Cydia is an Aladdin’s Cave of forbidden apps that for one reason or another didn’t make it through Apple’s screening process. It charges about the same commission as Apple does to developers using its app store, for a much wider range of software. This allows you to add all sorts of mods and tweaks to customise your phone, unlocking the full potential of the hardware.
These apps include everything from ways to create new, customised gestures for your touch screen, to ways to emulate old console games to your phone. A popular app, Winterboard, allows you to customise your iPhones display in ways normally impossible in iOS.
A sad side effect of this entirely legal but slightly frowned-upon (by Apple) practice is that when you update the firmware on your iOS all those apps you’ve lovingly installed disappear in a puff of smoke, along with any jailbreaking you’ve done.
Now however, Cydia has added a new feature that allows you to re-download those apps as easily as anything. The new feature, called “Manage Account” allows you to keep tabs on the apps and packages you download using your Facebook or Google account. This means not only that you don’t have to buy all your apps a second time, but also that you don’t have to go hunting through Cydia to find them whenever your phone gets updated.
This is a great new update that finally makes your iPhone entirely customisable, even if it’s not strictly within the terms of Apple’s warranty. It will be greeted with glee by iPhone users with jailbroken phones.
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