Rotation lock is a useful feature, until it gets in the way. For example, reading on the iPhone can be easier with the lock enabled, to prevent everything from spinning around when you lie down. The problem happens when rotation is locked, and you’re trying to watch a widescreen video.

Your iPhone is forced to display this video in the vertical orientation, making the picture incredibly small with large black letterboxing at the top and bottom of the display. Fixing this involves switching off rotation lock then rotating the iPhone and restarting the video. The LandscapeVideo tweak makes this process easier on jailbroken devices.

Badges in iOS are great. They let you know when something important needs your attention, keep a count of unread emails, and can even tell you the temperature outside. But do you have too many badges floating around? All those red circles on every app icon can start to look like noise.

Now jailbroken iPhone users can quickly clean up extra badges with the tweak Clear Badges. This free tweak makes it simple to temporarily clear an annoying red badge number. Just hold down an app icon to enter wiggle mode on the home screen. Double tapping the offending icon while its wiggling will clear the badge immediately.

Google Chrome joins Google Maps in getting an update on the iOS App Store this week. The latest Chrome browser adds a feature already familiar to Safari users. Holding the back browsing button will bring up a menu of recently visited web pages.

The back button function is a shortcut to accessing the history right from the main browsing window that can save time. With this update to Chrome 25 for iPhone and iPad, Google has also made it possible to share a web page using Messages.

Google has launched the first update to its stand-alone Google Maps app for iOS. Version 1.1 brings several improvements for iPhone and iPod touch users. Local search gets new icons to organize nearby results by category, such as post offices, bars, gas stations and the like.

This can speed up the search process if you're in a hurry, making the local search feature even more powerful and convenient. The other major upgrade is Google Contacts integration. If you're a Google account user, this means your contacts will be included in Google Maps search results.

The strength of your cellular signal can make or break a data connection or phone call. The iPhone is no different, and as iOS users already know the signal strength is displayed on the status bar in the upper left. You can use an app like Signal 2 to get more details about your signal and where it’s coming from.

Sound like too much information? Bars will give you more information about your signal while keeping things simple. All this tweak does is take the signal bars you’re already familiar with and make them better.