If you’re like me, then you’ve got a lot of Bluetooth devices connected to your iPhone at any given time including some of the most pertinent, like the Apple Watch and AirPods. But if you aren’t thinking straight, it can be easy to leave your Apple Watch on the nightstand charger or to leave your AirPods on your desk when leaving your house with your iPhone.
iOS developer LaughingQuoll knows the struggle, and that’s why he’s working on the release of a brand-new jailbreak tweak called Proximitus.
Just as the context and the tweak’s name imply, Proximitus aims to notify you whenever you leave the proximity of Bluetooth LE (low energy) devices, like your Apple Watch or AirPods. As you can see in the screenshot example above, Proximitus displays a notification banner on your Lock screen when you leave something behind.
As you leave the proximity of your Bluetooth devices, the
low-energy connection they share with your handset gets interrupted. Proximitus
specifically looks for when this happens and triggers a banner notification
when your iPhone gets far enough away from a Bluetooth device to disconnect
from it.
In addition to letting you know when your Bluetooth devices leave the range of your iPhone, LaughingQuoll notes that Proximitus can also alert you when one of your Bluetooth devices begins running low on battery. This can be useful if you don’t use your AirPods or other Bluetooth devices very often, as lithium-ion batteries tend to drain from sitting idle for extended periods.
Proximitus adds a preference pane to the Settings app where you can configure the tweak to your needs:
Here, you can:
- Toggle the tweak on or off on demand
- Enable or disable proximity alerts
- Enable or disable connection alerts
- Enable or disable disconnection alerts
- Enable or disable low power alerts
- Choose how frequently your device scans for your Bluetooth accessories
- Configure a custom device distance threshold before triggering alerts
- Disable scanning if your handset is unlocked
The developer provides a respring button at the bottom of the preference pane that you should use to save your options after making them.
Albeit not shown, Proximitus also features a Control Center toggle that will allow users to turn features on or off on demand. This could be useful depending on your battery life situation or if you do/don’t need certain Bluetooth tracking functionality at any given time.
With this functionality built into your iPhone, there’s little
or no chance that you’ll ever leave your Apple Watch, AirPods, or other
Bluetooth LE devices behind again. That said, we’re incredibly excited about
Proximitus.
At the time of this writing, the Proximitus public beta is available in Cydia’s Packix repository to LaughingQuoll’s Patreon members. Once out of beta, the tweak will be available to the general public for the set price of $1.49. Proximitus works on all jailbroken iOS 11 and 12 devices.
Are you excited about Proximitus and how it might augment
your jailbroken iPhone experience? Let us know in the comments section below.
