My top jailbreak tweaks for the iPad mini and iOS 6.1 [Video]
A jailbreak for the latest generation of iOS devices as well as iOS 6.1 was released last week, and I jailbroke my iPad mini as soon as I could get my hands on the software. I spent the following days grabbing the tweaks I wanted from the Cydia app store for jailbroken devices, some of which I’ve used before, some of which are new to me, and some of which are replacements for tweaks that haven’t been updated to support the new devices/OS.
Now that I have my iPad mini set up the way I want, I thought I would do a video that shows off these tweaks. They’re the reason I jailbreak, and they’re the reason I think a jailbroken iPad is so much better than a stock one. Since I have a lot of tweaks I go through them quite quickly in the video, but you can find out more about each app by looking in the Cydia store (if your device is jailbroken) or just googling to find info and videos about each tweak. A lot of these tweaks have a ton of options, of which I only use a few, so there’s a lot to be had from these tweaks alone.
The tweaks mentioned in the video are:
- Display Recorder
- Black Keyboard
- Sbsettings
- Activator
- Androidlock XT
- Adblocker
- Fullscreen for ipad
- BTC mouse & trackpad
- ProTube HD
- Zephyr
- Retinapad
- Bridge
- iFile
There are some tweaks I used to have on my device that aren’t on my device now, for various reasons. I currently have no Lightning-compatible USB or SD adapter, so the tweak to enable full access to connected storage media is of no use to me right now- but it’s a good one. I haven’t installed Graviboard (I don’t even know if it works with iOS 6) because it’s not really useful, just fun. Quasar is still not updated, and unlike other apps I found replacements for, it’s unique. There are also a ton of other very useful tweaks that are great for some people, but that I don’t use myself (right now). When it comes to finding the best jailbreak tweaks, videos and forum threads will get you a lot further than just randomly browsing Cydia.
There’s also a lot of misconceptions about jailbreaking out there. Some people think it will slow down your device, which was only really true a few years ago, before these devices got performance to spare. Others think jailbreaking means pirating apps, which is not the case; in fact, most of the apps on this list are paid apps, made by legitimate developers. The only difference is that they require more access to the device than what Apple gives them. That doesn’t mean their apps and tweaks are dangerous, or bad, and tweaks like Zephyr give you functionality that feels so natural and straight forward that you start wondering why it’s not in iOS directly.
Then there are those who think you need to be a computer geek to jailbreak. The jailbreaking process this time around basically involves plugging in a cable, clicking a button, and then waiting. Things can go wrong, but thanks to iOS device’s recovery system, I don’t think it’s even possible to fully break a device this way.
Bottom line, jailbreaking to me is about enabling features that Apple’s strict control over the OS won’t allow you to have otherwise. Jailbreaking adds more functionality to iOS for me than the last few versions of iOS combined, which is why it’s such a big deal when a jailbreak actually comes out. From minor things like having a black keyboard to match a black iPad, to being able to use my old BT mouse as a teacher, to being able to provide you with screen recordings vi Display Recorder, jailbreaking just adds a ton of functionality to my iPad.
