If jail-breaking sounds like a good idea to you, please read this.

I recently watched a few YouTube videos on jail-breaking, and was inspired to do it myself. So I followed an instructional video, and it worked, easy and fast. Having a jail-broken iPhone was exciting and fun; and I could be creative with all the customization options. So I downloaded categories, to hide all my apps, so I could have a clean have a clean home screen. I put all of my apps in categories, but it was too much. There were too many apps! So, categories crashed. The only apps I was left with was Calendar and Notes. So, I restored, only to find that my contacts list was wiped clean.

If jail-breaking sounds fun, it is. I did a lot of fun stuff with Cydia. One day I got fed up with it all; the harder-to-use interface, and artificial layout. My iPhone felt damaged, and I became nostalgic. So I did a full restore, and once again, losing my contacts.                                                                                            

Jail-breaking is  unsafe, and it violates the warranty

jailbreaking?                                                                                                                         Read and follow these steps

Before…

Back Up! Think it over; make sure that jail-breaking is really worth the trouble. Before jail-breaking, make sure you sync your iPhone with a computer! If you never check you email on a computer, and just rely on your iPhone, confirm your login info. Check to see if your contacts and calendars have synced as well, just in case. This is important, don’t be lazy and say nothing bad will happen. Even writing down your contacts if you don’t have many, is a good idea.

 

Lingo…

Winterboard- Perhaps the most important jail-broken application of all. Scroll down to see more.

Springboard- The home screen of your device. It is called a “springboard” because when you switch home-screens, it ‘springs’.

Cydia-An application used to download other jail-broken applications, and themes for Winterboard.

Source-The apps in Cydia don’t just appear, they are downloaded from the internet using your provided sources. Your sources are updated every time you open Cydia. Not all sources provided on websites will work on your device. To add a source, open Cydia. Then click on manage, sources, edit; and press the plus on the upper- left corner. Then type in the website.

iSpazio-A very important source. You could Google iSpazio sources. Be patient when trying to enter these sources! They are crucial!

SSH-The syncing of your device to download a Cydia app, it is hard and confusing. I don’t recommend it.

 

Software…                                   

QuickPwn. There are many choices of jail-breaking software. I had a pleasant experience with QuickPwn, use it. Go to their website and download the software, follow the steps. When using the software make sure you don’t select the “Use pineapple logo upon startup” Make sure that the Cydia box is checked, this is crucial. The Installer app is not that important, it is hard to use, slow, and unreliable.

 

3^rd Party Apps…

Dock is a very cool app, which you can use to clean up your home page, and quickly switch between them. There are sunbursts at the bottom left, and bottom right of the screen that can be used to make the apps expand out of the sunbursts.

Blank Is an invisible application that you could use to shape the applications on your home screen.

DockFlow Is a five icon dock that displays Safari, Text, Phone, Mail, and iPod in a cover flow format (available for iTouch too) the catch: they have to be those apps, in that order.

BiteSMS A free landscape texting application. (Might work on iTouch)

Stack Ever use stacks on a Mac? Well now it’s on iPhone! Just tap the icon and many apps will jump out!

 

Layouts…

**See below to preview layouts

Winterboard Is an essential layouts application; this should be the first thing you download from Cydia. Winterboard is used to manage all your downloaded themes, and widgets. To use Winterboard and select themes, tap the one you want to activate and press the home button. The home screen will freeze up for a few seconds; the springboard is resetting. The lock screen will appear, wait for the clock icon to appear on the upper right-hand corner. Then “Slide to unlock”!

Bez Is a kind of ‘grungy dressed up’ look. It has large icons and a dark color scheme. It is complimented very well by the blank application, creating a minimal home screen.                                                                      

iGlassSol is dark, and shadowy. It has a silver mesh background, which makes them pop, even with the dull colors. If you like Bez, you would like iGlassSol, they are pretty much long lost relatives.

Leopard Theme You can make the iPhone [or iTouch] look like a Mac. Use Blank and Stacks to create an OS 10 feel.

GlasKlart Makes all your icons transparent. So if you have a piece of art or photography that you really want to showcase, but not be obstructed by dense applications, this theme is for you. To make a picture your background, set it as your wallpaper in photos first. Then go to Winterboard and click “edit” then move “user wallpaper” to the very top. Then click “done”, and tap “user wallpaper” and “GlasKlart” press the home button and you’re set.

Rainbow Realize is a beautiful layout! It is minimal and colorful. This is the perfect layout for the artist, or quirky girl. Or if you’re gay.

reText is a very civilized and formal theme. It is so civilized in fact, it is almost boring; but not quite. It has a feeling of luxury and James Bondieness.

Damino has a transparent background, so you can change your wallpaper, and add a whole new feel to your layout. It has all-text icons, just like reText. I applaud this simplistic design.