10 Jailbreak Apps for Getting Work Done

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Posted November 23, 2015 By Paul Rubens Feedback

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10 Jailbreak Apps for Getting Work Done

While Apple discourages jailbreaking its devices, jailbreak apps can boost your productivity and even improve security.
iNalyzer

iNalyzer (free from Cydia) iOS penetration testing framework for developers. AppSec Labs' iNalyzer allows you to use Web-based pen-testing tools such as scanners and proxies to test iOS applications. iNalyzer maintains the attack logic and forwards it onto the targeted iOS application.
Mobile Terminal

(free from Cydia) This terminal app provides you with a command line interface to your device, from which you can install a huge range of security applications and tools such as the Metasploit penetration testing framework, Nmap and Ettercap.
Asos

(99 cents from Cydia) Asos is a simple to use security tweak which allows you to lock individual apps with a passcode. Protected apps can also be unlocked using TouchID fingerprint recognition. You can require authentication every time the app is opened, on a timed basis, or once per session. Asos also blurs your apps in multitasking so prying eyes can't see what you were doing.
GuestMode

(99 cents from Cydia) GuestMode allow you to choose which apps are accessible to anyone using your device - perhaps while you let them look at product shots, price lists or other material. Guest mode can be activated in a number of ways, including via a Guest passcode or by swiping left from the lockscreen.
WiFi Explorer

(free from Cydia) WiFi Explorer is a wireless network scanner tool to find and display the information of all 802.11a/b/g/n/ac wireless networks around you. It can be used to detect rogue access points and check channel conflicts, and supports 2.4 and 5 GHz networks as well as 20, 40 and 80 MHz channel widths.
Calendar for Lockscreen

(free from Cydia) One of the biggest faults with iOS is that the lockscreen lacks basic functionality -- such as the ability to show upcoming appointments at a glance -- that you get in Android and even Windows Phone. Calendar for Lockscreen enables this, and if it helps you avoid missing a single business appointment it may have been worth installing.
Confero

($1.50 from Cydia) Confero is designed to enhance productivity by removing all notification badges and placing them in a single folder. This is accessible by tapping on the status bar icon which is available from within apps. Apps with notifications can be launched directly from the Confero folder.
BatteryLife

(free from Cydia) A battery utility, BatteryLife provides detailed information about your battery usage including information about how long your current charge will last, which can be invaluable if you are about to enter a meeting.
FlipControlCenter

(free from Cydia) iOS's control center is useful but limited to just a handful of controls including toggles for Wi-Fi, airplane mode and Bluetooth. FlipControlCenter makes it far more powerful, saving you time by allowing you to add toggles for VPN, cellular data, Personal Hotspot and many other functions.
KeyboardVibrate8

(free from Cydia) Entering text on mobile device keyboards can be slow and cumbersome, but this productivity enhancer can help you type faster by offering haptic feedback for each keystroke, just like on Android and Windows Phone devices.
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A recent ruling on the legality of mobile device jailbreaking has cleared the way for productivity enhancing applications that Apple seeks to prevent.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibits circumventing technological measures put in place by Apple to prevent access to its iOS mobile operating system. But last month the Library of Congress added "portable all-purpose mobile computing devices" (and specifically Apple iPad tablets) as well as smart TVs to a list of devices that are exempt from the DMCA. Smartphones such as Apple's iPhone are already exempt.

So with the legal barrier now out of the way, let's look at why you may want to jailbreak your iOS device by connecting it to a PC or laptop and running a jailbreaking application such as PanGu.

If you are an IT administrator, developer or security professional, many iOS security and penetration testing tools will only run on a jailbroken device. A more general reason to jailbreak is so that you can install software that has not been approved by Apple and is not offered in Apple's App Store.

This includes useful applications and operating system enhancements and tweaks that are offered either free or for sale in the Cydia app store, an alternative to the App Store that is automatically installed as part of the jailbreak process, as well as applications which can be downloaded from numerous websites. You can either install these using iTunes or side-load them directly onto a device with the help of a desktop application such as iFunbox.

Some of the applications and tweaks offered on Cydia bring genuine productivity gains to users to such an extent that many end up being imitated by Apple and introduced into iOS months or years after they were first available to jailbreakers.

Jailbreakers enjoyed a tweak available on Cydia that brought copy-and-paste functionality to iOS long before it was introduced by Apple in iOS 3.0. And an app that allowed users to turn their phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot so they could connect their tablet to the Internet was available for many months before Apple introduced its functionally similar Personal Hotspot feature.

It is important, however, to understand that jailbreaking your iOS device makes it less secure, because doing so undermines some of the security measures such as sandboxing that Apple has baked in to the operating system kernel.

If you do jailbreak your device, though, these 10 apps are worth considering.