Let’s state the obvious; iOS 7 borrows heavily from many of our favorite jailbreak tweaks. Without even really trying, I came up with a list of ten different jailbreak tweaks that may have inspired the iOS 7 development team.
Yes, the obvious ones are here, like SBSettings and LiveClock, but some not so obvious ones have made the cut as well. Check inside, as I walkthrough all 10 jailbreak tweak inspirations on video, and compare them with their iOS 7 counterparts.
LiveClock
This is, perhaps, the most obvious jailbreak tweak inspiration. In fact, it’s almost a 1:1 tradeoff. Prior to iOS 7, the only way that you could get a real working clock on your Clock app icon was to use a jailbreak tweak aptly entitled LiveClock. iOS 7 now features a fully functional clock on the Home screen. It’s a nice feature, even if it is a bit on the redundant side with the status bar clock and all. As expected, there’s no way to customize the iOS 7 version of LiveClock; what you see is what you get.
The App Switcher
The new App Switcher is a pretty significant departure from what we currently have in iOS 6. Although Apple likely took its inspiration from a variety of sources, including webOS, I like to think that the jailbreak tweak called Dash provided some of the idea. Toss in a little bit of Auxo, and you’ve got iOS 7’s new App Switcher.
Control Center
It’s basically SBSettings on steroids without any of the customization that SBSettings brings to the table. I’m ecstatic to finally have toggles on iOS, but the level of customization that SBSettings, and other similar tweaks like Auxo and NCSettings brings to the table will keep us looking forward to an iOS 7 jailbreak after all.
Folders
Seven iterations in, and we can finally put as many items in a folder as we’d like. There’s also a handy paging feature that allows us to add our own mini Home screens inside each folder. Tweaks like FolderEnhancer and Infinifolders could have been inspirations for this.
Dynamic Wallpaper
It’s not exactly the same, but LivePapers is a jailbreak tweak that allows you to have animated wallpaper on a jailbroken iPhone. Thus far, iOS’ dynamic wallpaper doesn’t feature effects as drastic as LivePapers, but there’s certainly room for growth. iOS 7’s dynamic wallpapers feature interesting 3D effects that change as you move your iOS device, which is similar to another jailbreak tweak — DeepEnd.
Tabs
In iOS 7, Safari now features the ability to deploy an unlimited amount of tabs, just like a jailbreak tweak called Tabs+.
Blurred Notification Center
The new Notification Center ditches the opaque linen textures for a translucent overlay that allows you to see a blurred view of the contents behind the drop down window. Back when Notification Center was all the rage, a jailbreak tweak called FastBlurredNotificationCenter did just that.
Notification Center on Lock screen
Back before it was possible to view Notification Center from the Lock screen like you can with iOS 7, there was a jailbreak tweak called Bulletin, and it allowed you to do something crazy — view your Notification Center right from the comforts of the Lock screen.
Swipe Gestures
SwipeBack is an extremely handy jailbreak tweak that allows you to use simple swipe gestures to navigate back through various menus on iOS. iOS 7 has adopted this functionality in a limited manner by allowing you to use swipe back gestures in apps like Mail, Messages, and even Settings.
Safari search box
I’ve always hated the separation of search and address bars in the stock Mobile Safari browser. Now Apple has finally moved Safari out of the stone age, and has updated it with a Google Chrome like omnibox for unified search and browser requests. Back before the mobile version of Google Chrome even appeared to be possible on iOS, there was a jailbreak tweak called Safari UniBar, and it allowed you to have a true unified browsing experience.
Of course, there are likely many other features found in iOS7 that might have been inspired by the jailbreak community. Have you found any? Share your findings in the comments section below.
