Cydia

The jailbreak app store Cydia has received a long-anticipated cosmetic update. The redesign launched automatically, so users need only to open the Cydia app to see the changes. The new look brings a clean, flat design to the interface much like iOS 7 and iOS 8.

The redesign hits every corner of Cydia, however functionality and options remain the same. The last time the jailbreak app store had a significant redesign was after the launch of iOS 7, when the Sources and Installed tabs were added. The Cydia home screen icon was also updated to match iOS 7.

Anyone waiting to update to iOS 8.1 and jailbreak can breathe a sigh of relief. After several updates released by Cydia creator Jay Freeman (saurik) and the Pangu jailbreak team, the iOS 8 jailbreak has stabilized. Saurik announced that thanks to everyone's hard work, including his own, the Cydia store would begin accepting payments for jailbreak tweaks and software.

At the moment, the Pangu jailbreak version 1.2.1 is available for Windows only. China-based Pangu Team is actively working on an OS X version, which could be released by the weekend. Cydia Installer version 1.1.16 introduced several bug fixes for iOS 8 users. Developers can now mark their creations as iOS 8 compatible and begin using Cydia's payment structure.

Team Pangu has finally released a full version of their iOS 8 jailbreak tool. Unlike the previous release, the new jailbreak comes with a Cydia installer. This allows users who jailbreak their device to easily access the Cyida app store which contains all the tweaks and apps created by the jailbreak community. Cydia has also been updated to version 1.1.14 to fix a few bugs and to add other improvements, like iPhone 6 support. Click here for step-by-step instructions on how to jailbreak iOS 8 with the Pangu Jailbreak tool. The jailbreak works on all devices running iOS 8 - iOS 8.1. There is no Mac version currently available, but that should hopefully change in the near future.

Popular jailbreak tweaks such as Zeppelin, WinterBoard and SwipeSelection have also been updated with iOS 8 support, and new tweaks like ForceReach, that take advantage of iOS 8-only features, are already being released to Cydia. Make sure you check out our weekly apps and jb tweaks recap every Saturday or follow us on Twitter to keep updated on the latest Cydia releases.

The iOS jailbreak world was rocked this week by news that the popular Cydia repository BigBoss has been hacked. Not only this, but the person or group responsible posted the entire contents of the repo online, including paid tweaks. The stunt by Kim Jong-Cracks comes hot on the heels of an essay by Saurik, the creator of Cydia titled Competition vs. Community.

Plastering their "rip" of the BigBoss repo with hash tags such as WhichSideAreYouOn and SupportTheCompetition, the group appears to be arguing for alternatives to Cydia by distributing the hard work of developers' efforts for free. Not only is this a blatant act of piracy, but it's possible these cracked tweaks will be exploited by others to distribute malware or otherwise compromise security.