iOS 5

Today in Apple history: Apple embraces over-the-air iOS updates

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ios 5
Over-the-air iOS updates took iTunes out of the equation (and leveled the playing field with Android).
Photo: Apple

May 4: Today in Apple history: Apple embraces over-the-air iOS updates May 4, 2011: Reports circulate that Apple is negotiating with carriers to bring over-the-air updates to iOS, beginning with iOS 5.

Such a move would free iPhone owners from using iTunes to get updates for their devices. That means no more plugging an iPhone into a computer via USB to download the latest version of iOS.

The evolution of iOS: From iPhone OS to iOS 11

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Original iPhone running iOS 1
A lot has change since 2007.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iPhone turns 10 The operating system that powers the iPhone has undergone radical changes since Apple launched the device 10 years ago.

As part of Cult of Mac’s collaboration with Wired UK to mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, we took a look at the evolution of iOS, from a simple touchscreen operating system lacking key features into a true computing behemoth with more tools than any one user could possibly need.

Apple To Release iOS 7 Beta 2 Today [Rumor]

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iOS-7-WWDC

Apple is expected to seed its second iOS 7 beta to developers today, two weeks after it released the first during the Worldwide Developers Conference, according to carrier sources. The update it expected to fix bugs that were present in the first beta, and address things like performance and battery life. We may even see some more new features.

Apple Decrypts iPhones For The Police, But It Makes Them Wait [Report]

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passcode

The security features built into Apple’s iOS software are so good that the police are unable to gain access to defendant’s iPhones when they need to. Apple itself is able to bypass the security software and decrypt locked devices — and it do so when the police request it. But the company has so many requests that it has to add police to a lengthy waiting list.

iCloud, Dropbox, And Amazon Rated Top Cloud Services In U.S.

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We don’t often think of Apple as a cloud services company because so much emphasis is placed on hardware, but for many consumers, Apple’s iCloud is their first experience using cloud storage.

Over this past fall, Strategy Analytics conducted a study on which cloud services are the most popular in the U.S. right now, and iCloud grabbed the top spot with 27% usage.

As Apple Turns Its Back On Google, So Does Siri [Report]

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Siri made its debut on the iPhone 4s almost four years ago.
Siri made its debut on the iPhone 4s almost four years ago.
Photo: Cult of Mac

As Apple slowly but surely turns its back on Google, Siri, its intelligent digital assistant, is doing the same. If you’d have asked Siri a question back in June, there’s a 60% chance the data it came back with would have been from Google. Ask it a question today, however, and that chance is reduced to just 30%. Not only has Apple given YouTube and Google Maps the boot, then, it’s shunning Google’s search data, too.

Apple Cracking Down On Emoji Apps

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Featured13

Apple’s cracking down on apps that have no other purpose but offering emoji — that cute emoticon character set popular with some text messengers — and are kicking developer’s apps out of the App Store if they do nothing else. The reason? iOS 6 already does emoji.

South Korea Wants Apple To Remove Japanese Names For Dokdo Islets From iOS 6 Maps

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The Dokdo islets in iOS 6 Maps.
The Dokdo islets in iOS 6 Maps.

South Korea has asked Apple to remove the Japanese names of the Dokdo islets from its new Maps app in iOS 6. Both Asian countries claim ownership of Dokdo, which has long caused tensions between the two. In iOS 5, when Maps was powered by Google Maps, only the Korean name for the islets was used, and that’s how Korean officials want it to stay.

Give Your A4-Powered iOS Device iOS 6’s 3D Flyover And Turn-By-Turn [Jailbreak]

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It could be some time before you can rely on Apple's new Maps app.
Want this on your iPhone 4? Now you can.

While Apple’s new Maps app has received a lot of criticism since its debut last month, it does offer a number of nifty features that weren’t available in iOS 5, including 3D Flyover and voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation. However, these are features that are only available on the latest devices, including the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5, the new iPad, and the fifth-generation iPod touch.

At least that’s the case if you handset isn’t jailbroken. If it is, you can now get these features on A4-powered devices like the iPhone 4, and the fourth-generation iPod touch thanks to a new tweak called ‘Unlock iOS 6 Maps’.

Instapaper Developer Announces ‘The Magazine,’ A Curated Periodical For Discriminating Apple Fans

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"A modern iOS Newsstand publication for geeks like us."

Instapaper developer Marco Arment has announced The Magazine for Newsstand, a new publication that’s “loosely about technology, but also gives tech writers a venue to explore other topics that like-minded geeks might find interesting.” The Magazine will get four articles every two weeks, and it costs $1.99 per month to subscribe with a 7-day free trial.

Don’t Like iOS 6’s Colorful Status Bars? Install The AntiTint Tweak To Kill Them [Jailbreak]

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AntiTint ensures your status bar goes unnoticed at all times.
AntiTint ensures your status bar goes unnoticed at all times.

Apple added a nifty new feature to iOS 6 that adds a splash of color to the status bar. Rather than being just black or silver, the status bar now changes to match the color scheme of the app you’re running. In Skype, for example, it goes bright blue, while in the eBay app it goes grey.

I’m a big fan of this feature, but I know a lot of users don’t. With that said, if you’d like to kill it, you’ll be delighted to hear there’s a new tweak for jailbroken devices that does just that.

Apple Attempts To Trademark Its Music Icon, But Myspace Got There First

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Let's hope it's not really called iRadio.
The Music app on iPad.

Almost everything Apple creates is patented and trademarked in an effort to ensure that other companies can’t steal its ideas (though they do). However, sometimes the folks in Cupertino hit a stumbling block. That’s what happened when Apple attempted to trademark its Music app icon recently, only to find that Myspace got there first.

Keyboard Shortcuts Will Finally Sync Across All Your iOS Devices In iOS 6

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Shortcuts were a nightmare to manage across iOS devices... until now.
Shortcuts were a nightmare to manage across iOS devices... until now.

After being introduced in iOS 5, keyboard shortcuts is a feature I could no longer live without on my iOS device. I use it for all kinds of things, including email addresses and usernames, so that I never have to type out the full thing 30 times a day. There is one thing the feature has been lacking, though, and that’s the ability to sync your keyboard shortcuts across all your iOS devices.

That is until now; the feature was finally added to iOS 6, which was released to the public yesterday.

Use DietBulletin To Make Notification Banners Super Slim On Your Jailbroken iOS Device [Jailbreak]

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With DietBulletin, notification banners are as slim as the status bar.
With DietBulletin, notification banners are as slim as the status bar.

Using banners for your notifications — rather than full-blown alerts we had to suffer prior to iOS 5 — is a great way to ensure incoming alerts stay out of your way while you’re busy sending tweets, chopping fruit, or writing emails. However, it would be nice if those banners could be even slimmer — maybe the same size of the status bar.

Thanks to DietBulletin, they can be.

IconToggles Tweak Brings 16 Different Actions To Your Home Screen [Jailbreak]

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The quickest way to toggle settings on your iPhone.
The quickest way to toggle settings on your iPhone.

It’s not difficult to open up the Settings app and activate or deactivate things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Airplane Mode. But it could be a whole lot quicker. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have an icon on your home screen that allows you to toggle these things instantly — without having to navigate the Settings app? Thanks to IconToggles, you can.

Start Fresh With Autocorrect On Your iPad or iPhone [iOS Tips]

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KeyboardDictionary

The reason the software keyboard works so well in iOS has a lot to do with Autocorrect and its pretty spot-on ability to figure out what the heck we’re typing. Most of the time, anyway, as various parody sites on the internet will attest to.

Autocorrect also learns the words you use more frequently, and adds them to a list in the background, letting you use oddly spelled terminology more easily. Sometimes, though, this functionality can backfire, as you end up adding words and phrases you really don’t want to have things autocorrect to.

Luckily, there’s an easy fix for this one.

iOS 5 Finally Gets An Animated Clock Icon Thanks To LiveClock Update [Jailbreak]

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LiveClock-iOS-5
LiveClock is worth installing again!

LiveClock, a tweak from Ryan Petrich that animates the Clock app’s icon to show the time, was once one of the first tweaks I would install after jailbreaking my iPhone. But after installing iOS 5, I had to live without it — because it just wasn’t compatible. Now, nine months after iOS 5 made its debut, it is!

The FLASHr Case Brings Awesome LED Notifications To iOS [Kickstarter]

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The best use of the iPhone's LED flash to date.
The best use of the iPhone's LED flash to date.

Every so often, an iOS accessory maker takes advantage of a little-known or little-used feature to create a really unique product that no one else thought of. The FLASHr from Phaze5 is a Kickstarter project that falls right into that category. It’s an iPhone case that lights up whenever you receive a call, text message, or email — but there are no LEDs built-in. Instead, it uses your iPhone’s flash and the LED alert feature in iOS 5.

Why I Love My Jailbroken iPhone

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Part of my iPhone's Home screen.
Part of my iPhone's Home screen.

Click here to see Cult of Mac's full jailbreak archives!

I’ve been jailbreaking my iOS devices for a couple of years now, and to be perfectly honest, I’ve thought about going back to the stock version of iOS many times. Sometimes I’ll ask myself if it’s really worth jailbreaking my iPhone. iOS 5 brought a lot of features that were only available for jailbreakers previously, and iOS 6 is adding several more.

Before the jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1 came out, I was considering abandoning Cydia, the jailbreak’s App Store equivalent, for good. I didn’t think I needed to jailbreak anymore.

And in most cases, you don’t really need to jailbreak ever. But since the iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak, I’ve fallen in love with my jailbroken iPhone 4S all over again. Here’s why.

Safari Download Manager For iOS Finally Gets Support For iOS 5 [Jailbreak]

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It took a while, but Safari Download Manager finally supports iOS 5.
It took a while, but Safari Download Manager finally supports iOS 5.

One of the first tweaks I used to install after jailbreaking previous iPhones was Safari Download Manager, a terrific little package that does exactly as its name suggests: allows you to download files right within mobile Safari. The downside to this tweak, however, has long been its lack of support for iOS 5. That is, until it got updated today.

WhatsApp For iPhone Gets Quick Reply Tweak Courtesy Of BiteSMS Developer [Jailbreak]

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Why hasn't Apple introduced Quick Reply to iOS yet?
Why hasn't Apple introduced Quick Reply to iOS yet?

If you’ve ever jailbroken an iPhone, you should be familiar with BiteSMS, the built-in Messages replacement that delivers almost every feature you could ever want in a messages app. One of its highlights is a feature called Quick Reply, which allows you to respond to incoming messages from the home screen, the lock screen, or from within other apps using a handy popup window.

The developer behind this awesome app has now brought Quick Reply to the hugely popular WhatsApp messenger, using a new tweak that’s available now from Cydia.

iCloud’s OS Integration Illustrates The Future Of Personal Cloud Services

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Widespread personal cloud adoption rests on iCloud-like mobile and desktop OS integration
Widespread personal cloud adoption rests on iCloud-like mobile and desktop OS integration

Cloud storage accounts for just 7% of our digital content according to Gartner the industry research firm. Given the ubiquity of cloud services and their ability to sync personal data, photos, documents, and just about everything else with our iPhone, iPads, Mac, PCs, and other devices, that number may sound a bit small. After all, the range of content that iCloud is capable of syncing in Lion and iOS 5 isn’t exactly minor.

Gartner also predicts that the percentage of the average user’s digital property will grow to more than five times that by 2016. At that point, the firm sees most users store more that a third (36%) of their digital content in various clouds. That news isn’t exactly surprising for Apple customers. Apple is making a major push for seamless iCloud integration in Mountain Lion and iOS 6. That said, the firm’s report digital storage does have a few surprises in it. In some ways the report shows that Apple is leading rather than following the personal cloud industry.