Customizing your iOS device is one of the primary reasons of jailbreaking. If you wish to change the look of certain UI elements of the Messages app, then you may want to check out a new jailbreak tweak known as BetterMessages.
This tweak allows you to customize the Messages app and bring a new look to it. It offers a wide range of customization options ranging from colorizing the navigation bar to changing the shape of the chat bubbles.
When you install BetterMessages, head to its preferences pane in Settings and there you’ll find a list of all the customizations that can be done with this tweak. Among the options provided include:
- Hide certain UI elements
- New message dots
- Conversation previews
- Group chat profile picture
- Plugin buttons
- Conversation names
- Remove the color gradient from chat bubbles and make their edges square rather than round
- Show the progress of a message delivery and customize its color
- Change the color of the Send button and the navigation bar
- Remove the Emoji header and show six rows of Emoji
- Disable auto-rotation
- Translucent navigation bar
Once you’re done customizing, you’ll have to press the Apply Changes button at the bottom of the settings pane. This doesn’t respring your device, but rather applies the new settings that you’ve made.
BetterMessages is a nice tweak for customizing the Messages app, but it offers minimal customization options. You can use this along with other tweaks for a full-fledged customization experience. Some additional tweaks for the Messages app include TranslucentMessages, DarkMessages, and Littlemoji. But keep in mind that these tweaks may conflict with one another so be extra careful when installing them together.
If you wish to try BetterMessages, it is available as a free package in Cydia’s BigBoss repo and supports iOS 10. Let us know what you think about it in the comments below.
