tweaks

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.

If you prefer Google Chrome (or any other browser) over Safari but use Safari because it's faster, I have the perfect jailbreak tweak for you. iPhone users can now give Chrome and other third party apps a speed boost with a new jailbreak tweak called Nitrous.

Safari is faster than other mobile browsers on the iPhone because Apple restricts access to the fast Nitro Javascript engine in iOS. Nitrous levels the playing field by unlocking the Javascript block for third party apps. This allows browsers like Chrome and apps like Tweetbot to perform much better.

SearchEnable is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to add alternative search engines to Safari. The tweak adds Ask, Baidu, blekko, Sogu, Volunia, Yandex, Evi and WolframAplha to the Safari search engine options listed under Settings. SearchEnable basically gives you a few more international choices besides the popular U.S. options (Google, Yahoo and Bing) already included on your phone. Make sure you have the Safari app enabled under SBSettings or the Safari setting panel will not be available.

Have you ever wondered how much time you have spent perusing FlipBoard, or maybe you are worried about your Angry Birds addiction? A new jailbreak tweak called AppAnalytics can help you monitor how long you have spent using each app on your iPhone.

AppAnalytics keeps track of how many minutes or hours you have spent using an app, and how many times you have launched an app each month. This can help you see what apps are really useful, and which apps are just taking up space. The tweak works with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It requires iOS 4 or later and supports 30 languages.

Jailbreak developer Ryan Petrich has released a new tweak called BrowserChooser in response to Google's popular iOS Chrome browser app being released yesterday. Petrich tweeted: “BrowserChooser is up on rpetri.ch/repo. Loving Chrome for iOS so much that it had to be built.”

The tweak allows you to change your default browser to Google Chrome, Opera Mini, iCab Mobile, Dolphin Browser, Atomic Browser or Safari. You can toggle between all your available browsers in the Settings menu. Petrich's tweak arrived around the same time Chrome became the most downloaded free app in the App Store.

Two new and interesting jailbreak tweaks popped up in Cydia today. BannerDisable adds a “Do Not Disturb” toggle switch to your iPhone. The switch allows you to quickly disable notifications for all apps with one button. Once installed, the “Do Not Disturb” toggle will appear beneath the Airplane Mode option under Settings for quick access. There is also another tweak called DoNotDisturb which adds the same kind of switch to your Notification Center.

The second tweak called FacebookThis allows users to upload photos to Facebook directly from their Camera Roll. Apple is expected to announce full Facebook integration with iOS 6 next week at the WWDC conference. This tweak allows jailbreakers who will not be upgrading to experience some Facebook integration, but not the full Facebook integration non-jailbreakers will be enjoying in the future.

The new jailbreak tweak HomeSpringPage allows you to create a blank page on your iPhone's Home screen to use with Dashboard X widgets. Dashboard X is another Cydia tweak that allows you to add Notification Center or user made widgets to your Home screen.

After you have installed Dashboard X ($1.99 via the ModMyi repo) and HomeSpringPage, the first page of your iPhone will be completely devoid of any app icons. This gives you the free space to add any Notification Center or jailbreak widgets you own. You can also use a combination of apps and widgets on the new page.

There have been a lot of useful jailbreak tweaks released this year. For example, I love AssistantExtensions, which allows you to make Siri even better. However, SwipeSelection is quickly becoming my new favorite jailbreak tool.

The tweak is based on a YouTube video created by Daniel Hooper. Hooper published a concept video that demonstrated how editing text on an iPad could be easier. The jailbreaking community responded by creating SwipeSelection based on his ideas.

It's a simple tweak that makes typing on your iPhone much easier by allowing you to drag your finger to move your cursor. You can use one finger for a more precise cursor drag, or two fingers to move faster. You can even select text easier by holding the shift key and dragging your finger. All of this is demonstrated by Hooper's video posted below.

AlwaysArrange is a simple jailbreak tweak that allows you to easily rearrange your Home screen icons without having to enter wiggle mode. Once installed you can tap any icon and move it anywhere on your Home screen. There is a Settings mode that allows you to toggle AlwaysArrange on and off, and you can also adjust the duration of the tap and hold time that it takes to move an app. To delete an app just tap the icon and slide it up to the status bar to enter wiggle mode.

Another prank app has hit the Cydia app store. Anonysend allows you to annoy your family and friends by sending fake semi-anonymous emails. I said "semi" anonymous because the emails are logged with your IP address. Meaning you shouldn't use it to prank your boss or harass an ex-girlfriend because it can be traced back to you. This app is for fun. It's not for abusing people you do not like.

The application is easy to use if you have a jailbroken iPhone: Just fill in a fake sender name, fake sender email, email of the person you want to prank, add a subject and hit send. Unlike the SpoofApp that allows you to fake your caller ID and voice, Anonysend is free to download and use.