Auxo for iOS 8 is in the works

For those of you who are fans of Auxo, one of the most popular and well-regarded jailbreak tweaks of all time, you can now rest easy. Last night, the folks at a3tweaks confirmed that an Auxo update is in the works for the latest jailbreak releases. That means that, yes, you’ll soon be able to enjoy the Auxo experience on iOS 8 and the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus’ glorious screens. 

#AuxoIsBack! #2014 https://t.co/Jq0OLQClIk

— A³tweaks (@A3tweaks) December 10, 2014

For those of you who aren’t as familiar with Auxo, let me refresh your memory briefly. Auxo is a jailbreak tweak that launched two years ago to improve the App Switcher experience. Back then, the App Switcher wasn’t as full-featured as it is today, so it was a huge upgrade.

Auxo, to me, still is a significant upgrade over the stock App Switcher, but the impact felt back then was like the perfect storm: Apple’s UI lacked functionality, and Auxo scratched a prolonged itch that iOS users were dealing with since the iPhone’s arrival. Not to mention that Auxo was one of the best looking tweaks at the time.

Of course, not everyone sings the praises of Auxo, including our own Sebastien Page. It’s not a tweak for everyone, but it’s definitely the sort of tweak that I think everyone should try once.

The latest version of Auxo, Auxo 2 brought some new design concepts to the table, and additional functionality. That, too, was well-received, though after some retrospect, I don’t think anything will ever compete from top to bottom with classic Auxo. At the time, it was the perfect tweak and an absolute must-have.

What we can expect from the new version of Auxo? The jury is still out, and it’ll probably take some time before I can get my hands on a beta build. But if the past is any indication, I’d say we have a very good tweak to look forward to.

What do you think?

Apple seeds second iOS 8.2 beta to developers

Apple this morning posted the second beta of iOS 8.2 for developers. The release comes nearly three weeks after the first 8.2 beta, and follows yesterday’s public launch of iOS 8.1.2, which brought about a fix for disappearing ringtones.

The new 8.2 beta can be downloaded either over-the-air, or via Apple’s developer portal, by all registered iOS developers. It’s unknown what new features the firmware will bring, but beta one enabled support for Apple’s WatchKit platform.

We’re installing the beta now and will pass along any notable changes we come across. If you see something we’ve missed, feel free to leave a comment below regarding the change.

How to jailbreak iOS 8.1.2 with TaiG 1.2

 

TaiG has released version 1.2 of its iOS 8 jailbreak tool, and it’s now capable of jailbreaking iOS 8.1.2. As has been the norm with the past few jailbreak releases, this is a Windows only jailbreak tool. If you’re running Windows, you can follow our step-by-step tutorial. If you’re on a Mac, you can use virtual machine tutorial to run Windows on OS X and jailbreak. 

Note: Your Windows machine must have iTunes installed before it will recognize your iOS device

Step 1: Update to iOS 8.1.2 on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using a fresh install if possible

Step 2: Connect your iOS device to your Windows machine, and disable passcode lock and Find My iPhone

Step 3: Download the TaiG 1.2 tool from downloads page, extract it and run it

Step 4: The TaiG tool should automatically detect your iOS device. Once it does, uncheck the 3K Assistant app install option, and click the green Start button

Step  5: Wait until the jailbreak completes and close the TaiG tool when prompted

Step 6: Launch Cydia on your iOS device and enjoy your newly jailbroken iOS 8.1.2 install

Be sure to watch the video for the full step-by-step tutorial. Again, if you don’t own a Windows machine, you can always follow i downloadblog virtual machine tutorial to run Windows on your Mac just for the jailbreak. It’s completely free and only takes about 30-45 minutes from start to finish.

Have you jailbroken iOS 8.1.2 yet?

TaiG updated with support to jailbreak iOS 8.1.2

As expected, TaiG has been updated to support the iOS 8.1.2 firmware. A few prominent developers sent tweets out earlier today stating as much, but now we have the proof in the form of an official release. You can find the updated TaiG jailbreak tool on our downloads page.

If you’ve been waiting until the all clear before updating to iOS 8.1.2, it is now safe to do so. We’ll be back with a full iOS 8.1.2 jailbreak tutorial soon. In the meantime, remember that you can download TaiG 1.2 from her 

Cou replaces the Slide to Answer slider with ‘Accept’ and ‘Decline’ buttons

 

When your iPhone is locked and you receive a phone call, you’ll see a slide to answer knob that allows you to respond to the call, and declining a phone call will require you to press the Sleep/Wake button twice. Cou is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to customize this interface and replace the slider found on the Lock screen with buttons you normally see when you receive a call while the device is unlocked.
Developed by danteseig, Cou replaces the Slide to Answer slider with two buttons called ‘Answer’ and ‘Decline’. This means that you can easily reject a phone call by pressing the Decline button rather than double pressing the Sleep button.
Other than this, the tweak also allows you hide the tiny ‘Remind Me’ and ‘Message’ buttons that appear when you’re receiving a phone call.

After installing Cou, head to the tweak’s preference panel from the stock Settings app. There, you can enable or disable the tweak via the kill-switch toggle as well as hide the Remind Me and Message buttons on the incoming call interface. Enabling/disabling the tweak requires you to respring your device.
That’s all the tweak offers and if you’re like me and prefer to have buttons rather than the sliders, then you should definitely give this tweak a try. Cou is available on Cydia’s BigBoss repository for free and is compatible with iOS 7 devices.

PanguTeam confirms it’s working on iOS 8 jailbreak

Good news for those of you missing out on today’s iOS 8 festivities in order to save your jailbreak, the PanguTeam says it’s on the case. As part of a PSA yesterday to remind users to jailbreak while still possible, the team confirmed it has already begun work on hacking the new firmware.
Now before you go getting your hopes up, note that just because an iOS 8 jailbreak is being worked on, does not mean we will see one anytime soon. This is, however, more intel than we had a few days ago, and it may be pertinent to those deciding on whether or not to update to iOS 8.
Here’s the message that was posted on Weibo:

Roughly translated, the message from the PanguTeam says “[Reminder] Just 1 day before iOS 8 official release, guess that devices except iPhone 4 can’t be restored with 7.1.2 firmware. If you want to jailbreak please grab the last moment. For iOS 8, we are already on the way…”
Apple seeded iOS 8 earlier today, and it’s by far the company’s most-open iOS release to date. Some feel its addition of third-party Touch ID, widget and extension support could be detrimental to the jailbreak community, but others see these things as hotbeds for new, innovative tweaks.
Stay tuned.
Thanks Chan!

‘AppBuyer’ malware steals Apple IDs and passwords from jailbroken devices

Security research firm Palo Alto Networks reported this weekend about a new iOS malware that’s affecting jailbroken devices. It’s called ‘AppBuyer,’ and it’s programmed to steal a user’s Apple ID and password for the purpose of purchasing apps from the App Store.
It’s not clear exactly how AppBuyer is being installed, but the group says it could be done a number of ways including through a malicious Cydia Substrate tweak or PC jailbreaking utility. Those infected complain of random apps periodically popping up on their devices.
The program is a Trojan, set to execute three actions. First, it downloads an EXE file to generate a unique UUID, second it downloads a Cydia Substrate tweak to steal the user’s ID and password, and third, it downloads a utility to login to the App Store and buy apps.
What can you do to defend against this? As usual, we recommend staying away from unknown or “shady” repositories that often carry pirated tweaks. You can also check your device (using iFile, iExplorer or other software) to see if it contains any of the AppBuyer files:

• /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.archive.plist
• /bin/updatesrv
• /tmp/updatesrv.log
• /etc/uuid
• /Library/MobileSubstrate/DynamicLibraries/aid.dylib
• /usr/bin/gzip

Palo Alto Networks says that since it hasn’t figured out how AppBuyer is loaded onto devices, deleting these files may not solve the problem completely. It does say, however, that it is working on ways to block the app, including the use of custom URL, DNS and IPS signatures.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of malware making its way onto jailbroken devices. In August we told you about AdThief, a program designed to steal ad impressions, and earlier this year we reported on Unflod, a malicious app designed to steal Apple IDs and passwords.

Faces: add images to each of the Lock screen passcode keys

If you love customizing your iOS 7 device, you’d probably be interested in ‘Faces’, a brand new jailbreak tweak that was released on Cydia recently and offers a fairly unique feature that allows you to customize the passcode keys on the Lock screen.
Developed by Ben Rosen & CPDigitalDarkroom, Faces allows you to customize the Lock screen passcode by adding images to each of the buttons. These images will appear right behind the keys as you can see from the screenshot above. 
After installing the tweak, head to its preference panel from the stock Settings app to start adding images. You’ll find a toggle that allows you to enable or disable the tweak and a ‘Choose Images’ button which will take you to a new interface where you can add a photo to each of the passcode buttons from the stock Photos app or even take a picture instantly and use it.

At the bottom of the settings pane, you’ll also find a slider that allows you to adjust the opacity of the images. This said, the only time that you are required to respring your device is when you enable/disable the tweak and when the amount of opacity is changed. For the rest, the changes are made in real time.
Personally, it’s a solid tweak that really makes your Lock screen passcode stand out. I tested it on both iPhone 5s running iOS 7.0.4 and another with 7.1.2 and there were no lags when transitioning from the Lock screen to the passcode interface.
If you’re interested to give it a try, Faces can be downloaded now from Cydia’s BigBoss repository for free and it’s compatible with all iOS 7 devices.

8 awesome things you can do with Activator

As a staple in the jailbreak community, Activator needs no introduction. This very deep and powerful tweak allows you to take advantage of a combination of gestures and specific events to create a virtually endless combination of actions on your iOS device.
Today, we’ve put together a list of some useful Activator actions/gestures you can set up on your iOS device. This is just the tip of the iceberg because with Activator, you can create an endless combination of gesture controls. The actions mentioned below do not make use of jailbreak tweaks, they are completely dependent on the stock iOS features.

Quick respring

By default, when you press the Sleep button, you’re device will be locked while short holding it will allow you to switch off your device. You can make the Power/Sleep button more useful by assigning a respring action whenever you double press the button.
How: Go to Activator > Anywhere and tap ‘Double Press’ option under Sleep Button section. Now scroll to the ‘Switches’ section and select ‘Respring’.

Save your battery

One of the most useful actions in Activator is the ‘Battery Drains’ option which allows you to indicate what action the device should take when the battery goes below a specific level.
Currently, when the battery level of my iPhone goes below 15%, the device automatically turns off Cellular Data and Bluetooth. If it reduces further below 10%, the Wi-Fi is switched off and the brightness is automatically reduced to 20%.
How: First you’ll new to create two new custom events. To do so, launch Activator and press the ‘More’ button in the top right corner. You’ll see a list of all the events you can create. Press the ‘Battery Drains’ option, slide the knob to 15% and click the ‘Save’ button. Perform this step again to create another event for 10% battery level.
Now, go to Activator > Anywhere  and you’ll see two new Activator actions that you just created below the ‘Battery Level’ section. Press the ‘Battery Drains Past 15%’ option and scroll down to the ‘Switches (Deactivate) section’. Now, select the switches that you want to be disabled such as Cellular Data and Bluetooth. To automatically reduce the brightness to a specific level, tap the ‘More’ button and choose ‘Set Brightness’.
Perform the above steps again to set the actions when the battery level goes below 10%.

Quickly switch to the Previous/Next track

When you have Activator, you can do so much more with the volume buttons rather than use it for adjusting the volume only. You can use the short hold volume up button to go to the next track while the short hold volume down button can be used to go to the previous track. This way, you no longer need to open your device to do it or even when you’re in an application, you can just make use of the volume buttons to change the song.
How: Head to Activator > Anywhere > Up Short Hold, and choose ‘Next Track’ from the Audio section. The same applies for going to previous track, but this time open ‘Down Short Hold’ gesture and choose ‘Previous Track’

Quickly compose a new email

One of the most interesting features of Activator is that you can assign flick gestures as well. For instance, you can flick up the Mail icon to compose a new email, flick up the Safari icon to launch Chrome browser or swipe up the Message icon to write a new message. There are various other gestures as well such as flick right, left or down and you can assign any app, action or toggles to each of these gestures.
How: To create a new email when you swipe up the Mail icon, go to Activator > Anywhere and tap on the More button in the top right corner. You’ll see an Icon Flick Up event. Press it and choose the Mail app from the list of applications. This activates the swipe up gesture for the Mail app.
Now, go back to Activator > Anywhere and press the Mail Icon Flick Up action from the Springboard section. Scroll down to the sharing section and select Compose Mail.

Toggle switches on a specific schedule

Did you know you could use Activator to automatically switch off Wi-Fi and Cellular Data when the specified time has passed? For instance, I’ve set Activator to switch off Wi-Fi, Cellular Data and Bluetooth, and enable Do Not Disturb mode when the time passes 1 a.m. This also saves your device’s battery while it’s not in use and ensures you’re not disturbed by alerts or phone calls while sleeping.
How: Navigate to Activator > Anywhere and press the More button. Now tap on the Scheduled option and select the scheduled day and time when you want specific actions to take place. Go back and open the custom event you just created from the Scheduled section. Now, select Wi-Fi, Cellular Data and Bluetooth from the Switches (Deactivate) section and choose Do Not Disturb mode from the Switches (Activate) section.

Activate the App Switcher

When you swipe up from the bottom part of the screen, Control Center is launched. You could use Activator to launch the App Switcher when you swipe up from the bottom right of the screen rather than double pressing the Home button.
How: To assign this action, go to Activator > Anywhere > From Screen Bottom-Right. First, you’ll need to select the Do Nothing option so that Control Center is not launched when the gesture is invoked. Then, choose Activate Switcher under the System Actions section.

Enable/disable vibrations when device is locked/unlocked

While your device is unlocked and in use, it’s not really required for vibration to be enabled since you’ll be aware of new notifications. You can automatically turn it on or off depending on the state of your device using Activator.
How: In Activator, open Anywhere and tap on Locked under the Device section. Scroll down to Switches (Activate) section and choose Vibration. For the unlocked state, open Unlocked from the Device section and scroll down to Switches (Deactivate) section and select Vibration.

Automatically reduce volume when headphone is plugged into device

Plugging your headphone into your device while the volume is set to maximum will really bust your ears. Personally, I’ve faced this situation many times, but you can use Activator to automatically reduce the volume to a lower level, such as 50%, when you plug in the headphone to your device.
How: Go to Activator > Anywhere and scroll down to the end of the list. You’ll find a Connected option right below the Wired Headset section. Open it and tap on the More button in the top right corner. Now press Set Volume and choose the level that you want the volume to be reduced to. Once done, press Save > Done and choose the volume option you created earlier from the Audio section.

What are your favorite Activator actions?

These are some of the most useful Activator actions you can set up on your device. Obviously, this is not the complete list because there are tons of actions that you can create using Activator, but you can let us know about your favorites in the comments section below.

CSwitcher brings your App Switcher to Control Center

The App Switcher, one of the most frequently used feature on iOS 7, can be accessed by double pressing the Home button. If you ever wanted to access the App Switcher from Control Center, you might want to check out a new jailbreak tweak known as CSwitcher.
Developed by Brogan Miner, CSwitcher replaces the Quick Launch apps in Control Center with the App Switcher, allowing you to take a quick glance at the apps running in the background directly from Control Center as well as close any of them. Personally, since I never use the Quick Launch apps, CSwitcher could be a good replacement.
After installing the tweak, double pressing the Home button launches Control Center where you can view the App Switcher from the bottom section where the Quick Launch apps are originally located. Swiping CSwitcher left or right displays all the open apps. To kill any of them, simply tap and hold on an icon and a tiny ‘x’ button will appear on top of it. Pressing it will close the specific app.

Once you install CSwitcher, a new preference panel will be added to the Settings app. From there, you can enable or disable the tweak via the kill switch toggle, choose to view five apps instead of four, as well as enable or disable paging. If paging is disabled, you can continuously scroll through open apps without the page-like effect.
You’ll also find an ‘App Snapshots’ toggle at the bottom of the preference panel that allows you to switch between two views: app icons and app preview cards. Once you’re done with the configurations, simply press the ‘Apply’ button for the changes to take place.
That’s all the tweak offers and if you find it more convenient accessing the App Switcher from Control Center, you should probably check out CSwitcher. As mentioned earlier, the tweak can be a good replacement to the Quick Launch apps if you don’t use them frequently.
CSwitcher can be download from Cydia’s BigBoss repository for free and requires iOS 7 to work.

UnlimMusic allows you to stream and download songs from SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a popular audio sharing website where users can record, upload and share their original contents and has become a common platform for musicians to distribute their tracks. Along with streaming songs, you can also download tracks which the artist allows, a feature that is missing from the mobile app.
UnlimMusic is a jailbreak tweak developed by UnlimApps that adds a standalone app to the Home screen where you can search and listen to songs from SoundCloud as well as download permissible tracks. This means that only the songs that are allowed by the respective artists can be downloaded, unlike the SoundCloud iOS app which lacks this feature.
Once you install the tweak, a new icon will be added to the Home screen where you can launch the app. Once you open it, you’ll be greeted with a list of all the different music genres and each of them contains musics belonging to that particular genre. You can tap on any of the tracks to start streaming them. The ‘Downloadable’ tab is the place where you can view all the songs which can be downloaded to your iPhone.

All the tracks that you download will be added to the ‘Files’ tab where you can listen to them offline and more importantly, import them to the stock Music app.
The app also provides a list of all the tracks you’ve recently listened to from the ‘Recents’ tab and it also allows you to view your favorite artists from the ‘Favorite Users’ tab.
Although the tweak does its job nicely, the only issue that I had with UnlimMusic was that it took a few reboots for the app icon to appear on the Home screen and it would sometimes disappear for unknown reasons. Other than this, everything works smoothly.
If you frequently use SoundCloud, you should probably give this tweak a try. UnlimMusic can be downloaded via Cydia’s BigBoss repository for free.
Another alternative is Soundcloud Downloader Pro, which is available for free in the App Store.

Control your music from anywhere in iOS with Clex

We’ve seen quite a few tweaks that provide system-wide access to music controls such as the popular iTunes-inspired MiniPlayer and the Musiex tweak. Clex is yet another addition to the group that aims to achieve the same goal but comes with additional features.
Created by the popular developer Gabriele Filipponi, Clex provides a quick access to a list of all the songs available on your device as well as the music controls by swiping from the left or right side of the screen. Doing so opens a new sidebar-like interface which sports a design similar to Control Center.
This said, swiping from the left side of the screen displays a long list of all the songs available on your device. You can scroll through the list and choose a song that you want to listen to. However, the list is inaccessible when no song is playing in the background or the Music app is closed.
On the other hand, swiping from the right side of the screen displays the playback controls (play, pause, next, previous), provides the details of the currently playing song and allows you to choose a song that has been composed by the same artist. The only control that is missing from there is the volume slider. You can also slide simultaneously from both sides of the screen to view both the sidebars.

Once you install Clex, you can access its configurations from the tweak’s preference panel. From there, you can enable or disable the tweak as well as choose where you want it to work – when you’re inside an application, the Lock screen or the Home screen.
You can also customize the look of the tweak’s interface such as the background blur style, tint color, text color and a background image can be set as well.
Personally, I like the functionality of the tweak making it feel like a native feature, and the ability to search for songs is a nice addition. Unfortunately, the tweak works on iOS 7.1.x only so if your device is running on a lower firmware, you’re out of luck. Not to forget, the tweak is compatible with stock Music app only and doesn’t support third party apps.
You can grab the package from Cydia’s BigBoss repository for $1.99. What do you think of Clex? Is it better compared to other similar tweaks on Cydia? Let us know in the comments section below.

ClassicLockScreen brings over four different Lock screen styles to iOS 7

 

ClassicLockScreen is a brand new jailbreak tweak that debuted on Cydia recently and allows you to replace the current Lock screen style on iOS 7 with one of the four different styles supplied by the tweak.
The tweak offers four different Lock screen styles: classic, ‘Modern Mode’, ‘Dark Mode’ and ‘7.1 Slider Style’. The classic mode ports the exact iOS 6 Lock screen style to iOS 7 and brings back the iOS 6 media control buttons, lock keypad as well as the unlock sound. The Modern and Dark modes feature a stylish ‘Slide to Unlock’ slider with a blur background and top bar. The difference between the two styles is that the latter sports a darker look.
On the other hand, the ‘7.1 Slider Style’ is quite similar to the BlurSlide tweak we reviewed earlier, but is more complete. It changes the original ‘Slide to Unlock’ slider design to that of iOS 7.1.x’s power off slider style and adds a blur bar behind the time.

After you install ClassicLockScreen, the classic mode will be enabled immediately and you’ll view the iOS 6 Lock screen style. To choose a different style, head to the tweak’s preferences pane from the stock Settings app. You’ll find a kill switch toggle to enable or disable the tweak as well as a few other toggles that let you enable or disable the Lock screen Camera, album artwork as well as Lock screen seconds.

There are also three other toggles that allow to choose the style you want. The developer notes that switching from the classic mode to the Modern mode requires you to respring your device.
The tweak looks great on paper, but it kept on crashing constantly on my iPhone 5s running iOS 7.0.4. When I installed it on a different device running 7.1.2 instead, the classic and Modern modes worked perfectly, but the remaining two modes failed to function properly. So I won’t guarantee that it would definitely work smoothly on your device as well.
Developed by CoolStar, Jeremy Goulet, and Phillip Tennen, ClassicLockScreen is available in the BigBoss repo for $0.99.
What do you think of ClassicLockScreen? Did it work properly on your device? Let us know in the comments section below.

VolumeStatus 2 adds a volume indicator to the Status Bar

One of the ways of finding out the current volume level of your device is to press the volume buttons on the side of your device. VolumeStatus 2 is a brand new jailbreak tweak that allows you to quickly determine the current volume level of your device directly from the Status Bar.
The tweak adds a volume indicator to the Status Bar that allows you to take a quick peek at the volume level without pressing the volume buttons. The tweak doesn’t display the exact volume level, but it gives you an idea of how much the volume is. The icon is followed by curved lines indicating the device’s volume level.
As you raise the volume, more lines will be added next to the icon up to a maximum of four lines while decreasing the volume reduces the number of curved lines.

After installing the tweak, you can enable or disable it from its preference panel in the stock Settings app. Along with the kill switch, you’ll also find an option that allows you to hide the volume HUD that appears on the center of the screen when you adjust the volume level.
That’s all the tweak offers and the developer has promised to release new features in the future. If you’re interested to give it a try, VolumeStatus 2 is now available on Cydia for free.

Microsoft airs Cortana vs. Siri ad showing contextually-aware tasks

Microsoft on Monday shared a new television commercial which the company first showed off at its annual conference back in April to rally up developers who were concerned that the software giant was losing its mojo.

The 30-second video depicts a showdown between Cortana, Microsoft’s own digital personal assistant baked into Windows Phone 8.1, and Apple’s Siri.

Microsoft’s assistant is shown completing a number of contextually-aware tasks using a plethora of services and data sources…

From the video’s YouTube description:

Say hello to Cortana, your new personal assistant. Cortana will remind you to leave early to beat traffic and help you get to your destination on time, will remind you that you need milk when passing the grocery store, and will remind you to say happy birthday when your mom calls. Available now on the new Nokia Lumia 635 and on other Lumia phones.

Check it out below.

The Windows maker is allegedly considering porting Cortana to iOS and Android.

According to Microsoft executives, Cortana has been conceived as a “pervasive” feature so not only is the company mulling bringing her over to iOS and Android, but to the desktop and into vehicles and other venues, too.

The Redmond giant is no stranger to anti-Apple advertising.

A series of advertisements for its Surface tablets routinely take aim at the iPad’s sub-par specs, lack of true multitasking and other features Microsoft’s marketing department decides to paint in negative light.

The company even attempted to lure would-be switchers by giving $650 in trade in value to customers willing to exchange their MacBook Air for a Surface Pro 3 tablet.

Is the Cortana ad funny, do you think?

Telltale confirms third season of ‘The Walking Dead’

Folks worried that the final episode of The Walking Dead: Season Two will be the end of the series can rest easy. Developer Telltale Games has confirmed this weekend that the story of the dead will live on in season 3.

The studio made the announcement yesterday at Comic-Con, during a panel hosted by Skybound Entertainment. It publishes The Walking Dead comics, of which both the game and the popular television show are based…

Here’s the tweet from Telltale:

Telltale’s The Walking Dead doesn’t share characters or story lines with its TV counterpart, but it does feature an award-winning script and intuitive gameplay. You play as a main character, and determine your own fate.

The game is split into seasons, broken down into 5 episodes. We are currently in season 2, which follows the story of Clementine, a young girl orphaned by the undead apocalypse. Episode 4 was just released last week.

There’s no word on when season 3 is coming, but we imagine it’ll be sometime in early 2015. Coincidentally, AMC just announced it’s working on its own Walking Dead game, which is also expected to land early next year.

Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season Two is available on PCs, consoles and can be foundin the App Store for $4.99. Each episode can be purchased via IAP for $4.99, or you can buy a multipack (episodes 2-5) for $14.99.

Wallpapers of the week: Colorado landscapes

During the last two months, the Wallpapers of the Week section was populated with contrived or graphically designed wallpapers. While walls like the “Complex Geometry” andPuerta del Sol Apple Store opening were very well received, today we celebrate natural beauty of the Colorado landscape.

A skill I always envy is an artist’s ability to capture nature through a camera lens. Much more complicated than pointing and shooting your Photo app on a smartphone, true beauty is difficult to capture. An artist I keep up with published these images recently and shared them through Twitter. Get downloading!

Wallpapers

Today’s wallpaper entries are courtesy of Solefield Photography. Lauren’s images are always excellent snapshots of the great outdoors, or sometimes her favorite pups. To keep up, catch her on Twitter @Solefield or browse her additional work on Deviant Art. The iOS device wallpaper images were captured in Keystone, Colorado.

Download: Left; Right

For those commenters each week who complain about never getting a desktop wallpaper, we have an option for you today. While the Wallpapers of the Week section is specifically designed to share images for iOS devices, we do aim to please. In an effort to make some people happy, below is another fantastic image by Solefield. The treetop canopy was captured in Golden, CO.

Download: Dancing

The best dating apps for iPhone

Dating is a very important social event that practically every human being experiences, or at least hopes to experience, at least once in his or her lifetime. It is also incredibly difficult to meet people after the age of 18 when your social circles are blown away with your graduation caps. Those in their early 20s can still survive the dating game, but it doesn’t take long for our social options to dwindle.

Luckily, in the age of technology, it is easier than it was a decade ago to find that special someone. Whether you are looking for your life partner, want to send sweet nothings to your current love interest, or just want to hook up, we’ve got a list of what we think are the best dating apps for iPhone…

Tinder

Tinder may be the most popular dating service in the App Store right now. It took off like wildfire shortly after it launched and now boasts millions of users across the world. Users find dating matches by location instead of interests. It started out as a great way to meet up for a quick romp in the sheets, but has quickly gained a reputation for being a way to connect with people in real life that you may already know through friends via Facebook. It’s still a great way to hook up, but it can also lead to long lasting relationships. This app is available for free.

Match.com

This dating service is huge, probably the largest in the country. You will almost definitely find someone for you with the many millions of users on match.com. This site builds possible connections by matching you with others who have similar interests. Once you find someone that fits the bill, you can send a “wink” to begin a correspondence. You can chat with potential dates, look at photos of matches, and even find people nearby that you might want to meet. This app is available for free.

HowAboutWe Dating

Sometimes, you just want to do something specific and wish you knew someone else who wanted to do the same. With this app, you can find that person by posting a date idea. Maybe you want a companion to see the latest rom-com. Maybe you’ve always wanted to try ice-skating and want a friendly tutor to show you how. Post your idea, “How about we…” and see who else is interested. This app is available for free.

eHarmony

For those who are looking for a serious relationship that will potentially lead to marriage, this is the service for you. My mom met her second husband using this service and she has been married for 10 years now. Similar to Match.com, users are connected to others based on compatible interests. Finding your soul mate could be as easy as entering a list of your favorite movies. Once you’ve filled out an in-depth questionnaire, the wedding bells will be ringing. This app is available for free.

OkCupid

From my personal experience, OKCupid was the first dating service that made dating services cool. I have many 20-something and 30-something friends who have successfully found all manner of dating companions from this service. After building your profile, send your face and personality out into the world and see who likes you. If you see someone with a cool profile, like them back. After that, it’s up to you how far you take things. You can chat in-app, filter match options, and see what people think of you without getting caught. This app is available for free.

Let’s Date: Fun & Easy Social Dating

This iOS dating service takes a page or two from Tinder by allowing users to approve or remove potential dates with just a swipe. It also requires that you have a Facebook account with at least 50 friends for a year. So, it is quite a bit harder to make up your online persona just to be a jerk on a date. Once two people approve of each other anonymously, Let’s Date will notify both parties involved and even suggest a safe place to meet for the upcoming rendezvous. This app is available for free.

Coffee Meets Bagel

I can’t count the number of times my single friends have asked me if I have any other single friends that they would be interested in. When on the spot, I can never think of anyone. This app makes it possible for my single friends to dig through my contacts in order to meet up. That is, users log in through Facebook and the app lists friends of friends that also use the service. If your old high school buddy is an acquaintance of a pretty single woman he forgot he knew, you’ll be able to ask her on a date and your mutual friend can be the conversation starter. This app is available for free.

Pure

This is one of those dating services that seem to be dedicated to the great hook-up. In today’s world, a one-night stand is more common than it used to be and services like Pure help facilitate that kind of meeting. If you want to meet up with someone in your area, post your request. The request will be visible to other users for one hour. If someone in the area likes where you are headed, you will be connected via chat and be able to arrange the location with no fuss or muss. This app is available for free.

Twine

Most dating services allow you to remain anonymous until you find someone you are interested in. This service allows you to remain anonymous while you are getting to know someone and you are the one who chooses whether to reveal your identity to your suitor. The app also makes conversation starting easier with the “ICE Breaker” feature, which suggests topics that it recognizes as a common interest between two parties. This app is available for free.

Smart Search spices up Spotlight search on iOS 7

Spotlight can be used to search for content (music, app, mail etc.) on your iPhone, iPad or iPod and it can be accessed by swiping down the Home screen. Personally, I’ve never found Spotlight search useful and I rarely use it except when I’m tempted to. However, iOS 8 takes the feature to a whole new level by allowing users to search for an iTunes song, App Store app, website, Wikipedia entry and much more directly from Spotlight.

Inspired by iOS 8 Spotlight search, Smart Search is a new jailbreak tweak that improves the functionality of Spotlight search on jailbroken iOS 7 devices by expanding its search capability. It gives users the ability to search for a keyword from the App Store, iTunes Store, Google, Wikipedia, YouTube and more. We decided to give Smart Search a try and it worked flawlessly as advertised.

Once you install the tweak, swipe down the Home screen to open Spotlight. You’ll notice a revamped Spotlight search with a number of new app icons above the search field. Tap on an app icon and enter your keyword or phrase to search it from that particular app. For instance, if you tap on the App Store icon and type in a keyword, it will display a list of results derived from the App Store. Likewise, you can search from the following sources:

• App Store
• iTunes Store
• Google
• Spotify
• TMDb
• Wikipedia
• YouTube

When you tap on a search result, the corresponding app will launch if you already have it, otherwise it will launch Safari. For example, if you tap on a search result from Spotify, it will open the Spotify app if you already have it, or else, it will launch Safari. Smart Search also includes an iPhone icon that allows you to search for content on your device.

Once you’ve installed the tweak, you’ll find a new preferences panel in the Settings app for Smart Search. There, you can choose which search sources or plugin you want to enable as well as rearrange the icons in Spotlight by making use of the drag handles.

Smart Search is an impressive Spotlight extension and displays the search results accurately and quickly. If you’re keen to enjoy iOS 8′s Spotlight search or a similar concept on your jailbroken iOS 7 device, you might want to give Smart Search a try. The developer also notes that more search sources will be available in the future.

The tweak is available in Cydia’s BigBoss repository for $2.49 and is compatible with iOS 7 devices.