iPhone Modifications and Jailbreak Tweaks

Please note....iOS 4 for 3GS will disable your jailbreak. Wait for a new jailbreak compatible with iOS4 before you upgrade!!! Keep checking the ROCK or Cydia apps on your jail broken phone for updates. THANKS!!

Ok, so you have your new iPhone in your hand. Nobody buys an iPhone just to make calls. You want this bad boy to WORK for you. So lets jump right in. My experience is with AT&T in the United States, so some of the information I discuss here will not apply to international users or users with other companies. I realize that there are thousands of applications available through iTunes for the iPhone, but they are just too limited. The first thing you should do is JAILBREAK your phone! After that, add all of the apps that I tell you about here!

I run an iPhone 3GS 16gb with the latest 3.1.3 update installed. My phone used to be jail broken and also unlocked. I jail broke the phone using a program called "Blackra1n" which turned out to be a major annoyance. Sure, it was nice to have a jail broken phone, but EVERY TIME my phone shut off, I had to plug it via cable into a computer running iTunes with the Blackra1n hack installed on the computer JUST TO TURN THE PHONE BACK ON! With a Blackra1n jailbreak, this is called a tethered jailbreak, meaning, you had to "tether" your phone to the computer with every reboot. Eventually, the phone completely locked up in a perpetual "boot loop" and never turned on again until i did a complete restore and wiped out everything I had on the phone. Yeah, major drag. Jail breaking an iPhone allows the user to install 3rd party applications that are not approved by Apple. In my opinion, it allows you to actually own your device and run whatever you want on it just like a personal computer. However, Blackra1n was not the answer for me (besides the fact that it eventually crashed my phone!).

Released recently is a new jail break called "Spirit". You can learn about and install this jail break at the new Spirit Jailbreak web site. This jail break works in about 3 seconds, you can reboot your phone without tethering, and will work on all recent versions of the iPhone. If you have a Blackra1n jail break currently, you will need to RESTORE your phone before installing "Spirit". Follow the instructions on their website closely.

The following apps are what I use or recommend. I'll keep adding to these as I find more useful things. With each app if it says "Jailbroken" in the caption, you need to have a jailbroken phone and you can find these apps in Cydia or Rock. If i have "App Store" in the caption, you do not need a jailbroken phone for these items.

If you use Yahoo, there is a very very easy tweak that you can read about on the Yahoo help forum.

If you have read any of my other articles, you know I am a busy manager with many employees and of course with employees you need to keep schedules, meetings, deadlines, and many other things. I've found Yahoo Calendar to be the easiest program to use for keeping track of everything and I can do it all through the native Calendar built right into the iPhone. As soon as an employee asks me for a day off, I enter their request into my iPhone calendar which immediately syncs up in the background with my Yahoo Calendar. You can set each appointment to send a reminder to you via email, text message, pop-up notification, or no reminders at all. I now have access to all of my schedules from any computer! Absolutely free!! The native calendar is good, but integrating it with Yahoo is brilliant!

Get "MiWi" from the Rock installer and you will love it. You can find this app by opening Rock and searching "MyWi" If you need to access the internet from your laptop from a wireless access point but you do not have an access point available, simply open "MiWi" and turn tethering on. Your laptop can now access your phones internet connection just as if you were at a Starbuck's Hotspot. This app is the main reason why I have jail broken my phone. Without a jail break, the iPhone version 3.1.3 will not allow internet sharing, thus the reason for this mod.

How can you avoid closing a program completely when you need to jump to another task? Install "Backgrounder" found free in Cydia. Backgrounder will allow you to quickly switch from task to task without completely closing a task and then reloading it when you need to go back to it. It will hold your place and let you continue working while switching tasks back and forth. This is a great app for you multi-taskers out there.

Pick up "Red Laser" directly from the App Store. This app is a great bar code reader that will run price checks for you for products you want to buy and will also pull nutritional information about food products along with other details for each item you scan. Scan a jar of honey at the grocery store, and you will get prices for competing chains and also the best available online prices! If the app finds pricing online, you can tap the online store directly from the app, go to the store and order the product seamlessly. This is truly an app that can save you a lot of money if you use it! The bar codes are automatically detected by your iPhone camera and zapped into your database. Items you scan can be saved and will update with better pricing as it becomes available. Excellent two thumbs up app!

Sure, you have YouTube installed natively on you iPhone, but what happens if you want to watch your favorite vid and you don't have 3g coverage wherever you happen to be? aTube Downloader to the rescue! aTube doesn't just download videos from YouTube though...it also archives them for you and can save video playlists for you. Not bad for a free app huh? You can find aTube on one of the jail break intallers. I LOVE music videos, so this is an absolute must have app for me! Just go in to Cydia or Rock and search for aTube and it will be right there for you to load up...and then grab your favorite cold beverage and spend a relaxing night downloading your favorite music videos. Oh by the way, these vids load FAST!!!

"Words With Friends" is a very nice version of Scrabble available free on the App Store. I love word games and this one is exceptionally good. If you do not have a friend to play against, you can request that Words With Friends find an opponent for you, and it always does, usually within seconds. The nice thing about this game is that you can take your time. Lay your word when you have time. You will be sent a push notification when your opponent has made a move and at that point you can make your next turn. No need to keep the game open constantly and wait for your opponent. Simply make your move and then go about your daily tasks. The game will notify you when it is your turn to make a move! It's fun, its simple to use, and oh yes...there is a chat feature in each game, so you can talk to your opponent! I usually do not play around with games on the iPhone simply because of a lack of time, but this game is worth a look! ..........Note on the picture that I am also using internet tethering with MyWi which you can see in the blue status bar at the top of my screen. Also note, my Words With Friends ID is "the1cooljay"...and I know how to BRING IT!