My biggest qualm with the stock Messages app is its lack of a quick reply feature.
A new jailbreak tweak called Auki was released yesterday at JailbreakCon, and it works like the Messages app Apple should have made in iOS 7. In terms of elegance and simplicity, Auki leapfrogs tweaks like biteSMS that came before. It’s quick reply done right, then some.
Developed by popular tweak/theme designer Surenix and Benno, Auki adds a native interface for quick reply that can be summoned anywhere in iOS 7.
You can reply to an incoming message by tapping the reply button in a banner notification. Swiping on an unread message from the lockscreen also works. Quick compose can be triggered by swiping down from the top of Notification Center or through an Activator shortcut.
The best thing about Auki is how it just fuses itself into the stock Messages app. Everything you know in Messages is extended to the quick reply/compose window, whether it be adding a picture, landscape mode, typing indicators, etc. And that’s not all. Auki adds another slick feature to Messages: silent mode.
When you swipe to delete a thread in the Messages app, there is a new “Silent” option that mutes that conversation. It effectively blocks all notifications, including vibrations, from a specific contact or group of contacts. Whoever is on the other side of the convo won’t see your typing indicator or read receipts, either.
Instead of feeling bloated and overcomplicated like some of its competitors, Auki capitalizes on doing a couple of things extremely well. And thanks to some great design, it looks like it should have belonged in iOS 7 to begin with.
Check Auki out in Cydia on the iPhone or iPod touch. It costs $3.99, and an iPad version is coming for free in a future update. Make sure to uninstall biteSMS or Messages+ before installing to avoid incompatibility issues.
