Want third-party app tweaks without jailbreaking your iPhone? Now you can, thanks to Extensify, which offers a whole host of tweaks that add extra functionality to popular iOS apps like Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and more.
“Extensify is best described as a tweak store that allows you to change the properties of App Store apps,” explains 9to5Mac’s Jeff Benjamin. “Unlike tweaks that require your iPhone to be jailbroken, Extensify works without needing a jailbreak.”
This was made possible last June when Apple gave anyone the ability to side-load iOS apps in Xcode 7. What Extensify does is combines popular iOS apps (so long as they’re free) with tweaks called “Exos” that add extra features — then installs them.
Extensify isn’t capable of modifying iOS itself, or its built-in features, so it’s not quite a jailbreak replacement. But it is a suitable alternative for those who want the latest iOS updates as soon as they’re available, and additional functionality you don’t get with certain iOS apps as standard.
For instance, Phantom, a popular tweak for Snapchat, allows you to save media to your camera roll, type much longer text captions, change caption font sizes and colors, and more.
Extensify seems very well designed, and offers clear descriptions for each Exo, with release dates, update dates, and more. Many Exos are free, but there are some paid options, too.
“Once you find an Exo that you wish to use, tap the Get button to prepare a build session,” Jeff adds. “You can add multiple Exos to a single build in order to add multiple tweaks to an app. Once an app has been built, Extensify will prompt you install the tweaked app.”
Apps tweaked by Extensify appear on your home screen just like any others, but they have the ‘+’ symbol after their name, so it’s easy to see which apps have been tweaked and which haven’t.
The apps you build with Extensify are hosted on the Extensify servers, so they come with the same risks other jailbreak tweaks do. It’s thought the app is perfectly safe and trusted, but just note that there is a possibility you could be downloading malicious content.
Extensify is currently available to a select few who have received a sign up code — you can go claim yours now — but will be available to all later. When that time comes, you’ll have to pay a subscription fee to use the service, which will help maintain and improve it.
