iOS 8 comes with a number of new features and improvements such as Interactive Notifications, smarter QuickType keyboard, support for third-party keyboards and lots more.
However, most of us will have to wait until September to install iOS 8 on our devices, and if you don’t want to lose your jailbreak then probably wait until the iOS 8 jailbreak is released.
The nice thing is that if you’ve jailbroken your iOS device then you can install jailbreak tweaks that offer iOS 8-like features. Here’s a look at those jailbreak tweaks:
Interactive Notifications
Auki brings iOS 8-like Quick Reply feature to iOS 7. In fact, auki’s user interface is so sleek that it is difficult to figure out between Apple’s implementation of the feature and Auki’s. However, unlike iOS 8’s Interactive Notification feature, auki’s quick reply feature works only with the Messages app.
But Auki has a big advantage, it also offers the Quick Compose feature that allows you to compose a message from anywhere in iOS without leaving the app you’re in, which is not available in iOS 8.
In addition to quick reply, iOS 8 also lets you take action on other types of notifications from apps such as Mail, Facebook etc via banner notifications and notifications on the Lock screen. While there are no tweaks that offer similar functionality, LockInfo allows you to take action on Lock screen Notifications such as allowing you to dismiss notifications, check email etc.
Widgets
In iOS 8, app developers will be able to offer Notification Center widgets for their apps that update you on package deliveries, the latest surf reports, or breaking stories from your favorite news app etc.
Ever since Apple introduced Notification Center in iOS 5, Cydia developers have released several custom widgets for Notification Center. You can also add widgets to the Home screen with tweaks such as iWidget, which is not possible in iOS 8.
QuickType
iOS 8 includes a new keyboard called QuickType, which makes typing easier by suggesting contextually appropriate words to complete your sentences. It can learn the way you communicate, get to know your favorite phrases, and suggest a logical next word.
PredictiveKeyboard brings QuickType like functionality to your jailbroken iPhone. It adds an additional row to the iOS keyboard, and displays real-time predictions. It also learns words and phrases like QuickType.
Third-Party Keyboards
iOS 8 allows third-party keyboards apps in the App Store that can be downloaded and used systemwide. Swype and SwiftKey, two of the most popular third-party keyboards on Android have already confirmed that they will be releasing their keyboard apps in the App Store.
One of the great things about jailbreaking has been that there are a number of cool keyboard tweaks such as SwipeSelection, AltKeyboard 2 that are available on Cydia.
SwipeSelection Pro
AltKeyboard 2
Jailbreak tweaks have brought third-party keyboards like Fleksy and Hipjot to jailbroken iPhone. This means that you will be able to check out how the third-party keyboards will work on your iPhone even before they hit the App Store later this fall, when iOS 8 is released to the public.
Fleksy
Hipjot
Touch ID and Third-Party Integration
Apple has added new Touch ID APIs in iOS 8 which will allow developers to add Touch ID functionality to their apps. So users will be able to use Touch ID to sign in to third-party apps without the need to enter a password.
Jailbreak tweak such as iTouchSecure allow to autofill passwords anywhere with Touch ID, authenticate with Touch ID for any password entry and more. In addition, tweaks like Asphaleia, BioLockdown, BioProtect allow you to lock apps with Touch ID.
Hey, Siri
iOS 8 brings a number of improvements to Siri. One of them is “Hey, Siri” which allows you to activate Siri completely hands-free, which will be extremely useful while driving. It works quite similar to the jailbreak tweak OkSiri, which was released recently.
Rename Message Conversations
One of the iOS 8 features for Messages is the ability to rename the conversation, which is similar to the functionality offered by jailbreak tweak MessageRenamer7. In fact, it a lot quicker to rename a conversation with MessageRenamer.
Brightness Slider
In iOS 8, when you change the brightness via the Control Center, it shows the changes real-time in the background rather than just on the Control Center panel, which is nice as it makes it easier to adjust the brightness. CC Brightness Slider brings that functionality to your jailbroken iPhone running iOS 7.
You can check out which show the jailbreak tweaks that bring iOS 8 features in action:
Jailbreak tweaks may not offer the same level of functionality, and may not be as polished as the iOS 8 features, but in some cases like Auki’s Quick Compose, they offer lot more functionality, and in case of features like third-party keyboards and Notification Center widgets you don’t have to wait for iOS 8 to be released to use them.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.