Enjoy having customization available in all its renowned glory on your iPhone? Or perhaps you’re interested in harnessing the ability to control your device without having to go through Apple? If you answered “yes” to either of those questions then you’re ready to install Cydia on your iOS 7 device and transition into a brand-new phase with your iPhone. As to what Cydia will offer you, the sky’s the limit; however, it’ll require some extra effort on the user’s part to optimize the original confines of the anterior system. First, let’s delve into what exactly Cydia can bring to the table considering your original limitations, as well as what it can do in order to enhance your previous iOS 7 experience.
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Cydia is a third-party application that can be downloaded onto your iPhone 5 or iOS 7 device that’ll allow you to dabble in a colorful spectrum of apps (or “tweaks”) that are originally not intended (or accessible) for the iPhone. It functions as a management suite that’ll operate a lot like the App Store with one major difference: Apple won’t maintain direct control over the specified downloads. Ultimately, this means that your initial range of applications, overall functionality, and personal freedom are going to expand exponentially once you’ve chosen to unlock your iPhone’s full potential.
Some apps that you can look forward to are:
- Nitrous – Which is a really useful jailbreak tweak that gives third-party apps access to the Nitro Javascript Engine. Any app that accesses the internet and uses a webkit browser (Chrome, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) can take advantage of Nitrous, and in some cases, can entice an amplified performance boost.
- FlipControlCenter – A necessity if you want to swap around your connectivity toggles, as well as the bottom app shortcuts. In addition, you can affix pages so that you can easily swipe through to add even more toggles and shortcuts to Control Center.
- NCAllOnly and TabLess – Basically, if you preferred the old Notification Center interface over the current one that has numerous tabs this is an app you’ll find pleasant. Granted, these tweaks don’t necessarily bring back the old Notification Center style, but they get rid of the tabs at the top so that all you have is one simple Notification Center with a list of all your notifications.
And those are just to name a few!
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In order to download and sync to Cydia, you’re going to have to jailbreak your iOS 7 device. The creator over at Evasi0n has made their jailbreak tool readily available to anyone interested in jailbreaking their iPhone.
Next, you’ll want to backup your iPhone. Make sure to do this.
Download the jailbreak tool accessible on Evasi0n.
Open the iOS 7 jailbreak tool from your computer.
Connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer, if you have a security lock enabled go into your settings and disable it for this process. You can re-enable it after the iOS 7 jailbreak has finished. It is also a good idea to put your iPhone on “Airplane” mode. This will keep any apps from using data that might mess with the jailbreaking process.
Returning to your computer, locate a button that says “Jailbreak” in the Evasi0n program. Click the jailbreak button to begin the process. It will take a fair amount of time for the iOS 7 jailbreak to complete since the tool will be installing some files on your iPhone or iPad. Your device will be restarting as this process is happening, so be patient as you wait for Evasi0n to finish.
As the iOS 7 jailbreak process is working the Evasi0n tool should have installed a temporary jailbreak app on your iPhone. Go ahead and unlock your device like you normally would and tap on the jailbreak app icon. It is going to cause your screen to flash quickly and then make it look like its doing nothing. But if you take a look at the computer screen you will notice the iOS 7 jailbreak is still functioning properly. It is all part of the initial process. After a brief wait the jailbreak sync will complete itself, you can then go ahead and close the Evasi0n tool on your computer.
After your iPhone reboots a few times you’ll have the tools ready to go! As soon as the lock-screen shows up you can unplug your iPhone and be on your way to enjoying Cydia.
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The pros definitely outweigh the cons in jailbreaking your iOS 7 device in order to grant it access to Cydia. Majority of these apps would never see the light of day due to Apple’s strict guidelines, especially since they offer more variety to the iPhone’s rigid generalized format. Some of these trinkets are just not suited for the organic version of the iPhone due to how Apple chooses to run their corporate business. Which is a shame, because most of what Cydia can offer as a third-party option can outweigh whatever the iPhone can give their customers out the box.